Kid Icarus: Uprising Review
You’ll quickly realise as you play through Uprising, that Pit is a fun and happy Nintendo character. The story and characters will immediately captivate you and pull you in to the shoes of our fellow angel.
Kid Icarus first came out on the NES and it got re-released on the 3DS for the 3D Classics! After the release of the Game Boy game for the franchise, it laid dormant. Nothing was heard about this gaming franchise for god knows how long. That all changed with Super Smash Bros Brawl. Pit became an exclusive character on the game, which helped put Kid Icarus back onto the market. It was then shortly after that they announced this game, Kid Icarus: Uprising; and here we have it…!
We start the game off as we usually do within a brand new story mode, the controls are taught to you as you are introduced to the characters. Palutena, Goddess of Light and Pit are the main characters, and the narrative follows your quest to banish the evil Medusa who has risen from the underworld. The problem is they do not know how she got out or how she was resurrected! You will have to play this game all the way through as I will not spoil this for any of those who wish to find out for themselves. However on that note there is a very nice twist to the story, which, annoyingly, caught ME by surprise. It’s a good thing that the story does this, as I thought that the game would be ending a lot sooner than originally planned, but this proved me wrong.
While at first the controls may seem rather easy to get the hang of, after a while playing through the game, you’ll realise how difficult it can be, especially if you’re playing for extended periods on the higher difficulties. The best way to play is to use the stand that comes with the game, or just by being clever by taking breaks every now and then, even when your hands start to get a bit sweaty! You take control of Pit in two different ways; in air and on land. Whilst you are in the air, you move around using the control stick and aim with your stylus. You shoot or melee attack with the L button, which is a nice addition.
For those who are left-handed, they can use the A B Y X buttons to move around on the screen. Moving around is possibly one of your best options during the game, as enemy attacks tend to home in on you throughout the game. By utilising both the touch screen and the circle pad/buttons, it does get pretty hectic from time to time, but it’s important to the gameplay as it stops people from standing still and aiming, this helps make players more active and get to defeat enemies before they decide to take a break!
Whilst engaging in combat on the ground, the buttons remain pretty similar, with the addition of tapping extra things on the touch screen to activate special attacks or enhancements for Pit.
Graphics do play a big part in Uprising, and really show off the 3DS tech very nicely, and for me this is important since I feel that graphics can adversely affect the gameplay. Luckily Nintendo knows how to keep the game and the graphics in tune thus perfecting a game such as this. It has the look that children will enjoy but the gameplay and controls fuse together, allowing even advanced and skilled gamers to enjoy it! The graphics do look nice from a distance, but sometimes up close on the characters it can look a little blocky, though coming from a handheld, it’s hard to complain.
Content is king in mobile gaming, and Nintendo is the best developer when it comes to replay value, and they have a proven track record with Mario, Zelda etc! Kid Icarus: Uprising however seems to exceed these games, with a lot more to do other than the solo story mode. There’s also the multiplayer mode which providing a good variety of game modes. Free-For-All is a battle royale where everyone is out for themselves, as opposed to Light VS Dark, which works as a team based battle. The latter mode does have some interesting mechanics, as if one team loses all of their overall health, the last player to die and deplete the gauge is then turned into either Light or Dark Pit. It is here where you must defeat the Ultimate Angel to become the winners of the match. This is fun either way, against the CPU or real people!
There are also other additions to the game, such as Combining and converting weapons, which you can share through Street Pass and Spot Pass. Combining weapons to make the ultimate weapon is no easy task, but the system is easy to learn. Look at the item each weapon has and try and create the weapon of your choice. The more items you have on your weapons will increase the value. They can however decrease if you are not clever enough!
Collecting Idols is perhaps one of my favourite parts of the game; similar to collecting statues in resident evil. Idols are movable statues, which show you what the weapon, character or place does/look like. Information is also given to you describing what it is that you have unlocked! After completing a level you collect a certain amount of eggs, which you then toss to hatch an Idol. The more you toss into the air and unlock, the lower your percentage will be to unlocking a completely new one! Luckily I myself have only hatched a few doubles. You can also use your play coins from the 3DS to unlock another egg for yourself to toss.
The last piece of collectibles that you unlock is puzzle pieces where once you have completed a specific requirement, you will unlock a new panel! This requires playing on all levels (1-9) and becoming really ace at the game!
