Nintendo 3DS Reviews M-Z

It's been many years since Mario Golf Toadstool Tour (GameCube, 2003), but in the meantime the Hot Shots Golf series has done a good job of filling the arcade-golf niche. By 2014, everyone knows how to make a good golf game - except the designers of Mario Golf World Tour. Not only is its gameplay riddled with flaws, but the structure of the game is aggravating. I was happy to see a selection of my favorite characters like Peach, Yoshi, and Boo (ever see a ghost swing a golf club?), but disappointed only one generic "forest" course was available. After playing it a few times I discovered it was necessary to play the "Castle Club" mode to unlock new courses. If that's not bad enough, you're forced to play using your dorky Mii. Is Nintendo still pushing those things? My Mii is an unlikeable loser who makes me cringe whenever he gallivants around yelling "yay!" and "yahoo!" The whole point of buying this game was to play as my favorite Nintendo characters! The Castle Club is a huge pain. Upon selecting the forest course championship I was told I had to first play a practice round. Really? Upon completing that, I selected championship again, only to be told I had to play a "handicap tournament" first. How many times do I have to play this [expletive] course?! And why does this game insist on presenting me with options that I can't actually choose?! Eventually I unlocked courses like seaside and mountain, and sure, they look good. I like the smooth contours and rounded trees, and you can even see the wind gusts. A second set of "fantasy courses" can be unlocked by completing challenges, but they look like ass. The only thing worse than competing on Peach's all-pink course (my eyes - it burns!) is hitting balls between urine puddles on Yoshi's yellow course. In terms of control, the developers were intent on reinventing the wheel. The "expanding circle" swing meter is horrible. It's actually harder to hit shorter shots since you have to react quicker. A more conventional line meter can be found on the top edge of the lower screen, but even that sucks because it limits your power (no overswing). The shot screen is cluttered will all sorts of unnecessary arrows and indicators, and why does everything have to be rainbow colored? The rainbow grid is so gaudy I can't even see the flag on the green! The ability to expedite ball rolls is useful, but a "fast forward" function would have been preferable to abruptly ending my shot. You can only save your game between rounds, which is really annoying when I'm having the best round of my life and my 3DS power lights are blinking like crazy. Mario Golf World Tour is a botched job. I'm pretty sure there's a good golf game here somewhere, but it's buried under a pile of garbage. © Copyright 2014 The Video Game Critic.

When I reviewed Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo, 2011), I thought I had seen the best the 3DS had too offer. Clearly, I spoke too soon. Mario Kart 7 is amazing. You might dismiss the 3D as window dressing, but it actually makes a big difference! The sense of speed is more convincing and the environments feel more open and expansive. After soaring off a ramp your cart turns into a glider so you can navigate through the air to collect floating coins or look for alternate routes. It's an adrenaline rush that adds a whole new dimension to the racing. The graphics are the best I've seen in a Mario Kart title, offering 16 sensational new tracks along with 16 remixed tracks from past Mario Karts on the N64, Game Boy, and GameCube. The Aladdin-inspired night stage features exotic scenery and beautiful lighting effects. I also love the tropical resort that lets you race underwater (not in a tunnel - in the actual water!). Neo City has a Blade Runner vibe with its high-tech, rainy scenery. The characters include all the usual suspects but the weapons include some new additions. The leaf power-up gives you a tail you can use to smack cars that ride too close. The awesome "lucky seven" power-up surrounds you with seven items you can unleash with reckless abandon. Mario Kart 7 offers one of the best one-player race experiences ever, and naturally there are on-line and off-line multiplayer modes. It's been 20 years since I purchased the original Super Mario Kart (SNES, 1992), and this series is still king when it comes to pure racing fun. © Copyright 2012 The Video Game Critic.

You have to give the developers of Nano Assault a lot of credit. It would have been very easy to release a 3D version of the Nanostray shooters that were such a hit on the DS. Instead we get a completely original title that fully leverages the 3DS capabilities. In a typical stage you guide a small ship around the surface of a cell. Your ship looks like a flea but the cell itself rotates impressively as you move around it. Your goal is to exterminate all living organisms crawling over its surface while collecting DNA strands. Each cell has a unique shape, and the high-resolution, clammy surfaces look very organic. You use the four main buttons to unleash a stream of shots in any direction, and you also have a limited supply of special weapons (like guided missiles). Enemies have health meters, and it's satisfying to wear them down. It's fun to see what each new stage has in store at first, but enemies never evolve into anything more than simple shapes. The shooting action is just okay. Organisms can spawn from a cell's surface with annoying frequency - sometimes directly beneath you. The treasure hunting aspect adds another dimension to the gameplay, forcing you to fully explore each cell. The illusion of depth is impressive (especially in the tunnel stages) and the pulsating electronic music is intense. A story mode allows you to unlock the various stages, and the arcade mode lets you play through each for score. Nano Assault earns points for originality, but on the whole it just doesn't leave a lasting impression. © Copyright 2012 The Video Game Critic.

The Pilotwings franchise has a long tradition of showcasing the new graphical capabilities of Nintendo consoles, dating back to the SNES edition with its fancy "mode 7" effects. Pilotwings Resort lets you soar over tranquil island locations in a plane, jetpack, and hang glider. On paper, flying and 3D sounds like a match made in heaven, but in practice the small 3DS screen tends to understate the visual splendor of your surroundings. I never felt that sense of exhilaration that I was hoping for. The exotic environments are pleasant enough, but Nintendo fans will notice that one island was recycled from Wii Fit. A mission mode offers a series of increasingly difficult challenges where you fly through rings, pop balloons, shoot targets, and snap pictures of landmarks. To maximize your score you'll want to use speed boosts to improve your time, and be sure to nail the landing. Landing is not particularly hard and it's very satisfying to land your plane on the strip in the water. The early training missions are an absolute chore to get through, but things gradually get more interesting, so hang in there. My favorite stage is the one where you chase a car and shoot at its balloons. When the car goes through a tunnel, it feels like a chase scene from a James Bond movie. While I generally prefer the plane missions, the jetpack gives you the maneuverability to freely explore your surroundings. The hang glider relies on "updrafts" to remain in the air, which look like weak tornados. These stages are relaxing but some people may find them extremely dull. The 3D aspect of Pilotwings Resort is good but not great, and I found that turning down the 3D setting a tad helped me maintain focus. The music is of the easy listening variety - not particularly catchy but not bad either. I've always found it hard to get excited about Pilotwings games, but this well-crafted title is fine for those looking for some leisurely fun. © Copyright 2011 The Video Game Critic.

This disappointing sequel to the classic River City Ransom (NES, 1988) falls into a familiar trap. It's not enough to have the same basic ingredients; you need the right blend. Tokyo Rumble offers more missions, stages, moves, characters, and some pretty good music. But story makes no sense, the fighting is laborious, and you never know where to go. Tokyo Rumble does at least retain the same squat, boxy characters with goofy facial expressions. But unlike the charming pixelated stages of the original game, the scenery here looks plain and washed out. The ability to zoom in via the shoulder buttons seems neat at first, but the close angle is unplayable and you're always triggering it by accident. The world is expansive but confusing to navigate. It took me quite a while to realize the map on the lower screen is just a subway map. I wouldn't even have known how to enter a subway station had I not stumbled into some blurry doorway. The characters and school locations tend to have long, confusing Japanese names. When you strike an enemy the amount of damage appears, but it takes about 20 hits to kill anybody and don't even get me started on the bosses! Even bashing someone with a baseball bat or trash can feels oddly unsatisfying. Dropped coins can be used to purchase new moves, but saving up is a serious grind. River City: Tokyo Rumble lacks the simplicity that made the original so appealing. As a sanity check I went back and played River City Ransom on my NES, and yeah - it's still holds up. This game? No bueno! © Copyright 2018 The Video Game Critic.

Normally I'm leery about buying a portable game if I already own the console version. Still, I was intrigued to hear that this portable Sonic Generations has its own set of stages. Plus I wanted to see how they looked in 3D. No question about it, the classic Green Hill zone looks all new and shiny on the 3DS. The characters really "pop" and the layered backgrounds are sweet. The zones are culled from many Sonic titles over the years, and each offers "classic" and "modern" modes. The classic side-scrolling stages tend to play better, but the modern 3D stages are more spectacular. Unfortunately, on the small screen these modern stages look a lot less spectacular. In fact, they look a heck of a lot like the classic stages. And since both modes have slightly different controls, switching between them is confusing. I enjoyed unlocking the zones, as they feature plenty of eye candy, secrets and alternate routes. Unfortunately the later stages tend to incorporate "deadly drop-offs" which are frustrating as hell. Those "wind updrafts" are supposed to help, but they're just plain dumb. I was psyched to see the Emerald Coast stage (from the original Sonic Adventure), but these elements ruin it. All of the stages are needlessly elongated, making them feel more repetitive and less fun to explore. The bottom screen shows your progress, and often I found myself checking it just because I wanted the stage to end! At least the original music has been retained, and hearing these excellent tunes will instantly transport you back 10 or 20 years. Sonic Generations offers both the best and worst of Sonic, which will give Sonic fans a lot of mixed feelings. © Copyright 2012 The Video Game Critic.

If one Nintendo property screamed for the 3D treatment, it had to be Star Fox. The original Star Fox (SNES, 1993) was Nintendo's first polygon shooter, leveraging a special "FX" chip to perform 3D rendering. Star Fox 64 (N64, 1997) realized the potential of the franchise, delivering smooth flight through rich 3D worlds. Star Fox 64 3D lets you relive the fun and even tosses in a new enhanced mode for good measure. The tutorial is lengthy (I thought it would never end) but playing the game rekindled fond memories. It's fun to skim over colorful landscapes while ducking under barriers and flying through rings to collect power-ups. The shimmering water effects look great and I love to see enemy ships explode before crashing into the ground. In most stages you move continuously forward, using your thrusters to dodge obstacles. Other areas give you free range, but they tend to be small, forcing you to constantly loop around. Star Fox looks great on the 3DS, but it's easy to lose the 3D focus in the heat of battle, so I turned it off. The bosses are interesting, and that lanky robot in the desert reminded me of General Grievous of Star Wars fame (complete with exposed heart). Star Fox veterans will appreciate subtle details like the distinctive robot voice that says good luck. The thumbstick control is serviceable but the gyro steering option is an absolute nightmare - I hate it. Like other Star Fox games you're joined by wacky companions like Slippy Frog and Peppy Hare. These guys tend to get in trouble a lot, asking you to shoot down bogies on their tail. The problem is, it's really hard to figure out what to shoot with so many ships criss-crossing on the horizon. Your limited vertical movement makes it hard to follow - or even locate - enemies. Fortunately the low difficulty eases the frustration. Star Fox 64 3D has its charm but it feels somewhat constrained by its 64-bit heritage. © Copyright 2014 The Video Game Critic.

I hear Steel Diver was originally a technical demo for the 3DS, and I believe it. This is an unconventional submarine shooter that plays in slow motion. The main campaign is a series of missions that typically run from five to fifteen minutes in length. Your goal is to get from point A to point B while navigating caves, avoiding mines, blasting rocks, and facing off against other vessels. There's even an occasional boss encounter. Two sliders on the lower screen control your speed and depth, and they seem perfectly positioned for your thumbs. Unfortunately they tend to be hard to "grab" (ugh) and when making slight adjustments they often return to their original positions (gah!). You'll probably need to use the stylus. A third control lets you adjust your sub's angle of attack. Momentum plays a key role as you're constantly fine-tuning the three controls, and it's pretty satisfying once you get the hang of it. The missions require a cautious, deliberate approach. While reasonable in difficulty and thoughtfully constructed, they are not the least bit addictive, and I never felt a burning desire to play the same mission twice. I do like the idea of repairing damage by "rubbing out" breaches in the hull. The "periscope strike" bonus game injects some much-needed action, presenting a first-person view as you fire torpedoes at ships and subs. I like the option of playing in stormy weather, but it's still nothing to write home about. A third mode is "steer commander" which is a Battleship-style game. I gave it a try but it was too complicated and definitely not my cup of tea. Steel Diver's 3D effects only slightly enhance its visuals, although I will admit those shipwrecks on the sea floor look pretty cool. The highlight of the game may be its audio. You'll want to wear earphones so you can become immersed in the echoing pings, clanking controls, and bubble sound effects. Steel Diver will appeal to patient gamers but thrill-seekers will quickly become bored with this. © Copyright 2011 The Video Game Critic.

Super Mario 3D Land combines the freedom of movement you get in a 3D platformer with the simple, confined stages of a 2D title. This prevents aimless wandering, although there are still plenty of nooks and crannies to explore. Some stages have a "lookout point" that lets you peer through a pair of binoculars to plan your route through the course ahead. At its core 3D Land is typical Mario as you hop between floating platforms, bump blocks to reveal coins, pounce on man-eating plants, and jump on a flag pole at the end of each level. Naturally there are special suits that afford you additional abilities. The Tanooki suit for example puts you in a raccoon fur and gives you the ability to hover in the air or smack foes with your tail. The new "propeller suit" propels you high into the air, making it easy to land on targets below. Though never spectacular, the stage designs play to the strengths of the 3DS. The 3D effect makes it easier to gauge your relative position, and when high in the air the sense of depth is more pronounced. There are even some clever optical illusions. The stages don't have a unifying theme as they do in most Mario titles, but their layouts are so inventive that you never feel as if you're doing the same thing twice. Best of all, 3D Land is consistently fun and hard to put down. It's also ideal for gaming on-the-go since the stages are brief and your progress is automatically saved. Nintendo hit a home run with this one. The 3DS was in dire need of a system-defining title, and Super Mario 3D Land fits like a glove. © Copyright 2011 The Video Game Critic.

Street Fighter IV kicked some serious tail on the 360 and PS3, and incredibly, this portable edition looks like the same game! Obviously there's some graphic degradation but on the small screen you can't even tell. It looks amazing, and while the 3D doesn't affect the fighting action one iota, it does add depth to the scenery. I always found the distillery and construction site stages to be pretty dull, but in 3D they look a lot more interesting. The roster is jam-packed with 35 characters. The fighting action is first-rate, although the tiny 3DS buttons are likely to induce hand-cramps during extended play (especially if you have large hands). I map the shoulder buttons to the light attacks, since I use them less often. The bottom touch screen is divided into four quadrants that let you perform special, super, and ultra moves with a touch of the screen. I know what you're thinking - no respectable Street Fighter fan would reduce themselves to that level, right? Well... I hate to say it, but once you get used to tapping that screen to pull off tricky moves, it's a hard habit to break. A less compelling new feature is the new "3D versus" mode which tries to put you "in the game" with a closer, over-the-shoulder view. I'm not impressed with that viewing angle, and frankly it offers no real advantage. Wi-Fi and Internet play are supported, but I wish there were more attention paid to the off-line modes. Oh well, at least it records your highest arcade scores (overall and per character) and there's plenty of stuff to unlock. The main problem with Super Street Fighter IV 3D is it feels a little stale if you've already played the heck out of the console versions. But taken for what it is, this is the ultimate in portable fighting action. © Copyright 2011 The Video Game Critic.