I don't completely hate Star Fox Command.

[KingTremolo]

I don't see very much positivity on this site for many of the later Star Fox games.  I know I'm going to catch crap for this, but I do enjoy Star Fox Command (and Assault).  

There are several things I enjoy about the series, and Command has a lot of it intact in one way or another.  For example, I enjoy the music greatly.  Especially the post-SNES music (though I do enjoy that too).  This game may be lacking in original music, but to my ears the remixes  sound better than Star Fox 64 3D, but obviously not anywhere near as good as Assault.  Music is a huge factor in how much I enjoy a game, so the tunes certainly help this game a lot in my mind.

Another thing I enjoy about the series is the core idea of flying around and shooting enemy fighters.  This game may be very simple, but I enjoy it.  It's a good game to relax with, in my opinion.  Of course it doesn't have the complex, absorbing gameplay of something like Freespace, but I find it to be compelling, especially back when I used to play it online.  Though the amount that can be done in the Arwing is reduced from previous games, I think the control scheme is very intuitive and aiming is very natural due to the touchscreen.

The multiplayer was a blast in this game.  I started with Star Fox 64, and a lot of my time in this series is in multiplayer.  I love the Star Fox multiplayer experience in every game that it's featured.  While Assault is better local, Command featured online, which was a fun way to carry out dog fights while I stayed at hotels and such.

The last thing I enjoy about this game is the designs of the ships.  I feel as though adding more ships is a good direction for the series to go.  I like how each member of Star Fox has an Arwing that suits their personality and style.

Obviously this game has very major flaws, such as the story and repetitiveness, but I do find enjoyment in it.  It is far from being anywhere near the best in the series, but I don't think it's the abomination that fans make it out to be.  Well, other than the story anyway.

[Dr. Orange]

Welcome to the site. I want to give a really good welcome but I'm going to caution you to prep your onward battle from here. 

I think most of us hate the game on how it just screwed up story and gameplay. I thought the music was alright, and the multiplayer was just a step down from N64 standard. 

That's all I will say on bounds that the game is atrocious though.

[Robert Monroe]

There's a lot of good things in Command, they're just overshadowed by the overall terrible execution of the game's design and wretched writing.

 

That said, people are quick to knee-jerk hate on Command rather unfairly but eh.

[KingTremolo]

A friend of mine asked if it was a good game, I replied "No, but I like it." I say it's not a good game in general because it has design flaws that a lot of people can't overlook. That about sums up my opinion on it.

I do agree that it has the potential to severely screw up the Star Fox canon.

Edited May 31, 2015 by KingTremolo

[StarFoxMaster64]

Honestly I think I could have forgiven all of command if it had a wider range of controls, classic and new kinda like Star Fox 64 3D, I wasn't into the whole touch screen controls. If they made it kinda like SNES controls I'd just enjoy it for gameplay, which Star Fox thrives on. Plus I liked playing online multiplayer with friends and public players. Was a nice addition to Star Fox. 

[KingTremolo]

I think the biggest oversight in the creation of the DS was a lack of analogue controls, which made developers too hesitant to implement normal control schemes in some games, Command being one of them.  Not that that excuse of mine makes much sense, considering the SNES controller lacked analogue sticks, but still.  Many games that should have been great wound up as frustrating instead, including Star Fox to many people.

Edited May 31, 2015 by KingTremolo

[ArwingFan]

Command isn't the Sonic 06-tier game everyone makes it out to be but it's still mediocre.  The core gameplay is alright but it lacks variety, something other than "shoot x amount of y, then barrel roll into the mothership." please.

The story was weird and fanfictiony, but it had interesting ideas such as Krystal joining Starwolf and the reinclusion of Papetoon.

Edited May 31, 2015 by ArwingFan

[Pharaoh Shadon]

Oddly enough, there isn't a single thing I like about Command. Which is extremely rare for someone like me.

I HATE time limits in games. Well in this game, you basically have 2 time limits. The time limit while battling, and the number of moves you have. So we have two things that I am not a fan of right at the beginning. And it's reason? Fuel. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I am fairly confident that even modern real life jets have much more flight time than the futuristic starfox arwings. But that doesn't even matter because in previous games, the arwings could go quite a while without needing to refuel (Starwolf basically travels everywhere in the wolfens. Those things can travel the distance of the fuel capacity of command in a second, and wolfens are suppose to be slower)

 

Speaking of the story... There's only 1 ending I actually kinda like, and one or two that I tolerate. The rest... o.o What were they thinking????? DX Some people say it's about the journey, not the end... But the journey sucked too XD It's also inconsistant. One example is fox kicking Krystal out as the jobs too dangerous. But going into the core of a planet to defeat the galaxies greatest threat (Aparoids) is just fine????? Doesn't make sense DX

[StarFoxMaster64]

 

Speaking of the story... There's only 1 ending I actually kinda like, and one or two that I tolerate. The rest... o.o What were they thinking????? DX Some people say it's about the journey, not the end... But the journey sucked too XD It's also inconsistant. One example is fox kicking Krystal out as the jobs too dangerous. But going into the core of a planet to defeat the galaxies greatest threat (Aparoids) is just fine????? Doesn't make sense DX

​Is it odd out of all the endings, my favorite was the one where Fox and Falco join F-Zero? (Maybe because of the Star Fox references they have in the F-Zero Games).

[Pharaoh Shadon]

​Is it odd out of all the endings, my favorite was the one where Fox and Falco join F-Zero? (Maybe because of the Star Fox references they have in the F-Zero Games).

​Technically that was a good ending... But not for starfox XD

The one I liked was the one where they save the day, and have a party. It's an actual ending. The other one I liked was they save the day, and Dash wants to create a new venom which is good.

The slippy being old one is okay... But it's an absolute ending, and doesn't tell us ANYTHING about the rest of the character

This is what I think of the game though.

[DZComposer]

...the reinclusion of Papetoon.

​Papetoon always has been Canon. It was mentioned in SF64, albeit only in the Japanese version.

Edited May 31, 2015 by DZComposer

[Scourge]

but I do enjoy Star Fox Command 

​

 

 

 

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Edited June 1, 2015 by Scourge

[KingTremolo]

Hey, hey, all I'm trying to say is that under all the bad decisions, there are some redeeming qualities. 

By the way, I forgot to mention the thing that bothers me the most about this game: getting a high score is a matter of luck, not skill.  The amount of enemies in an encounter is random.  Score hunting is my favorite way to play the campaigns in the rest of the series.

[Drasiana]

Command had a lot of good ideas, even the story (Krystal on Star Wolf and Andross being some kind of weird hippy owned tbh), they were just executed really weirdly/poorly. My frustration for the game comes less from thinking it's The Worst Game Ever and more from it being a mediocre game that could've been better with a few more tweaks (and passes at the script).

[Pharaoh Shadon]

The amount of enemies in an encounter is random. 

​I KNEW something felt inconsistant when I was playing it!!!! XD I just couldn't really put my finger on it.

[The VGM Lover]

The amount of enemies in an encounter is random.

​

​Mostly the secondary enemies. The primary enemies appeared in the exact same places, and I don't know why, I feels that it adds to the over-consistency of the story, whose endings you try to avoid, but end up finding anyways, 'cause you can't remember which route takes you where, so eventually you give up and leave it for a long time, and then try again on the story hoping next time, you find the ending you were looking for all your time.

... maybe that's just me, but personally that's my problem with the game. If they'd have added some extra features such as maybe a survival mode, people would have a chance to get away from that nonsense and take some time to really enjoy the game. That's what I think.

Edited June 1, 2015 by amcintyr9998
Always forgetting a word...

[geoprimedonna]

Actually, to be honest, the only thing Iike in Command is the music. The gameplay stinks and the endings, even more. Even the Marcus ending, for a Fox+Krystal fan, sucked. And I think the "Falco always a lone bird" thing is just a way for Falco to hide his feelings for somebody we still don't know (possively somebody he met in the 4 years after the Titania Incident?), especially to the fact that in the SFXAd comic, when Katt answers there is a "special someone" in her life, Falco seems to smile/chuckle. I still don't know what in the world they will do with the next Starfox, if they will choose one of the stinkin' endings, do an alternative ending starting from Assault or make a new ending for Command. If it's the first option, sorry to say but my fandom for Starfox will be over and I will possively leave the community by the end of the year. PERMANENTLY.

[WolfOD64]

Dispensing with my unbridled disdain for Command, I will say that I liked the fact that you could play as so many other characters. One of the sole gripes I've had with the series is that you rarely get to play as any outside of Fox, and not only did Command deliver on that front, but each character possessed unique ship tailored to the respective pilot, each with its own design, specs, advantages and firepower differences...just like in Star Fox 2.

If there's one thing I'd take from Command, it'd be that feature. Too bad the presence of multiple playable characters were lost beneath the tidal mediocrity of the game surrounding it.

[Robert Monroe]

There's actually a lot of good ideas and concepts in Command that are just utterly overshadowed by the flaws of the game or otherwise are misused to be any good. The large collection of playable characters and their unique ships is one, the SIZE of the story with the branching paths (even if they all end up shit), the re-introduction of strategy elements from SF2 which allows you to engage enemies on your own terms, and using the touch screen to deploy bombs wherever you want as well.

 

One day I need to do an in depth review/rant of Command and talk about how it could've been a lot better.

[Setsuna]

after replaying it after so long, my hate for it has slimmered down just a bit. like everyone said before the fact that each character has their own unique ship makes for excellent replay value. its too bad the laser power ups you give fox during certain story parts dont stay during level select. you might say he's the more balanced in terms of health and meter and bombs but, one flaw i found is that i dont think it teaches you that you can lock on to the same target multiple times to increase damage your charge shot does. made things a LOT easier.

falco has some hilairious lines towards pigama, wolf, and d/ash.

[Patch93]

While I don't care for Command, I will say that Lucy was a cool addition to the series, though they should have made her brown instead of pink. Katt already does the whole pink thing well enough IMO.

Amanda can fuck off though.

[geoprimedonna]

Thinking things out after everything that happened these last few months, Command wasn't as bad as many hail it is. Sure, gameplay and story was awful indeed (as said above), but restarting a series is not a valid solution in my opinion. SFXZ will probably even more shameful that SFXC itself. Not even the music of SFXZ lives up to the rest from what I currently saw.

However, I have saw a lot of things they did in SFXC that could have been done differently, and if they were done differently, maybe things wouldn't be like they are. Alt ending should have NEVER been introduced (SFXZ, this is for you too), but the idea of seeing stuff through other characters' perspectives is nice. Gameplay should have maintained the same unless a spinoff (in series or subseries) was launched as well (*ahem* Kit, Krystal, James, anybody???). Music was overall good, nothing to blame on that (I like to listen to its OST, BTW). Lots of new original bosses and enemies that are actually creative (*cof cof* Scrapworm, SFXZ??? *cof cof*). So we had tears, but a (few) stuff that we could smile about if we analyze more in-depth.

[Joseph.]

Command's single player was repetitive but I remember the multiplayer being very fun. Too bad you couldn't unlock ships as you ranked up or at least have the option to change the color of your standard arwing.

[LoneWolf]

Alright, I actually got into StarFox because of Command, so I guess I'll throw in my two cents.

Command was an -alright- game. The strategy portion was simplistic and the actual flying portion was repetitive at best and painful at worst. The controls would have been better on the D-Pad (I get the inclusion of the touchscreen controls, but why not include an alternative?). The plot was definitely preposterously dramatic akin to some shit-tier sonic fanfiction written by a 7th grader, though I've gotta give credit to the writers for the inclusion of the F-Zero ending because let's be real; it's not any more ridiculous than any of the other ones.

Command does, however, have a few pretty great attributes. Firstly, the variation in the ships was pretty cool, different lock types/boost bars/bomb capacities actually mattered when choosing which enemies to take on with who (a decision usually made by shortest distance). The balance was complete garbage though, the Cornerian Fighter was all but useless and anyone with a multi-lock was pretty overpowered. Secondly, as a bunch of you have mentioned, the multiplayer was pretty dank, especially the fact that there was actual online play and download play for >4 players, something not enough titles implemented on the DS. 

I don't hate Command but it's a hard game to love. The fun/cool parts of the game definitely don't outweigh the tediousness and cringeworthy story, not for me.

[Davben]

Weird thing about Command is that I remember *liking* it when I first played it in 2000-whatever.  I don't know if that's a combination of nostalgia, youth, Star Fox on DS hype. But I never thought of it as a bad game while playing. I do like RTS games and the short battle system; and I thought of it as a good successor to the SF2 concept. 

That all being said, my brother downloaded it to his U while I was over about a month ago, and I had completely forgotten about the touch controls. I honestly can't believe I had blocked this out, because it is really obnoxious. What was wrong with using the D-Pad to fly? Also I remember really liking the branching stories and different choices unlocking as you replayed the game. But yes, some of these, even a majority of these are incredibly groan worthy. 

I think I'm parroting a lot of people in thread in saying that this isn't a bad game design at all. A spiritual successor, RTS light SF2 with light story choices SHOULD work. Take out the touch controls that were likely forced in for the sake of selling early DS games as bottom screen heavy. Scrap a few of the story lines to focus on maybe five or six different endings at most. Add the voice team. Keep the multiplayer intact. I don't think drastic changes would be necessary to fix this game.

I don't know how much would be flung at Nintendo for announcing a Command like sequel (like Color Splash and Fed Force have gotten), but I'd actually want to see a second attempt at it.

Crossing fingers anyway that Zero sells to a big enough share of U owners so we can see more projects.