Pilotwings Resort

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Situation:

Pilotwings Resort is a launch title for the Nintendo 3DS and one of three by Nintendo. I had no intention of buying the game when I reserved the 3DS. I reluctantly was planning on buying Nintendogs + Cats but after playing a demo kiosk with Pilotwings, I quickly changed my reservation. I figured if I was buying a 3D system I’d like to at least get a game that would let me explore a 3D space. So I got the game at Midnight with the release of the 3DS. This is the first Pilotwings game I’ve ever played.

Things I liked:

Collection Craze! Usually I would put this as a negative if my favorite part of an entire game was just collecting random things. But I became crazy about getting every location, bubble, stunt ring and Mii trophy. I spent way more time in the free flight mode than I did mission mode making sure I had been in every lava tube or cave. My total play time was 10 hours, 7 of those were in free flight mode at 2 to 5 minute play sessions.

Extra Vehicles! The game starts out with a Plane, Jet Pack and a Hang glider but as you go through the missions you eventually pick up 3 more vehicles: A Jet, Rocket Pack and a Pedal Glider (basically a bycycle attached to a hanglider) and with the exception of the Pedal Glider, I never used the old ones again unless I had to in Mission Mode. I used to have dreams about using a Jet Pack but they’ve been replaced with the Rocket Pack.

THE 3D! I know this is a bit of a sell out but I’ve never played a game in 3D before and sometimes I would just fly around and look at things, while exploring the island. It’s just really pretty. I never had the slider on full 3D and it’s the only game I’ve done that with so far. I usually kept it right in the middle on the slider but still it was crazy impressive and one of the many reasons I think 3D is here to stay with us. 3D, I had to say it one more time. 3D.

Things I disliked:

Pedal Glider: The extra vehicles are the best thing reward in the whole game. Except for this one, it’s lame with a captial L. It’s supposed to let you bike your way through slow moments and get you moving again with the hang glider. I’d rather just crash the glider and start back up on top. There is no punishment for doing that but there is one for choosing this vehicle. Boring, slow and hard to control missions.

Not much else to it: 39 Missions Training to End. Then 75 Locations, 40 Balloons, 60 Stunt Rings, Mii Trophies and Gold Rings to collect in Free Flight Mode. Typing it all out made it seem like a lot but let me tell you the numbers can be deceiving. It’s not a lot and that’s all there is to it.

Seriously just a castle?: C’mon I play through this entire game, get 3 stars on everything, collect everything that can be collected and all I get is a 2nd castle built on one of the many islands. It doesn’t even look different from the other castle. It doesn’t say Bryan’s big ass castle. It says Castle on Private Island. Just a bit crappy.

Final Thoughts:

Out of the four 3DS games I’ve played this is my favorite. As someone who doesn’t care for fighters that much, this is easily the best launch title for the system. I keep putting it back in even when I’m kind of tired of it and want to play something else. It just keeps sucking me back in. At the same time, it’s short. Once you do beat everything there really isn’t anything else to do. If you have a 3DS I think it’s a must buy right now but a few months from now it’ll be vaporware.