Pilotwings Resort

Genre: Flight Simulator

Players: 1

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Review:

Pilotwings Resort, released on the Nintendo 3DS when it launched in 2011, is the third game in Nintendo’s family-friendly Pilotwings franchise, a series of arcadey Flight Simulator games, following in the footsteps of Pilotwings on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Pilotwings 64 on the Nintendo 64, and continuing the series’ tradition of launching with new Nintendo hardware.

As with those prior installments, Pilotwings Resort seems designed to show off the technology of the hardware it launched with, with this game doing a good job of showing off stereoscopic 3D much in the same way the original game showed off the Super Nintendo’s “Mode 7” scaling effects and Pilotwings 64 showed off the Nintendo 64’s polygonal 3D capabilities. While you can certainly play Pilotwings Resort without stereoscopic 3D turned on, this feature really helps to get a better feel for your position and speed relative to everything around you, something vital to the gameplay.

In terms of the actual presentation, Pilotwings Resort looks good, but of course being a launch title its 3D visuals aren’t quite as impressive as later games that would come to the Nintendo 3DS. Still, you get a good sense of speed, and at times the lighting effects are quite excellent here.

The sound, meanwhile, doesn’t fare quite as well. It’s not outright bad, but it largely fails to make an impact – sound effects are cartoony, and the music is mostly forgettable. The one song I liked, Hang Glider, I feel is still a pale echo of the Nintendo 64 game’s far superior Hang Glider theme.

In fact, I can’t help but feel like that description applies to the gameplay here as well. Don’t get me wrong, this game plays great, with players completing different goals using a plane, rocket belt, and the aforementioned hang glider (as well as a few extras you gain access to later). However, this just doesn’t seem to be the same “wow” factor earlier games in the series had, and overall it feels like a much smaller and lesser experience.

A part of this is due to the game’s setting of Wuhu Island (earlier seen in Wii Sports Resort). This location feels small, and having every mission take place here only amplifies this feeling. It’s a far cry from Pilotwings 64’s multiple locations, even including an extremely scaled-down version of the United States. While I don’t have my digital measuring tape with me, it wouldn’t surprise me to find that Wuhu’s size is bigger than the combined area of the four islands of Pilotwings 64… but at the same time, Pilotwings Resort was released fifteen years after its predecessor, so one would hope that it wouldn’t just be technically bigger.

Another element of this game’s smallness is the lack of content – you could easily complete this game in 4-5 hours, and while there’s added gameplay to be found in getting perfect scores, that doesn’t change how disposable this all feels.

The Wuhu Island setting also has another unfortunate side-effect, one added to by this game’s use of Mii characters – Pilotwings Resort doesn’t feel like it has its own identity, and it has an overall generic feel that lacks the personality and creativity of Pilotwings 64.

Look, I know this review looks like nothing but complaints, so I’ll circle back around to note that Pilotwings Resort looks good, makes good use of the Nintendo 3DS’s stereoscopic 3D, and plays well. Do not take my criticism to mean that this is a bad game, because quite the opposite is true – this is an excellent game. However, it doesn’t feel like an essential game, and it doesn’t impress in the ways its predecessors did. If you’re a fan of the series or just want a solid Flight Simulator on your Nintendo 3DS, Pilotwings Resort is absolutely worth getting… just don’t expect it to make as much of an impact as the prior games in the franchise.

tl;dr – Pilotwings Resort is the third game in Nintendo’s family-friendly Flight Simulator franchise, and it gets the core of the series down very well – it looks good, and it plays well. Unfortunately, it feels like a far less impactful experience than either of the prior games in the series. It’s still well worth getting, but don’t expect to be blown away by it.

Grade: B

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