I went to the old truman brewery in London after a long day of D&D hoping that some face time with the 3DS will convince me I need one. Most of the feedback I’ve heard so far hasn’t really gotten me pumped up for it. Before me (and my group) could play any games we had to go through a couple of rooms so we could be sufficiently told how amazing and game changing the 3DS is (At this point I recommend you watch my amazing video at the end of this post). The first room was the Street Fighter live action thing. Second room was a Resident Evil live action thing. Claire Redfield and Chris Redfield (who are apparently British now) led us through a dark room as they fake fought zombies and grunted a lot. I mock it but it was actually goofy fun. The third room consisted of Jonathon Ross (British TV personality) telling us how good the 3DS was and how lucky we are. Once he finished, the nice lady leading us through all of this finally led us into the room with games.

First thing I have to say this event was really well put together. Maybe it had something to do with how little people were in my group but I had access to a bunch of 3DS games. No waiting, no messing about, just me jumping from game to game with ease. The first room was definitely the core game room, it had: Resident Evil: The Mercenaries, Kid Icarus, Pro Evolution Soccer, Super Street Fighter IV, Dead or Alive: Dimensions, Lego Star wars and some other games that escape me.

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries

I’ve never really gotten into the mercenaries mode in the Resident Evil games so when I heard about Resident Evil: The Mercenaries my first thought was that it wouldn’t make much of a game by Itself. After playing it for a bit I realised how wrong I was. It makes a perfect pick up and play portable game. Get in there kill some zombies in a timed round and get a score. The controls were mostly fine but just using the one thumb stick is not ideal. Specifically when it came to turning around I found it lacking. The game plays pretty similarly to its home console brothers but when you go fire your weapon it goes into first person to enhance the 3D effect.

Dead or Alive: Dimensions

I’m not a big fighting game fan but if I had to pick a fighting game to play it would be Dead or Alive. I know what you’re thinking and no it’s not because of the boobs! I like the speed and multi layer arenas you fight in. Dead or Alive: Dimensions still has all of this and looks really nice. The feature that really stands out is the combo list on the bottom screen. You just tap the name of the combo and your character does it. This sounds dumb and game breaking but it really isn’t, mainly because it’s really hard to hit the combo name on the bottom screen while fighting. I quickly realised that no one is going to play this game using the touch screen due to the combo list being so impracticable.

Super Street Fighter IV

Super Street Fighter IV is almost identical to the home console versions but you have the option of a different camera angle. This camera angle is slightly over your shoulder and enhances the 3D effect, fireballs never looked so good! Super Street Fighter IV also has the same feature as Dead or Alive where you can hit the touch screen and immediately pull off a combo. The problem here is that it’s well designed. You have 4 big buttons that are very easy to hit while fighting. This really didn’t sit well with me. It felt cheap and unwarranted when I would use the touch screen to do a super move. Maybe you can disable those buttons I’m not sure but it by no means ruins the game. You just have to restrain yourself... or not depending on how you feel about it. It’s still Super Street Fighter IV and that’s still great.

We had about 20 minutes in this room until me and my group were ushered into the next room. Whereas the previous room was dark and had thumping bass, this room was all white with nice gentle music. Casual as fuck! They were showing off some of the 3DS’s built in apps such as Face Raiders and the 3D camera and some games such as Nintendogs + Cats, Raving Rabbids Travel In Time and Pilotwings Resort. I don’t have as much to say about these games as most of them were very quick but I am a absolute sucker for Nintendogs + Cats. Have you ever rubbed a cats belly in 3D? Well you should!

To 3DS or not to 3DS

The best thing the 3DS has going for it is that the games are good. The 3D isn’t really a big deal at all. It’s a cool feature that you can turn on and off at your leisure. The 3D doesn’t change how the games actually play and I don’t think it ever will but that doesn’t mean it’s not cool. After this event I do really want a 3DS but pricing is still an issue for me. Not so much the cost of the unit but the cost of the games. If you can get your hands on a 3DS prior to launch I highly recommend you do as it is something you need to see. I've also bought a clip.