At E3 I got my hands on a 3Ds, and can report back that it is a rather amazing thing to behold. The top (3D) screen looks bright and lovely and the effect is incredibly solid. I had a laundry list of concerns going into it but most of them were quickly forgotten the second I held real 3D in my hands. It's really rather incredible,
My first and only game experience so far was with
Pilot Wings, an old favourite turned new with
Pilot Wings Resort. There were two sample levels to play: Ring flight and Jet Pack. The first level consisted of taking off in a plane and just flying through as many sequential aerial rings as possible. The controls with the new analog/thumbpad are effortless and a welcome change from navigating 3D spaces with a d-pad. I easily breezed though and got 100%, which was terribly satisfying.
Next was a Jet Pack level wherein I just need to pop any five of the several large balloons scattered around the level. The controls for this took a moment to become accustomed too but worked incredibly well. Leaving the thumbpad centred leaves your jet pack facing straight down which just gives lift. Moving it up/forward moves your jet packs forward which pushes you back. Left and right are similarly reversed. It's sounds a bit odd but the visual feedback of screen of your jets moving about makes it all clear. My first go round on this was not as perfect as the first level and I actually died, or at least crashed, once by letting myself fall too far/fast to the ground.
The graphics I saw were very much in line with what we are already used to on the DS. The screen was nicer, and the resolution seemed a bit higher, but it didn't have nearly the “Wow!” to it that
Kid Icarus does.
All in all I'm personally already sold on the 3DS – even if it can make me a bit nauseous it's still such a freaking cool experience that I just want one. Being able to make any game not-3D is also a fantastic choice for those of us who play a lot on the move. My daily subway travels for example may cause issues with all the shaking about that goes on, and keeping the screen within the right angle of my face may be bothersome. Either way being able to see 3D on a screen without glasses is really worlds better than with.
