3DS Launch Titles

Feature from Jae - Wednesday, 06 April 2011 @ 12:06am

So the new generation of portable console gaming is upon us. This time it combines our love for gaming with stereoscopic 3D. I’ve always wondered where the 14% of the population that can’t see 3D are hiding. They’re not disadvantage with the new portable but they are missing a feature others enjoy. Today I take you through my launch titles experience with Super Street Fighter IV 3D, Rayman 3D and Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D.

Super Streetfighter IV 3DS
I’m pretty sure I’ve reviewed this game twice already. I’ve played every possible version of the game too (Console, PC, iOS and arcade) yet still thoroughly enjoy each iteration. SSFIV 3D is a nice neat little package that stands out as the sure game
to get on the 3DS launch. It does everything it’s console big brother does plus more. It’s also noob friendly with optional touch screen commands. There is an option to use “Lite” mode which allows you to specify one of four touch panels as special moves. This is great for those who have always had difficulty with Streetfighter moves and not so great for open online matches. It’s not really fair when your opponent can pull off Guile’s flash kick from a standing position but luckily you can cater your matches to avoid Lite users.

It’s only limitation is the controls which isn’t a fault of the game but more so the fault of the 3DS. I’ll talk more about it in our 3DS console feature (article soon to come) but the 3DS isn’t built well for man hands. Couple that with a game that requires precise fast twitch button commands and you’ll find yourself visiting handcramptown. I’m a heavy Guile user meaning most of my special move inputs require 2 second holds and doing that with your thumb on a 3DS is sure to give you cramps. This is the one time you should take note of the safety message and take a 10 minute break every 30 minutes.
As an added bonus the costumes that were expensive DLC packs on the console versions are all available in the 3DS version. Online play, at the moment, is easy to set up as there are so many opponents available. I would enter arcade mode and set my online play slot to open so that people can battle me whenever they like. Since day 1 of launch I’ve only been able to play, at most, 10 seconds of an arcade battle before a player challenges me online. Can’t say I’ve ever experienced that with the console version. It goes to show this is the popular must-get title for early 3DS adopters. Since online battles can experience lag it is unfortunate that certain moves can’t be pulled off very well. For example when jumping forward at your opponent there is a very small window of opportunity in which you can kick or punch whilst in the air. Pressing it at the wrong time, or the equivalent of the right time during a local lagless match, will mean you end up kicking as soon as you land which can open you up for easy hits.

Dynamic mode is an exclusively new feature for the 3DS version of this game. It’s fighting from the perspective of 3rd person just behind the shoulder of your character. It’s more so a proof on concept than a wanted feature. It shows depth perception and proves that the game was made with 3D in mind. Can’t say that it’s an enjoyable mode to play by but it adds a bit of a challenge to those that might enjoy mixing things up.
Even if you’re not a serious fighter super fan SSFIV 3D is your go to title on the 3DS. It packs in an entire console game and then some for less than the price of its console brothers. Enjoy it with friends, enjoy it online and enjoy it with yourself.

Rayman 3D
Replaying a game which is a decade old has to have something new to suck you in. Simply because a new console has come out is no excuse to re-release games, sadly Rayman 3D won’t be the last time you see this. I did enjoy Rayman 3 ten years ago but no longer find reason to go back and play it again. The 3D is graphically bad which is exacerbated by its outdated jagged textures. It kind of has me worried for Nintendo’s re-release of Ocarina of Time which was a title released originally well before Rayman 3. Pushing the 3D slider all the way up will show minimal change in what you’re viewing. You might as well leave the game in 2D and conserve some battery life.

As a platformer Rayman 3D is solid. It does well with camera angles and allows you to centre your view at the click of the L trigger. Jumping in the game works right with Rayman using his ears to helicopter his way to safety. So many platformers these days have difficulty getting jumping mechanics right but Rayman 3D keeps it intact. The controls work fine with the 3DS’s analogue nub. Ubisoft seem to have forgotten that the 3DS has a touch panel. Well that was an exaggeration but again the game should really make use of it more. Also for a game that is on flash media it sure does have a fair amount of load times. Each loading screen is short but frequent. Perhaps it was a conscious decision to encourage breaks during gameplay but I’m inclined to thinking it was simply lazy porting.
Get Rayman 3D if your kids are playing the 3DS and itching for a Mario-esque title but if you want something that uses the 3DS for its console specific features you’ll just have to wait for something better.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2011
Prior to the last few years I had always preferred the PES franchise over FIFA. The game has always had good controls and a great multiplayer following. PES on the 3DS shows you how good the graphics can look on the system. Features specific to the 3DS are limited but if you were considering getting PES I would doubt that you were buying it for the extras. 3D on the soccer field works really well, I can see the separation in players that are near versus those that are far away from your point of view. The crowd back drop is the ugly feature of the game with outdated sprites. I would say it’s the limitation of the console processing power which prevents a better looking crowd.
The commentary has carried over from the console version and plays well with what goes on during playtime in the field. I need to stop diving for the ball because I’m getting more yellow cards than Lee Bowyer ever did in his entire career.
For soccer fans it’s a must but for everyone else it’s a tough sell. If you have mates that have 3DS’s you can all have fun with copies of PES 2011. This game shows how powerful this new generation of portables are and demonstrates the gap between home consoles and portables is closing in.

So there you have it, some great games, some not so great games during the launch of the 3DS. The thing you will notice is that many 3DS titles are ports of original games, Nintendo are geniuses at fooling us into buying the same game multiple times (Pokemon!) and it’s going to be no different with its latest hardware. If re-releases is what we’ll get for a while I’m happy if the developers make an effort to add features specific to the 3DS versions. Otherwise if its games I played a decade ago on a 48cm 4x3 CRT with nothing more than limited stereoscopic 3D, put it back into archive and wait for the 4th dimension before you conjure it up again.