Last week, I purchased Kid Icarus Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS from the Nintendo E-Shop. The main plot for this game is set 25 years after the original Kid Icarus game for the NES, where Medusa is at it again and Pit has to stop her. A few chapters later, it is revealed that someone else named Hades is the real perpetrator for the return of the Underworld army, as well as Medusa's return and Pit has to go and stop him.
The core gameplay has changed from a platformer to a rail shooter and third-person shooter game. There are two types of battles: Air Battles, which are 5 minute sections where you fly through the skies while taking down enemies and the Land Battles, which are third-person shooter levels where you fight enemies on the ground. At the end of a level, the boss will appear and you have to fight it to win. There are a lot of comedy skits as well as fourth wall breaking comments like when Pit says that him and Twinbellows are going to rack up a load of Nintendogs trainer points after he defeats him or in the Tutorial video, when Palutena explains that the Dash move is similar to the one in "Super Bash Sisters" with Pit correcting her and saying the game was 'Super Smash Bros'. This makes the story a hell of a lot more enjoyable and the conversations between the heroes and villains are more hilarious too.
There is also an online and offline multiplayer mode, which lets you face up to 5 others on Free for All or face each other in teams in Light vs Dark. In Free for All, you have to gain the most points and in Light v Dark, you must deplete the team's health bar until Pit/Dark Pit comes in and then you must deplete it further to win. This mode is clearly inspired by Super Smash Bros and it shows with how chaotic it can get and the fact that Sakurai was making the game.
Other modes have Idols you can view, music you can listen to, AR Card modes, StreetPass and much more.
All this is bundled up in a package to make one of the best 3DS releases yet!!! The only letdown of the game is the akward and slippery controls, which make it harder to battle on as you are constantly having to turn the camera around to see the enemy. Otherwise, I HIGHLY recommend this 3DS title for anyone new to the 3DS system or has not bought it yet.
