Any "Star Fox" veteran will tell you the same thing: Slippy Toad is horribly annoying. The high-voiced wing mate of Fox McCloud has bumbled his way through every "Star Fox" since the Super Nintendo original, providing sexually-questionable banter in between screams for emergency assistance.
Shockingly, Slippy gets things together in the new Nintendo DS sequel "Star Fox Command." Not only is he able to take the bad guys down by himself, but he's got a hot (as far as frogs go) fianc?e rooting him on. Go figure.
"Star Fox Command" returns the series to its roots as a space shooter, but takes advantage of the DS's touch screen to innovate the gameplay and add a level of strategy missing in previous versions. It provides fine entertainment for anyone looking for a fun action game on the road, and gamers with wireless access can even take the dogfights onto the Internet and battle gamers nationwide.
On the DS, players move their ship around using the stylus. Turning, ascending and descending is a simple matter of sliding in the proper direction on the touch screen. Bombs and special techniques like somersaults appear as icons to tap with the stylus. Just about every actual button on the handheld performs the same function - firing the lasers. It's an intuitive setup and one that allows for customization.
The level organization is quite different than previous "Star Fox" games. Players must now pick their battles on a turn-based map using the stylus. In one turn, for example, one could have Fox attack a few enemies while Falco chases a missile and Slippy takes down the mothership.
An encounter on the map launches the traditional Star Fox action-based gameplay, but there are differences here as well. Gone completely are the on-rails action levels, replaced completely by wide non-linear maps. Also, players only have so much time to complete a mission, and cannot afford to waste any time taking down the enemy.
It's hard to call these gameplay changes an improvement over the classic format, but they're acceptable. At least the game makes no missteps as glaring as those found in the GameCube version, "Star Fox Assault," which messed with the core action.
What really makes "Command" worth a look however are its multiplayer options. Two to six players in the same vicinity can battle with just one copy of the game among the lot of them. Those with friends out of town can also take the game onto Nintendo's Wi-Fi network for free and play online.
The visuals are surprisingly smooth and technically better than the Nintendo 64 version, but they lack the style and atmosphere found in that game. This seems to be a result of the change in level design; the on-rails levels of old allowed the developer to create much more detailed and alive worlds.
"Command" features the classic Star Fox theme music of yore, and it's just as catchy as ever. Fox McCloud and his wing mates talk gibberish like in the original Super Nintendo game, which is far, far more tolerable than the voice work found in the last few entries.
Even if Slippy was still his old annoying self, it'd be hard not to recommend this game. "Star Fox Command" is a solid space shooter that makes the time fly by.
