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teddogStar Fox Command amuses me. Yeah, I know, it was really bad of me to pick up a game the day after it came out. But... I was there and the game was there and... it sorta happened.
No willpower yesterday, but then, my last CPP check came in too. I need to do something fun with it and the DS makes me happy. Although, one game I won't buy is Trauma Center: Under the Knife. It's so tempting with an odd and complex plot, but I'm scared the graphics will make me faint.
Anyway, Star Fox Command seriously not as sucky as people are making it out to be. Granted, I knew going in that it wasn't going to be "let's fly on rails and blow things up at random!". Instead, it's a very odd cross between a turn based strategy game and a space shooter. Each mission has a map and you guide your ships to block attacks on your mothership while trying to take out the other side's fighters and motherships. The fighting is mostly done in the space shooter mode.
Despite cries of "It's not really Star Fox!", the game play doesn't bother me. This is the same series that gave us Star Fox Adventures, after all, and that was as far away from the original SNES game you could get. Remember, we're at least FLYING now.
Another thing getting attention is the control set for the game. Bye-bye buttons, hello abuse of the touch screen! The idea of it scared me at first; I've tried to get through most of Phoenix Wright on buttons alone because I used to play that on the GO train and didn't want to stab people with the stylus on accident. Once you get the hang of it using the touch screen controls, it's not that bad. I fine it relaxing, even. Draw on the screen and you fly around. Whee.... except that the loops are a little tricky, since you need to tap a certian section on the screen, but I only really use those in boss battles. There, you can afford to look away for a second.
That said, the plot isn't anything to write home about. I love cheese, but eh. There's a romantic subplot and Krystal's gone all emo this time around. The main plot is okay; you start out as a lone fighter against evil army trying to invade and over the course of the game you rally more characters to join the fight. I do like that there's a very wide range of characters in this game. While that killed Sonic Heroes, I just like flying all the different spacecraft. The way each craft handles is different enough to notice and a little shocking.
Slippy, for example, is built like a TANK! What logic is this? XD
So far I've unlocked
- Fox (starting character).
- Slippy.
- Falco.
- Krystal.
- Krystal's alternate craft.
- Lucy, Peppy's duaghter.
- Amanda, Slippy's girlfriend.
I've also found Bill Grey but haven't unlocked him.
The game is also surprisingly easy... kinda.
It is very short the first time. After you clear it once, the branching storyline unlocks. That gives you the option of going back and picking different actions. For example, early on you can decide if you want to find Slippy, figure out where Falco is or continue fighting. There's different missions and characters depending on your route.
Now the best and I mean complete best is the game's voices. We're back with the gibberish that was found in the first game, but because the DS has a mic, you can record your own voice and have the game use those samples to create the gibberish chatter. I tried to do this, but my voice is already slightly high (I sing soprano according to Lisa), and the game tries to up the pitch on the samples for the "female" chatter. The mix results in the female characters sounding like chipmunks. AH!
However, I found the perfect way to get around this. Instead of speaking during the recording, I burped. It's low enough so that the females sound "normal" and goofy because now the characters speak in broken up burps. :D
I'm insane.
No willpower yesterday, but then, my last CPP check came in too. I need to do something fun with it and the DS makes me happy. Although, one game I won't buy is Trauma Center: Under the Knife. It's so tempting with an odd and complex plot, but I'm scared the graphics will make me faint.
Anyway, Star Fox Command seriously not as sucky as people are making it out to be. Granted, I knew going in that it wasn't going to be "let's fly on rails and blow things up at random!". Instead, it's a very odd cross between a turn based strategy game and a space shooter. Each mission has a map and you guide your ships to block attacks on your mothership while trying to take out the other side's fighters and motherships. The fighting is mostly done in the space shooter mode.
Despite cries of "It's not really Star Fox!", the game play doesn't bother me. This is the same series that gave us Star Fox Adventures, after all, and that was as far away from the original SNES game you could get. Remember, we're at least FLYING now.
Another thing getting attention is the control set for the game. Bye-bye buttons, hello abuse of the touch screen! The idea of it scared me at first; I've tried to get through most of Phoenix Wright on buttons alone because I used to play that on the GO train and didn't want to stab people with the stylus on accident. Once you get the hang of it using the touch screen controls, it's not that bad. I fine it relaxing, even. Draw on the screen and you fly around. Whee.... except that the loops are a little tricky, since you need to tap a certian section on the screen, but I only really use those in boss battles. There, you can afford to look away for a second.
That said, the plot isn't anything to write home about. I love cheese, but eh. There's a romantic subplot and Krystal's gone all emo this time around. The main plot is okay; you start out as a lone fighter against evil army trying to invade and over the course of the game you rally more characters to join the fight. I do like that there's a very wide range of characters in this game. While that killed Sonic Heroes, I just like flying all the different spacecraft. The way each craft handles is different enough to notice and a little shocking.
Slippy, for example, is built like a TANK! What logic is this? XD
So far I've unlocked
- Fox (starting character).
- Slippy.
- Falco.
- Krystal.
- Krystal's alternate craft.
- Lucy, Peppy's duaghter.
- Amanda, Slippy's girlfriend.
I've also found Bill Grey but haven't unlocked him.
The game is also surprisingly easy... kinda.
It is very short the first time. After you clear it once, the branching storyline unlocks. That gives you the option of going back and picking different actions. For example, early on you can decide if you want to find Slippy, figure out where Falco is or continue fighting. There's different missions and characters depending on your route.
Now the best and I mean complete best is the game's voices. We're back with the gibberish that was found in the first game, but because the DS has a mic, you can record your own voice and have the game use those samples to create the gibberish chatter. I tried to do this, but my voice is already slightly high (I sing soprano according to Lisa), and the game tries to up the pitch on the samples for the "female" chatter. The mix results in the female characters sounding like chipmunks. AH!
However, I found the perfect way to get around this. Instead of speaking during the recording, I burped. It's low enough so that the females sound "normal" and goofy because now the characters speak in broken up burps. :D
I'm insane.
