Nintendo dont usually drop the ball when it comes to sequels, but after the awful Star Fox Adventures and Star Fox Assault, the crew of the Great Fox have had a real struggle to remain relevant in the last few years. This new game though is by some of the same people behind the SNES original and the first successful attempt to drag the series back to its roots. The original Star Fox game was the closest any one has ever got to transposing the 2D gameplay of old school shoot em-ups such as R-Type into 3D. As such all the levels were on-the-rails with tightly scripted enemy formations and set pieces. In this game though most of the missions allow you to fly in any direction (similar to all-range mode from Lylat Wars), which will still annoy fans although at least all the action is restricted to your spacecraft for the first time in several sequels.

The controls for your craft actually work extremely well, with all movement achieved via the touch screen, combined with the button of your choice for shooting. What also works surprisingly well is the new turn-based strategic elements which frame every mission. These allow you to not only map out the movement of you and your allies craft but also fire and repel missiles from your mothership. To top it all theres even a six player online mode although like previous Star Fox games you do all end up just flying in circles the whole time. Overall though this is just enough to call of the hounds from what at one point seemed a very endangered franchise.
HARRISON DENT

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