Pilotwings Resort is a thoroughly charming show-piece for the Nintendo 3DS.

So what are the graphics like? And what about the 3D effects?

The visuals on Pilotwings Resort and sharp, clean, and crisp. In fact they appear to be lot sharper than the visuals found on the Nintendo Wii presumably due to the portable small screen. As soon as I booted up the game I was impressed by the clarity of the visuals and I would say that this game is the definitive title to showcase the consoles visuals to your friends.

The 3D effects are superb as they add a completely new form of depth to the franchise and in turn make some of your in-game tasks easier to achieve. I did however find myself fiddling around with the slider once I had reached the last two mission modes. The reason being that sometimes the 3D effects help you and occasionally I found they can hinder you. As such I haven’t really settled on a favourite 3D setting though I do tend to leave the 3D on at around the 50% mark.

So, is the game as big and as varied as its predecessors?

I was a huge fan of Pilotwings on the Nintendo 64. I loved the variety of missions that the game offered and the stunning locations you were able to explore. Unfortunately with Pilotwings Resort, Nintendo have only produced one island for you to fly around. That island is Wuhu Island from Wii Fit & Wii Sports Resort, which I’m sure the majority of you will be familiar with.

I hadn’t really explored Wuhu island on Wii Fit and Wii Sports Resort so to me the location felt fairly fresh, but to those that have explored it numerous times on the aforementioned games you could get tired of it rather quickly. I was initially disappointed that Nintendo had chosen to base this game on one island especially since many of us have seen its attractions before.

The missions that the game throws at you however are nice and varied, and there’s a very simple learning curve to be found. The first few mission modes shouldn’t take you long to do at all (and even earn three stars in) but once you reach the Gold Missions you will find that you may have to retry missions a few times to gain those all-important three stars.

Closing comments

Piltowings Resort is the game I would personally choose if I was purchasing a Nintendo 3DS at launch. It takes advantage of the machines graphical capabilities and the 3D effects are at times stunning. I would have liked to have seen some online functionality for the game and also to have seen some integrated Spotpass functionality as well.

The games lifespan is fairly short but it’s also immensely fun and you’d be hard pressed not to smile at something in the game just once. It could have been longer; it could have had additional things added to it as I have previously mentioned, but as it is it’s a great launch title. If you are thinking of purchasing a Nintendo 3DS then this would be the game that I would recommend.

8.5/10