Kid Icarus Uprising (3DS) Review

Kid Icarus is another one of those franchises that I’d thought we’d never see again. I can’t count how many times I saw stories and articles about the franchise re-emerging before every E3 for the last five or so years. It really seemed like it was going to happen sooner or later. Thankfully, we’ve been blessed by the heavens to have received Kid Icarus: Uprising, a near perfect (and seemingly appropriate) transition of Pit’s journey to the Nintendo 3DS that will easily become one of the flagship titles for the system. Sure, this new Kid Icarus is a little bit different to what you will remember from either Kid Icarus or Of Myths and Monsters, but overall Uprising takes the franchise in a direction that feels just right and rather surprisingly, many may see it as a proper sequel to another Nintendo franchise everyone has been clamouring for. But more on that later.

Uprising takes place approximately 25 years after the original game, which ironically also references the length of time it’s taken for another title in this series to finally appear. Pit’s arch nemesis from the original game, Medusa, has been revived and is attempting to destroy the “mortals” and take over their world. Of course, Medusa also harbours an intense grudge against Pit and his Goddess, Palutena, for sealing her away all those years ago, so to say that she is determined is an understatement. Worried about the state of affairs, Palutena summons her loyal servant, Pit, to stop Medusa and her underworld army and save the world once more.

If there’s one thing that Masahiro Sakurai and his development studio, Sora Ltd., know how to do it’s fan service and Kid Icarus: Uprising is packed to the brim with it. Every major enemy that you encountered in the original games will appear in Uprising in some way shape or form and the game does a great job at reminding you of who they are by displaying their sprites on the bottom screen during conversations mid-game. Fans of the previous two games will feel rewarded for waiting this long, as many moments will have you chuckling as they recall past moments in other games.

The game itself has crazy production values – they well exceed almost everything available on the console to date and the writing is surprisingly top notch. I would go as far to say as it’s definitely got the best writing in a Nintendo game thus far – the jokes are mostly funny and even when they’re not, they’re so corny that you can’t help but laugh. It’s well written and both Pit and Palutena break the fourth wall pretty often in some clever ways and will catch you off guard on multiple occasions. The story itself is quite well written but a lot of the plot twists play out after you’ve already worked them out several hours before, though one revelation was quite surprising to us. Putting the story aside, Kid Icarus: Uprising is a great romp and the production values are just so high up there that it’s impossible to resist playing through the game, whether you’re enjoying the story or not.

Kid Icarus: Uprising is easily one of the better looking games on the 3DS. Not only are the environments lush with vibrant colour, there are just so many of those environments that the variety really makes the game feel like a substantial package. Pit himself animates well while enemies all animate smoothly and fluidly to give them personality (despite the lack of dialogue). Flying through the air while the sun casts shadows and other lighting effects, all while all kinds of energy bolts are being thrown around is truly a sight to behold. It’s just an eclectic and visual feast for the eyes that I could not pain myself to step away from. Boss designs in particular are pretty memorable, capturing the “essence” of their appearances 25 years ago but naturally updating them for today. Uprising simply looks amazing and it’s a good indication of what’s to come from the 3DS in the future.

The 3D effect is also used to great effect here – menus and scores all stand out as you would expect them too, though the enemy fire takes centre stage here. In some levels, enemies’ attacks will mostly miss Pit and shoot straight through the screen creating a great sense of depth and utilising the 3D feature like it’s meant to be. There was one level where I was circling a fortress that all of a sudden started shooting lasers at Pit, and of course, I had to dodge them. I was astounded at how every single laser penetrated the screen at different depths and lengths – it actually felt like this stuff was all going on in the screen and I was instead just watching. Uprising does a great job at utilising the 3D effect and it’s one of the more memorable applications of the technology.

Kid Icarus: Uprising is pretty different from its predecessors – no longer an action platformer with RPG elements and instead an on-rails shooter similar to Star Fox and the Sin & Punishment series. Unlike either of these two games though, Uprising feels quite substantial and will take players quite a while to get through. Generally speaking, the game takes two main “forms”. First are the flight segments where Pit is put on a set track and must shoot down enemies as they come at him, and the second is an on-foot segment where Pit controls like a standard third person action game. Pit can fire at his enemies, charge up shots to make more damage, and when enemies are close, attack with his weapon melee. It’s a simple yet robust combat system that anyone can pick up and play and it’s hard to see anyone not be able to find a style of play that suits them best.

I mention “styles” of play because of just how much content and the degree of customisability Kid Icarus: Uprising has. There are hundreds of weapons available to Pit, each of which fitting into a specific class of which each have different characteristics. For example, claw type weapons are great for melee encounters but not so much at a distance, while a cannon sacrifices the rate of fire in a weapon for sheer power. There are a lot of different styles to play around with and it’s hard to believe that any player will have trouble finding a style that will suit them. This is further emphasised by the game’s “cauldron” system – betting hearts (the in-game currency) allows the player to up the intensity (or difficulty) of the upcoming chapter. Beat the chapter and enjoy increased rewards, but of course if you lose you will lose all your betted hearts.

The difficulty does get pretty brutal on higher difficulties so the risk is high, but so is the pay off. It’s a nice little system for the gambler in all of us. Those who wish to play longer may want to use the included 3DS stand, though I didn’t have any problems with longer play sessions though I admit I have pretty weird hands and have never had “cramping” problems that others have complained about. Take that as you will.

The flight segments are great fun to play and fairly straightforward. Many enemies bombard the player and you’ll be amazed at how well choreographed the game’s battles are and many of the set pieces are quite memorable. The on land sections are a bit hit and miss, however. Some of these moments are hectic – there’s a lot of stuff on screen and you can’t help but move around the arena you’re in constantly. The only problem with this is the controls, which feel a little bit unrefined at parts and make it hard to accurately pull off what you want to without actually fluking it up or making Pit do something else. This problem is greatly exacerbated by the platforming segments in the game, where Pit will often do a mad dash instead of just walking and thus fall off a platform. It’s incredibly frustrating at times but besides this minor inconvenience, the game does play rather well.

As I’ve hinted at before, Kid Icarus: Uprising is packed to the brim with content. Players can engage in battles using collectible AR cards with their 3DS camera, which is a nice touch but realistically it’s not anything too substantial. Similarly, like Super Smash Bros. Brawl before it, “idols” can be collected in exchange for eggs that are given to the player at random intervals (or exchanged for play coins). Players can also fuse weapons together, which greatly increases the amount of weapons available in the game. Weapons can even be encapsulated into gems, which can then be exchanged or received via StreetPass. It’s a great amount of extra content to wade around and the progressive nature of the game’s equipment makes you want to continue playing the game to try and get the most out of it. In general, however, the game will last about ten to twelve hours for the average player to complete once, but many will find reasons to return to Uprising.

One of those reasons, undoubtedly, would be the game’s Multiplayer mode. Essentially games of light versus dark, players are put on teams of three and tasked with taking out the other team. Each death results in a reduction of a bar on the bottom of the screen. Once the last player dies, and takes the last of the bar with them, they will be revived as either Pit or Dark Pit depending on which team they are on. Essentially, whichever team’s Pit dies first, loses. It’s a cool system and nothing you haven’t seen before, but it works surprisingly well for this kind of game. The battles get fast and frenetic and there’s minimal latency even when playing against those overseas. There’s also free for all modes too if you’re not a team player and these games get even more hectic than usual.

The game’s soundtrack is great – filled with epic orchestral pieces that really add to the overall vibe of the game, though at points the game will purposely cut the music to offer the players an opportunity to fully appreciate the scenery. It’s as weird touch but it works surprisingly well. The voice work, in particular, is very good with most of the dialogue being delivered impeccably by the actors. A lot of it is quite funny too, which is a nice touch. Many players will find great joy in listening to the banter between Pit and Palutena and this is really only because of how well acted the dialogue is.

Kid Icarus: Uprising is easily one of the best, if not the best original title available for the Nintendo 3DS. Its fast paced and frenetic gameplay, coupled with it’s incredibly substantial content offering makes it a game that’s worth in any players library. A few control issues unfortunately hold back Uprising from being a perfect game to receive a perfect score, but honestly the game has just so much going for it that you will be willing to play it and enjoy it, albeit in short bursts. The stand included definitely alleviates some of the problems, but some players might see this as a band-aid solution to fix controls that should’ve been fixed earlier. Regardless of my issues with the controls, Kid Icarus: Uprising is a game that every 3DS owner should play, own, love and cherish. Now that Pit’s back I hope we start seeing more of him.

[box_light]Second Opinion of those of a Left Hander.

One of the big questions out there surrounding Kid Icarus: Uprising has been the controls for left handed people. Nintendo has two main solutions for us left handers to attempt to play the game. You can flip the controls to that you can move Pit with the face buttons, shoot with R (and many other combo’s like) and therefore hold the stylus in the left hand. This works but you lose the analog precision of the Circle Pad. However, then there is the option of adding the Circle Pad Pro.

The addition of the Circle Pad allows you hold the stylus in your left hand and retain the analog controls. The addition trigger on the Circle Pad then is the shooter button. The Circle Pad Pro does not unlock ‘traditional’ dual analog controls. The ariel combat isn’t much of a problem, it’s the on foot sections which give the most grief.

So does this solution solve the problem? Yes, left handers can play the game with stylus in there ‘good’ hand but it does mean you can’t use the stand that comes with the game. It’s also even more uncomfortable to play for extended periods of time. Personally, my mind is locked into the ‘right stick as camera’ mentality. Even though you have to aim with the stylus your brain will take a while to remember that the second analogue isn’t for aiming this game.

It’s an inelegant solution to a problem that could have been easily fixed with offering of dual analog controls. Left handed or not touch controls for the sake of touch controls I thought was dead a couple of years after the DS came out. Knock one star off the game if you’re left handed because you’re going to struggle with it, I’m enjoying everything else about the game however!

– Daniel Vuckovic [/box_light]