Our in-depth hands-on with the unit itself and the camera, fun included We came to Japan to play the Nintendo 3DS. Yes, that includes the “games” on the console too but we also just wanted to hold one in our hands and see that screen tha...
We came to Japan to play the Nintendo 3DS. Yes, that includes the “games” on the console too but we also just wanted to hold one in our hands and see that screen that everyone has been talking about. Does it live up to the hype? Just how good is the 3D? What about the buttons, touchscreen and colours? All these questions and more are answered right here.
Look and Feel
Get rid of those predisposed thoughts of the 3DS looking hideously ugly in real life. The unit itself is actually smaller than you think and feels similar to a DS Lite. The hinge still has that solid click to it and when closed still looks pretty nice, even if not clean from the side. The entire unit has a gloss finish, which, while good, I would’ve preferred matte because as we all know, it becomes a fingerprint attracting device when it’s glossy.
The Circle Pad (that’s what Nintendo is calling it) works well and has less resistance than the PSP’s analogue nub, overall feeling much better to use too. On Pilotwings, we also tested how responsive it was with the rocket pack and we were thankfully able to make small adjustments without any problems, so it’s got great potential to be precise too.
Now on to what was perhaps one of the things most people were worried about, the D-Pad. Well, dispel your fears people; it’s not a problem at all in its current position. There are no bent thumbs trying to reach it. Some players, however, may need to slide their grip on the 3DS down in order to play it properly, depending on finger size and such. As for how the D-Pad feels generally, it’s much more “clicky” than the DSi and feels more like the original DS pad. The other buttons on the unit have the same “click” to them too. Triggers are also thankfully responsive, and don’t feel spongy at all.
The bottom of the touch screen sees three buttons along it, the Home, Start and Select buttons. Initially these felt a little weird to try and hit during gameplay – but that could be because we’re used to playing on a Nintendo DSi and having the buttons in that position. Which might cause a problem as power button is now there. The three buttons on the bottom are actually buttons too, no touch sensitive things as people have had been reporting.
The stylus included with the system is roughly the same size as a normal DS Lite stylus but with one difference, it can now be extended (like a telescope) and is made of metal. This brings a little more weight to the stylus too.
One problem we have noticed, however, was that left handers will have difficulty playing games that require the Circle Pad, though we hope that games will be able to be “flipped” somehow in order to deal with it, otherwise it looks like left handers will have to deal with the awkward control setups. Of particular note, I found Kid Icarus a bit difficult to control being left handed.
The Screens
The biggest selling point of the Nintendo 3DS, without a doubt, is the 3D screen, so how well does it actually work? Does it actually work well? Will there be problems with it? The answers to these questions are yes, yes and a maybe.
Believe it or not, the Nintendo 3DS display works and yes, you don’t need any glasses to view it properly. Pick up the system and in a matter of seconds your eyes will be seeing the 3D and away you go. But that’s where the certainty ends. The main issue we’ve found both through experience and discussion with others is that each game has a variable level of 3D in order for you to get the best experience from it – that is, different levels of 3D are required for different games to properly enjoy them.
For example, we tried Pilotwings with full 3D enabled and we believe it’s a mess, almost sickening to a point. Lowering it a little bit makes it fine. Ridge Racer 3D is particularly blurry when in 3D, and is probably the blurriest of the games we played. We also noticed that in the move from 2D to 3D, there is a notable discrepancy in the game’s brightness. Whether this is a battery saving mechanic or something else is yet to be seen, but it’s definitely noticeable.
The 3D Depth Slider is a welcome addition though, and really hammers home the fact that everyone has different preferences and results with how they want their 3D experience to be. With the slide of a switch, players will be able to get their most desired result. It’s amazing how easy it is.
The bottom screen is a slightly higher resolution than the DSi but it’s still about the same size, the extra pixels are definitely a welcome addition. For what it’s worth, the touch mechanics all still work the same as the previous DS models.
AR Games
’Dragon’
We were treated to two AR games at Nintendo World 2011. The first was similar to the concept shown in the Nintendo 3DS Reel at E3, with a dragon popping out of the AR card. Basically, the card has the ability to spawn various objects into the environment, and players have to use the camera and the gyroscopic sensor to shoot them down. We did our best to try and “break” the game to see how well it worked, and the only way we could was to block the sensor completely, so it works pretty well.
’Face Shooter’
Face Shooter was another tech demo that Nintendo had used to demonstrate the abilities of the 3DS camera and its augmented reality features, and it doesn’t require a card. It is instead just a generic shooting type game where the player must turn around and shoot random things in the environment. There’s a twist, though, and that is the things that you have to shoot are your own face which must be photographed at the beginning of the game. It’s pretty simplistic but it is a good short demo to show off what the 3DS can do.
Both demos were just that, demos. But we can’t wait to see what developers can think up using more advanced cards and the uses of the 3D camera.
Finally, we also got a chance to tackle the Nintendo 3DS’s 3D camera and we have rather mixed feelings about the functionality. The fact that it’s a 3D camera is kind of cool, but the quality that the camera snaps the pictures at makes it pretty useless for anything besides showing it off on your 3DS. Advanced features like photo sharing might makes things a little better if they were included, though. All of the same tools to mess around with your photos are provided and this time there are even 3D effects to apply to them.
After reading our impressions, what do you think of the Nintendo 3DS now? Is it still a first day purchase for you or are you going to wait it out and see how it progresses? Let us know in the forum.
More than half of this week's releases are utter rubbish.