First Impressions: Pilotwings Resort (3DS)

Pilotwings Resort was the first game that I was able to fully tinker around with on the 3DS.  Yes, that was because I received the game free as a promotional thing when I purchased the system, but I had plans of buying the game anyway before the promotional deal came about.  It was just what I needed to kick me in the pants-side to get around to purchasing one.  That and the previously mentioned $100 in Gamestop gift cards I'd been saving for the past year.  Anyway!  Pilotwings Resort!

All I knew about the game before playing it was that it took place on an island and that your characters would be the user created Miis as opposed to the selectable characters as in Pilotwings 64.  The only thing that I "Ahhhh'd" about in a somewhat negative way, was that your characters didn't have any attributes.  You know, now that I think about it, I don't know if the planes/jetpack/parachute/hang-glider/flying squirrel suit act any differently if you played with the tallest/shortest and heaviest/lightest options for a Mii.

Yes.  I said there's a Flying Fucking Squirrel Suit option in one of the levels.  But possibly more on that later.

The game plays very much like Pilotwings 64 for which I was very happy about.  That also is why I'm not able to complete/get full stars on some of the levels.  In Pilotwings 64, I was never great with the hang-glider missions.  I liked it well enough, but hitting the thermals in the way so that you would not only gain altitude, but also increase your speed to hit that other mid-air thermal in order to fly through that one ring; yeah, those gave me problems.  I seem to recall Dr. Potts having some skill with the bloody hang-glider.  So yes, Pilotwings Resort is kicking my Mii's ass in some of the levels, for which I do appreciate it very much.

I was very happy to see that there was a "Free Flight" around the island of Wuhu, albeit a timed free flight.  Then after playing for a couple of hours, I found that through completing various tasks in the main game, you're able to extend the amount of time for your free flight.  And, you're able to have various optional tasks added to the free flight to earn points/coins/what-nots in order to unlock other features for Free Flight.  Kudos to you Nintendo.  You've tricked me into thinking that this little flight around your island was simple and basic, and here you've added mini missions that I don't have to participate in.  But, what kind of person would I be if I didn't fly through that ring and perform a counter clockwise roll while banking around the lighthouse.

Since the game is on the 3DS system, it wouldn't be a complete initial review without mentioning the 3D effects in the game.  The 3D effects are very well done.  I've played levels with and without the 3D effect as well as varying degrees of 3D-ness.  In this game, I like to either have it off, or turned all the way up, and now I don't feel so silly (not that I ever did in the first place) leaning with the system, hoping beyond hope that the system's built in gyroscope will register what I'm doing, be a bro, and help another brutha out so that I don't crash into the ocean.

At the moment, my only critiques are minimal:

1)  I feel that landing a plane is too easy.  Do I mind that I'm able to land a plane without crashing into the ocean?  Nope.

2)  I would say that I am sad that there's no cannon, but as I know that I haven't unlocked everything in the game, I'm hoping that there's a good chance that the canon will be unlockable.

To sum up, if I hadn't received the game for free, I would not have been disappointed in spending the $19 necessary to play this game without the risk of being arrested for walking out of the store without making the transaction.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

3-2-1 Break Right!