Pilotwings Resort for Nintendo 3DS Reviews by Gamers

Pros -
The freedom of flight
Challenging missions for perfect scores
Good variety of vehicles

Cons -
Too short
Balloon popping missions have poor hit detection
Free flight mode is time limited
Island just doesn't feel big enough
Very little difference between 2D and 3D, very poor on max settings.
Controls are no where close to being realistic
No online leaderboards
Little to none replayability

Biggest complaint of all -
Flying a perfect mission for a few minutes working on a perfect score just to hit the landing slightly off and receiving less than perfect marks. You never really know how they'll score your landing until after the fact. There where many hang glider and plane missions that took me minutes to complete and just because I was slightly off center on the landing/came in too fast/came in too slow it would take points off and I would have to do the mission all over.

Recommendation -
Decent game that gives the freedom of flying, but the scoring system is very aggrevating. The 3D should have been more fined tuned also. I recommend renting only and enjoy it for a 2 or 3 days.

4 out 10

The game mechanics in the Pilotwings franchise have always been simple and I believe it's this simplicity that is what makes it such a fun series. The controls are intuitive and forgiving, managing altitude and speed are the primary factors in gameplay and everything else is pretty much left up to the player's skill. The free flight mode is well balanced with a time limit structure forcing the player to break up their free flights into quick playthroughs, later players can unlock longer time limits which extends the time the player can spend exploring Wuhu Island.

Out of the six types of vehicles I'd have to say my favorite is the hang-glider as this vehicle showcases what pilotwings does that's unique in it's genre of flight simulators. The introduce the player to an interesting mechanic where the player has no propulsion other than the transference of potential energy (altitude) into kinetic energy (speed) by climbing higher through the use of thermals, the controls are forgiving enough for this game to be considered casual but the challenges are difficult enough that the game features a lot of replayability to achieve a perfect score on all of the game's challenges.

It's definitely worth a rent especially if you're looking for interesting games to try on the 3DS. Its unique gameplay make this title something rare in the video game industry and fun to experience.