Pilotwings Resort
It's 20 years since Pilotwings and 15 since Pilotwings 64. That's a long time to wait for the next instalment of one of Nintendo's most iconic cult titles. So, was it worth it? Well, yes - and no.
As with its forebears, Pilotwings Resort is a fantastic poster-boy for Nintendo's latest tech. What better way to entice players into the new dimension than by taking to the skies and reaching for the horizon? The feeling as you fly, hover or glide around Wuhu Island is quintessential Nintendo, an endlessly happy Summer's day full of childhood wonderment. It's impossible not to smile. The autostereoscopic effect conveys a sense of expansiveness and freedom you never realised was missing from regular polygon worlds.
But Pilotwings Resort's novelty soon wears thin. With Wuhu Island the game's only location, it's not long before you've explored every crag and crevice, every beach and glade. The mission mode is fun while it lasts, but lacks any real challenge or depth. The five classes - from Novice to Platinum - take a mere two hours to complete. And while a few are worth repeating to achieve the highest scores – none more so than the woefully underused wingsuit base-jumping - most are not.
Another location, a few more missions - that's all it would have taken to elevate this to must have launch title. But just when you've taken off and stretched your wings, the paucity of content in Pilotwings Resort brings you plummeting back to earth.
Reg Rating 65%
Nintendo 3DS launch games
COMMENTS
Realism
Forget the 3d...have they got the *ahem*..."bounce" correct in Street Fighter?
@ Simon King
I don't know if the thumbs is for my post, or the 3DS, or the iOS version with no buttons... Perhaps you're a fanboi who can't see fault with iOS devices and think that any version on an iPhone is better than any version created ever cos it's magical and revolutionary
But actually, in part, yes - do additional buttons, real or not, provide something better than the iOS version delivers?
Does the new stick thing or D-pad on the 3DS work better than the iPhone screen? They'd provide more feedback because you would know it was being pushed and the character would be doing something, rather than mashing at the screen with sausage thumbs like I do and get annoyed when Ryu's not chucking out a fireball across my iPhone screen cos my thumb's momentarily in the wrong place.
Perhaps the graphics are better, but I doubt it looking at the 3DS screen shots.
There's loads of extra characters in the 3DS version, so does that add to replayability over the iOS version?
Loads of different fighting backgrounds. How is the bottom screen used? What different, and I assume more, game modes are there... Bear in mind that the comparison is between a version of a game designed to be played on a gaming system, not a version of a game to be played on a phone that also plays games.
All of these things add up to value-for-money. All these things considered, is it 10 times better than the iOS version? If it isn't 10 times better then parents like me should perhaps think of getting an iPod for a Christmas present for our fledglings instead of the latest mobile gaming hardware
really...
just not interested in overpriced games that look like something from the arc now.
if i want an experience where i lose myself i fire up killzone 3 and the move/sharpshooter. pity my tv isnt 3d. i bet that game would be even better in 3d. oh well, nothing a few magic cigarettes cant make me feel anyway :)
Lighting effects
The Lego Starwars game makes extensive use of lighing effects and this makes for a really engadging graphics style - As the little (and they are little), light sabres fly around, the glow they impart is dynamically rendered on all objects in the scene - particulary impressive when the guy with four arms is around!
