Video game review by ERIK LEIJON

I’ll be the first to admit I missed out on both GameCube iterations of the Star Fox series. Not that the airborne Star Fox Assault and grounded Star Fox Adventures seemed like such unappealing additions to the venerable space combat franchise, but after the classic Star Fox 64, it seemed like the series diminished in relevance in the eyes of fans.

Hailed as a return to form, Star Fox Command (DS/Nintendo, Q Games) is littered with the pre-requisite stylus pad functionality, but the series is clearly going through an identity crisis.

Star Fox Command is highly ambitious, primarily because of the stylus controls. Only firing is done outside of the stylus, so it’s understandable that, even though the controls are wildly inventive, they are also frustratingly difficult. The stylus pad and pen are used to turn the Arwing fighter plane, as well as for braking, boosting, nova bombs, barrel rolling, somersaults and u-turns. If you think it’s unfathomable to input so many commands simultaneously with the stylus, you’d be right.

The hairier the battles got, the more evident the limitations of the control scheme became; I would find myself speeding up when I wanted to barrel roll, or unable to turn and barrel roll at the same time. Since the bomb, somersault and u-turn commands are done by hitting icons on the stylus screen, it requires constantly shifting your eyes across both screens. There’s too much to do, and the stylus can’t really handle all of it.

The other big change is the addition of the turn-based strategy elements to the story mode, which again are very stylus-heavy. At first, this mode was frustrating because the levels were short and you die often, but it’s supposed to be a fast-paced strategy game. The more I played, the more I appreciated the simplicity of this mode, and how conducive it could be to a level editor mode (and being able to trade them using Wi-Fi) in a potential sequel.

In story mode, the map occupies the bottom screen, and every Arwing has a turn to intercept enemies, gather items such as fuel and missiles for Great Fox, and additional time. The rather arbitrary time limits on the levels are odd and not fully realized (such as why the bosses required time limits), but it ensures quick battles.

As surprising as this mode was, the actual fighting levels themselves felt too simplistic. When you intercept enemies, you fight in a 3D arena (rather than on a rail like in the old games). The bad guys are usually very simple looking, and the three main types of levels are not particularly interesting. The soap opera dialogue between the talking animal characters was truly skip-worthy.

Star Fox Command was a really good try at bringing the beleaguered series into 2006, and to a completely different console. Some parts work and some don’t, but Q-Games should have remembered why Star Fox was so beloved in the first place.

Yee-haw

I took NASCAR 07 (Xbox, PS2/EA, Tiburon) for a test drive, and while I may not be an expert, I did enjoy the skill level and practice needed to make clean passes. Graphically, the game’s backgrounds were very muddy and pixilated, and it detracted from the sense of speed (if you aren’t into NASCAR, you’re better off sticking with the faster and nicer looking Burnout series, also from EA).

If you’re curious as to why NASCAR is so popular down south and want to know what to expect when Montreal hosts its first NASCAR race next summer, NASCAR 07 only moderately recreates the speed and driving physics of stock car racing.