And so I finally got around to playing the final Star Fox installment. I bought it a while ago, but waited until I’d played them in chronological order. I’m glad I did, because they do share continuity and build on previous events.

This game has been criticised, just as Adventures and Assault have, for not following up on “classic Star Fox gameplay”. I share the sentiment to some extent, but then again trying new things can be good and we can always just play Lylat Wars again. What a lot of people also fail to realise is that this game, unlike the 64 one, was made by the people behind Star Wing/Fox and the unreleased Star Fox 2. Additionally, it carries over many gameplay features from the latter, as it never had a chance to be released.

It’s surprising actually, how different Star Fox 2 is, and by extension this game. We have strategy maps, with your ships planning movement and taking simultaneous turns with the enemy. When the two meet, you enter instanced battle arenas in which you complete repetitive objectives and destroy enemy ships. There are a variety of characters, whose ships all have different attributes. All these qualities are shared between 2 and Command, which gives it a heck of a lot of legitimacy even as it differs so much from the scrolling stages we love.

There is some limited scrolling-type gameplay in missile chases and some bosses, but most combat is in All-Range mode. This is my less preferred gameplay style but the greater focus on charge shots makes it more forgiving. There’s no tanks or submarines, ships just fly underwater when they need to.

It’s also one of those DS games that does everything by the touchscreen, all buttons being identical in function as the shoot button. You move, boost, bomb, aim, and do the strategy stages by touch. It works pretty well, although the boosted usefulness of the roll belies its slightly awkward swiping activation. I didn’t have any major troubles with it, it’s just another control scheme to get used to.

The big draw of this game to me was the plot and characters. It has a familiar path-choosing system but ties it to the plot and decisions, giving you the potential not just of different stages to play but different combinations of characters in coversation and eventually different endings. The breadth of these branches makes many mutually exclusive, but the fun is figuring out what aspects of which branches are “most canon”, or at least canon to you, and which are compatible. For example, maybe Star Fox defeats the bad guys, or maybe Star Wolf does, with or without Krystal. If Slippy’s on Aquas then Falco can still be with Fox on Solar, etc, etc.

It does a great job though of involving many beloved characters. No Tricky unfortunately but many previous antagonists show up, either aligned with the new Anglar guys or with their own agendas. The new characters also mesh well, with each one having dialogue to involve them and make them feel right in that world. Said dialogue is well written for the most part, although I find Krystal’s characterisation confusing, a tradition of Star Fox I guess. It did make me laugh though at other parts. They also bring in Octoman from F-Zero as an enemy, which along with a couple other nods cements the connection between those series. Great stuff.

The mechanics of the game are relatively simple and as I said you repeat them many times, especially if you’re replaying for more endings. But I don’t mind that so much as long as the game has other factors to keep me playing, which it does, plus those mechanics feel good enough moment to moment to carry me through. Despite its lack of bombast and fidelity compared to Assault, I think I prefer it. It’s allowed to explore smaller, more personal stories in amongst the conflict due to the branching structure, and look at consequences and relationships rather than a series of big action scenes.

I’ve really enjoyed Command, it’s a fitting end to the Star Fox saga (for now!), there’s a lot of closure in there amongst some silliness with all the endings. There’s also a strange sense of fulfillment as it delivers on all the concepts introduced in the unfortunate Star Fox 2. Sure, it’s not the scrolling shooter we really want but for the DS that might not have worked so well anyway. I do want more but I concede that this game seems to end things well. Unless they do a continuity barrel roll, or else go the next generation route like Golden Sun or Sin & Punishment (I don’t have the confidence Nintendo will do that, it’s not safe enough). Well Nintendo, trust your instincts. Or not, whatever.