Hands on with Pilotwings Resort for 3DS

Pilotwings is one of those series that has managed to generate a large and very loyal following despite the relative lack of titles over the years.

Released as a launch title for both the SNES and N64, Pilotwings tasks the player with obtaining various flying licenses for a variety of airborne vehicles like gliders and rocket packs by completing mainly non-violent objectives like flying through hoops or popping balloons.

Pilotwings Resort was one of the few titles available to play at the recent London 3DS showcase, and it looks to be shaping up to be another excellent edition in the well-respected flying series.

The Pilotwings Resort demo had two vehicles to try out – a plane and a rocket pack – and two short levels showcasing the 3D graphics and the brightly coloured tropical island location.

The first thing that strikes you about the game is easily the 3DS’s new feature - the joystick - as this was the only one of the three playable demos at the event that really used it to any meaningful degree.

It moves with a good degree of space between the neutral position and the edges. The depression in the centre helps you to grip the surface, and makes piloting the two vehicles a lot easier than I remember the N64 version being.

The jetpack in particularl is great fun to pilot, with the joystick controlling the angle of the rockets and the A button activating the boosters.

While the joystick may be one of the new features on the console, it isn’t the one everyone’s talking about.

Pilotwings Resort’s use of the 3D display was amongst the best of the games on display, with the HUD hovering above the action, your avatar sitting just behind (in terms of depth, that is), and the landscape stretching far out into the distance. The sense of scale is striking.

Push the 3D slider far down until the graphics flatten and it does look awfully like a DS game, though. This is a game designed for playing with the depth slider firmly set to ‘high’.

This isn’t purely for aesthetic reasons, either, as the extra depth of the action does make it easier to judge the distance and placement of buildings, balloons, or fountains as you zip past them (or into them).

It’s still at a very early stage of development, as you’d expect when the console it runs on is still ‘work in progress’, but as a demonstration of how the 3D screen can enhance a pre-existing template, Pilotwings Resort was easily the strongest showing of the games on display at the 3DS event.