Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Pilotwings Resort Review Nintendo 3DS

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  

  • Pilotwings Resort Review Nintendo 3DS

    A console launch can do crazy things to people. Waiting months for its release while continually scanning the internet for a scrap of new information is bound to have an effect. People often lose a sense of perspective in all the hype and chaos. So when the console finally hits, it's hard to look at it with anything other than awe and wonder. The same applies to the games. Years of buzz can make a game seem like a revolutionary piece of entertainment. People end up having such strong expectations – high or low – that the games often become unquantifiable. A good game like Kameo can be given a mediocre score for not being the hallucination-inducing event people expect it to be. At the same time a shallow tech demo like Yoshi's Touch & Go can be given a relatively high score for nothing more than being cute and having a new input method.

    Then we have Pilotwings Resort: the third iteration in a series last seen on the launch of the Nintendo 64. Like its predecessors it clearly seems like a game meant to show what's possible with the console's new features. The previous games were much more than mere showcases of new tech. In their time they both offered unique gameplay made viable by the technology in their respective consoles. This time, though, it's not Mode 7-style rendering or a new analogue stick that's the main event; it's instead glasses-free stereoscopic 3D. On a handheld console, no less. Unlike the hardware advancements presented on the SNES or on the Nintendo 64, the 3D effect provided by the 3DS has a much more subtle impact on the actual gameplay. Some people will even argue that it has none at all. There is nevertheless a definite impact, however small (apparently it simply is not perceptible by all). When playing the game, the 3D effect gives a better understanding of the character's position in relation to their surroundings. It will be easier to see just how close the hang-glider is to the mountainside, and sometimes that added effect can actually affect the score achieved in a mission. If and when it does so, the resulting feeling is immensely satisfying. It is too bad that people's mileage will vary.

    Click image for larger version

Name:	aircraftscreen03.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	53.8 KB
ID:	2741299

    As for the game itself: it's Pilotwings. Take control of a range of different aircraft while completing missions or simply exploring Wuhu Island. The aircraft people will spend most of their time with are the plane, hang-glider and a rocket belt. Controlling them seems deceptively easy at first, as they are usually steered with just a couple of buttons and the circle pad. Yet they all behave very differently. Getting intimately acquainted with each of them to anticipate how they will respond in any given situation is the main challenge of the game. As the later missions require extreme precision, you will be making minuscule adjustments to the path of your aircraft while hoping it does what you want it to do.

    Like its older brother on the Nintendo 64, the game's structure is very basic. There's only two modes: Mission and Free Flight. The missions are divided up into 5 classes, where you start with only the easiest and have to unlock the later ones. Usual objectives are to fly through rings, land on pads mid-air or take photos of the local lighthouse. Every fourth mission or so lets you control a different vehicle to spice things up, but all too soon you are back to flying through hoops in your usual three aircraft. The missions give you one, two or three stars depending on how well you performed. To get the highest possible score you need to complete the mission as fast as you can, hit bonus targets spread around the course, use as little fuel as possible, avoid everything not shiny and land as gently as possible. A lot to focus on when the timer in the corner of the screen raises your stress level with every passing second.

    Click image for larger version

Name:	yourmiiscreen03.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	69.0 KB
ID:	2741300

    Free Flight mode is thankfully a little more complex than it might sound. Rather than flying aimlessly around the island until your battery dies, you have specific objects to collect, and a limited amount of time to do so. Scattered around the island are balloons and information capsules for you to find. Certain balloons can only be collected by a certain vehicle. So while jumping around in your rocket belt, you might come across an opaque balloon you have to return to with your hang-glider. There are also stunt rings which you have to fly through to collect. Collecting enough of the different objects will grant you dioramas to look at, or more time to explore the next time you enter the mode. And that time is greatly needed, as you start out with a measly two minutes to fly about.

    That's the modes in a nutshell. It's too bad there's little more to them outside of said shell. Ploughing through the missions can take as little as a couple of hours. Add an hour if you want to perfect the scores. Completing the entirety of Free Flight mode can be done in even less time. Doing the latter is much less appealing, however. Before soon, all that is left is a handful of white balloons on the entire island, without a hint as to their whereabouts. So to find them, be prepared to roam around in the most exploration-suited vehicle available (the plane) until the timer runs out. Repeat until one is found, upon which there will be a 66 percent chance that the whole ordeal must be restarted with a different vehicle to actually collect the balloon.

    Click image for larger version

Name:	aircraftscreen01.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	55.7 KB
ID:	2741297

    The game's strengths lie outside of its overall structure. Like its ageing uncle on the Nintendo 64, controlling the vehicles presents a thrill that few games have been able to provide. The handling is both accessible yet hard to master. A near perfect blend of arcade and realism. Add to that a luscious environment for you to explore. While being featured in two previous games already, Wuhu Island is still a wonderful location full of charm and secrets to be uncovered. Seeing it all in 3D makes it all feel a little more special, for the first hour or two, at least.

    Comparing it to its distant cousin on the Nintendo 64 will eventually put it in a bad light. That game came with four unique islands – all with a different theme and setting – as opposed to the single island provided in Pilotwings Resort. The mission mode is almost indistinguishable. Both games asks you to complete small, simple tasks. The older game actually had more raw content. Add in the fact that one of the games is almost fifteen years old, Pilotwings Resort starts to look a little stale, not to mention impoverished.

    Click image for larger version

Name:	aircraftscreen02.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	59.8 KB
ID:	2741298

    Flying a glider in Pilotwings Resort for the first time is a ton of fun and, with the 3D effect turned on, it feels like a truly fresh gaming experience. It's once the initial excitement wears off and one starts to look beneath the surface, that disappointment seeps in. Playing it can almost be a melancholic experience, when it becomes clear how easily it could have been something truly special. As it stands, it is a fundamentally good game – if a bit short on new ideas – wrapped in a basic package offering only the minimum amount of content people expect today. It still might be one of the better launch games of the console, but that sadly says a lot more about the competition, than the quality of Pilotwings Resort.



    Pros:
    -Solid fundamental gameplay
    -Very nice 3D effect

    Cons:
    -Little variety
    -Small amount of content
    -No evolution from previous PilotWings

    Score: 6/10
      Posting comments is disabled.

    Categories

    Collapse

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Cosmo Dreamer & Like Dreamer: The Double-D Collection review - Nintendo Switch
      by Briareos Kerensky
      Shoot'em'ups come in all sorts of graphical flavours: fantasy, sci-fi, steampunk, modern day, wartime, or even the sexy kind, like Cosmo Dreamer and Like Dreamer, together known as the Double-D Collection.
      Or at least that's what the title and cover would make you think. Publisher Eastasiasoft created a suggestive aura around these games, probably to get more attention than they otherwise would have had, but you cannot judge a game from its cover: yes, there are a couple of gravity-defying...
      10-03-2024, 09:20
    • Nintendo Swtich RoTATE review - a Tate mode gadget
      by briareos_kerensky
      The Switch's hybrid nature and the number of shoot'em'ups available on it created some interesting peripherals like Fangamer's FlipGrip, a plastic cradle to hold Switch's main body vertical with the Joycons attached to the sides; the FlipGrip kept Switch portable but is not compatible with the console's Lite or OLED iterations, and there are no signs of an updated version being studied. Enter Todd Gill, 3D printer extraordinaire. Under the name Retro Frog he designs, prints, and sells (and more o...
      15-10-2023, 07:48
    • Tsuri Spirits review Ace Angler review
      by briareos_kerensky
      Excerpt from the diary of Briareos Kerensky, newly appointed angler of the Oceanography Institute.
      Day 1. I don't usually write diaries, but I've decided to see for how long I can keep this up...not to mention this new job, I don't particularly care about fishing in any kind of incarnation, but there are no fixed hours or minimum time requirements. Got to meet my partners for this job today and they explained my tasks. We've got a supervisor from the institute, the ship's captain, an...
      16-08-2021, 14:34
    • Gal Gun Returns Review
      by briareos_kerensky
      Gal Gun is a light gun style game developed by Inti Creates which originally debuted on the Xbox360 in January 2011, with a PS3 version following one year after. Both titles remained the only ones available only in Japan till now. For the series’ 10th anniversary, Inti Creates, also celebrating their 25th anniversary, produced Gal Gun Returns, a remake featuring updated graphics and new game mode. This is a review of Gal Gun Returns.

      All Gal Guns start with you, the main charac...
      15-02-2021, 15:57
    • Hardcore Mecha Review - PC Steam
      by briareos_kerensky
      Rocket Punch were a small Chinese developer with no games under their belt when they launched the Kickstarter for the then-named Code: HARDCORE. Details were scarce, but the kickass art, and the promise of sidescrolling fast-paced giant robot action was enough to draw backers in, including myself. While still under development the game garnered several awards wherever it was shown, and after a change of title due to Japanese copyright laws, delays typical of Kickstarter projects, and Arc...
      18-07-2019, 16:01
    • Blaster Master Zero 2 Review - Nintendo Switch
      by briareos_kerensky
      The first Blaster Master landed in 1988 on the NES. It gave control over a nimble tank in sidescrolling stages and the tank's pilot in overhead stages, providing players with two distinct playstyles that mixed of exploration, platforming, and enemy killing, something that would be described as Metroidvania today. Blaster Master proved popular enough to receive multiple sequels, the last being re-imagining of the first game on the Wii in 2010. Fast forward to 2017 and Inti Creates released Blast...
      22-04-2019, 08:10
    Working...
    X