Title	Votes	Rating	Review

When most people my age think of Pilotwings, they think back to their Super Nintendo Entertainment Systems and the good ol’ year of 1991. Players were challenged to earn their pilot’s license by flying different aircraft while listening to decidedly retro (not at the time, of course) jazz tunes and, often times, we’d be caught laughing our asses off after “forgetting” to deploy our character’s parachute while skydiving, leaving a person-shaped hole in the ground.

Fast forward to the Fall of 1996, and we’re presented with Pilotwings 64, an instant classic for both newcomers and veterans of the series alike. Players were again tasked with earning their wings by completing a series of aviation challenges, and the new characters introduced to the series brought an inarguable charm to the whole formula.

Now, here we sit in the year 2011, Nintendo’s new 3D powerhouse handheld firmly in grasp, and those of us who played through the first two entries countless times are left wondering where all the charm has gone. Pilotwings Resort, while by no means a bad game, simply lacks the soul that made Pilotwings and Pilotwings 64 such classic titles. This may be partially due to the fact that gamers are not presented with new locations for all their airborne antics, and are instead offered a rehashed, smaller screen version of Wii Sports Resort’s Wuhu Island. Or it may be due to the fact that instead of piloting unique, pixelated or polygonal personalities, we instead must control the soulless versions of ourselves in the form of Nintendo’s [love 'em or hate 'em] Miis.  Either way, the overall spirit of the game just feels…hollow.

Like I said, though, Pilotwings Resort is not a bad game. Not by a long shot. Dare I say I’ll be playing it for months, maybe years from now. The challenges, while slightly repetitive and sometimes infuriatingly difficult, offer a beautiful example of how powerful Nintendo’s 3DS can be. Tasked with flying through rings, shooting balloons and targets, landing on fueling pads and attaining breakneck speeds, players will soar over open seas, a small town, a windfarm and even plummet into the open maw of a volcano. Is it active? Is it gonna explode? Who knows…?

The visuals are fantastic. Sweeping panoramas, bright, crisp colors and a sharp resort presentation give players a destination that most would probably like to visit in real life. But again, while the game looks and runs beautifully, the island simply lacks any sense of life. No NPC’s running around on the ground, water that barely crests or falls, no birds, no wildlife. You get a sense that you’re all alone on this Wuhu Island. An abandoned town, an empty stadium, a lifeless castle. Maybe I’m asking too much here, but I know I’m not the only one who felt lonely while playing this game. Or is that more of a personal problem?

But what about the question weighing on everyone’s mind: Should I really play this game using the 3D? While most gamers are still viewing 3D as a gimmick, in the case of Pilotwings Resort, it truly adds another dimension (pun maybe intended) to the whole experience. Playing the game with the 3D switched off was pretty and functional, but with the 3D switched on, there is god-honest depth of field factored into play, offering gamers more precise distance and speed judgement that is just not possible in 2D. Landing on a fueling pad with the rocket belt or banking around a mountain in the plane looks and feels natural, thanks also to the snappy and responsive controls present throughout the game.

When it comes down to it, Pilotwings Resort is a beautiful, fun game filled with interesting challenges and cool vehicles to pilot. The standard plane, rocket belt and hang glider also have ‘roided up, beefier versions of themselves in the form of the Turbo Jet, Super Rocket Belt and the Pedal Glider.

Pilotwings Resort beautifully illustrates what the 3DS is capable of, and while it is easy to beat, gamers will find hours of added playtime in its extreme difficulty to obtain perfect scores in all of the challenges. If you’re a Pilotwings vet, come into the experience with an open mind. But newcomers and Nintendo diehards will feel right at home on Wuhu Island, even if it has all been seen before.

Review: Pilotwings Resort, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

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