Pilotwings Resort (3DS) Review - A Short Flight To The Moon (Metaphorically)

Pilotwings Resort is one of my favourite launch games (if not my favourite) for the 3DS. True, it may not be one of the longest games, and there isn't much variation in the gameplay itself, but the first 10 hours are great - and trying to hurt your jetpacking mii in the funniest way possible never gets old!

In the game you fly around Wuhu Island (Yes - that's the one) as a mii in one of three main vehicles, plane, hanglider and jetpack. There are four more to unlock, but I won't spoil the surprise of what they are!

You'll have flown through a lot of rings by the time you're done!

The game has two modes: mission mode, consisting of 41 missions, and freeflight mode. Mission mode takes a good few hours to complete, but you'll want to keep on playing to get 3 stars or a perfect score, which you'll get rewarded for. Freeflight mode is, yes, you guessed it, freely flying around the Island looking for hidden extras. You can unlock dioramas, flying at different times of the day, and flying for longer. Wuhu Island is a small place, so you'll find the first few quickly, but the last couple can be devilishly hard to find!

But, how does it play? Well, you'll learn that the game mechanics actually work really well. Little touches such as your jetpacker's legs flying back at you as you speed up really make the game feel polished, and all the controls seem to be manafactured perfectly.

Pros:

• Great example of 3D effects.
• One of the best 3DS games at the moment.
• Loads of collectables to find.
• Good incentives for replaying the game.
• Well polished mechanics and graphics.

Cons:

• It's only Wuhu Island!
• Not many missions.
• Once you've got 3 stars on all missions and found all collectables, nothing else to do.
• No streetpass, online leaderboards or spotpass.

I'm now going for the Jacob method of review... (THANKS JACOB!)




Gameplay - Great mechanics and the great 3D make the game work really well, but there isn't actually much gameplay to be had! 8.3/10

Sound - I was actually disappointed with the sound... I think Nintendo could have done better. 6.8/10

Graphics - Probably some of the best yet on the 3DS, the 3D works really well, and all edges are very smooth with much detail. 7.9/10

Controls - A great use of the circle pad and buttons, although a  bit of gryoscope would have been good. 7.9/10

Random Category - Book! - I guess the game can get boring in parts, but overall it is very enjoyable, and you're sad when it ends...

Overall = 8.1/10