Its a little unfortunate that Nintendo decided to call this 3DS. Whereas this also has two screens this is about where the comparisons pretty much end. This is not just an updated piece of kit, this is a whole new handheld experience.
Overall the machine looks like the orignal Dsi, its about the same size but is much thicker. People have complained that the casing is cheap plastic, but hey this is Nintendo, even the higher end products are made out of plastic, in nintendo land dont expect brushed metal and bulletproofing. Its all very shiny and your average CSI agents wet dream in fingerprints. But anyone who even owned a Nintendo product knows allready about build qualities so i wont go waffling on about that. Open the thing up and once again it looks like a DSI, the buttons have moved about, theres a joypad nub thingy and the top screen is much larger. So far an updated DSI, right ?
Wrong.
Because when you turn the 3DS on it suddenly strikes you that your beloved DSI will never get used again. The first thing that happens after you have set up date/time/etc is the first experience you will hav with glasses free 3D. You are greeted with a flat looking Nintendo logo with some crosses dotted around. Then there is a countdown from 3 to 1. And then it happens. In a split second the Nintendo logo is now bobbing about through what appears to be a window, the crosses now taper backwards into the distance, everything has depth. Its stunning and almost a little scary that something is happening that seems impossible. Its at this point that the 3DS becomes a gamechanger. The 3D effect is better than you could have ever dreamed of, it works. Yes there is a rather small window to view the 3d, but this is not anything as bad as you may have heard. Moving your head or the machine around too much will spoil the 3d, but it becomes second nature how to hold your 3DS to have great 3D without worrying too much about the sweetspot.
Once you have picked up your jaw from the 3D you can delve deeper into the other joys this machine offers. The touch screen interface works very much like the Wii. All the icons you will need appear on the screen at once, this makes it very easy to find the app you want. Its much neater and sreamlined now, its the best version of an operating system Nintendo has offered to date. Even someone unfamilar with the DS system will be able to work out how everything works. The preinstalled software is all very high quality, there is no real bum app on offer here, they all do the job well, fast and are fun to use. The only app that really fills up space is Miimaker, which is pretty much what you get with Wii, you make a Mii you can use in games. You will use this app once, to create your Mii, and thats it, from now on it will just fill space. Wereas the cameras on the 3DS are not stellar by any standards the Photo App more than makes up for this when you can tinker around with photos so much, and yes said photos are in glorious ( if a little grainy ) 3D. There is a strange AR game where you shoot your own floating head called Faceraiders, Mii Plaza where you can meet all the people you've interacted with via streetpass, Ar games where you use little cards and the 3ds camera to play some games, finally there is a barebones Audio App. All good stuff and a great bonus considering what came preinstalled on your DSI ( pretty much nothing ).
There is very little wrong with the machine itself, apart from pretty terrible battery life everything is hunky dory. Well there is one minor problem too....
At this moment in time pretty much every 3DS game available sucks. There are 3 good titles, Ridge Racer, Tom Clancys Ghost Recon Shadow Wars and Street Fighter. The rest are dismal. Beyond dismal. This is the real thorn in the 3DS side. While writing this the first wave of high quality titles are just starting to hit. But even these titles are not original games, they are remakes. Yes they are good remakes but simply tagging on 3D is gonna get pretty old pretty quick. Its still early in this consoles lifespan so for software to be a little thin on the ground is expected ( the DS too was a slow starter ). But for people who bought this product at launch and played through the only 3 decent titles, they have simply had the console sat around collecting dust. A great breathtaking piece of tech became a very expensive paperweight. If you are the patient type who can wait for high quality AAA titles to appear then none of what i just said will be a problem.
Overall the 3DS is a fantastic product. The 3D is amazing no matter how many times you see it. The only thing that lets everything down is the available software. When you buy a 3DS you are getting a very special piece of kit, just make sure you dont tarnish it with some terrible games that make you want to take your eyes out with spoons.
No comments:
Post a Comment