Pilotwings Resort

[matt!]

The ones with crates on? If not I'm not as far as you.

If so, re-read the details for that level.

ps: as an aside the baloons are red on mine. Could they be coloured in relation to Mii colour, as the crafts are?

[McCoy]

Yeah I'm not a fan of the time limit in Free Flight Mode either, I never played Wii Sports Resort so I'd just like the chance to explore the island at my leisure.

But that aside I'm really glad I bought it. I think the complaints about lack of content have been ludicrously overblown by some of the gaming media, who again demonstrate what little grasp they have of normal people's gaming habits. Apparently I've played this for 5 hours since Monday Evening and have 3 starred up to Silver level so I've still got quite a lot of missions left and tons of stuff to do in Free Flight. And that's before 3 red starring the missions. It's not incredibly content packed but I'll easily get about 8-10 hours out of it which isn't bad at all.

Yeah, I would agree with that assessment. I've had it since last week and have probably spent about 7-8 hours on it and have only just unlocked the Gold Medals.

Yes the time limit on free flight is silly but there is plenty of content here. The gaming media just think becuase they can sit in an office all day playing in and rinse through all the missions that it's got very little content whilst to actually play the game and try to three star the missions (and then get perfect scores) is going to take a considerable amount of time. Plus it is a perfect game where you'll be able to switch it on again and again over the years and just try a few missions and just enjoy playing them even if you've already completed them.

[Bojangle]

Glad I decided to get this in the end. As has been said above I'm not really sure what the complaints about content are. You could only really complain if you're the sort of person to only play through the main missions, not care about the ratings you get and class the game as 'done' once you've done every mission regardless of the rating. If you're in anyway a completionist, or simply like to get value out of the games you buy than this has so much stuff to do. According to my stats I've spent 4 hours on Free Flight mode alone, which starts off quite basic with just the Info Points but as you progress you get the Balloons (120) and then Stunt Rings, Mii Trophies and Gold Rings (60 of each) and getting all these will take a fair chunk of time and exploring to do.

Spoiler ish unlock below!

I enjoyed getting my own castle on an island for getting all the Balloons, wonder if there's other things like that to unlock?

[scottcr]

it's just a great game to play... often I'm just repeating missions I enjoyed, just because they were enjoyable to play. The music is lovely, with 3D on the graphics just jump out of the screen. Just so relaxing and chilled out.

the games press can GTF

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

I find it's this game I use when demoing the system (after I've shown the AR Games and the 3D camera).

[shirubagan]

This is great. Glad I chose it as my launch title. Played through Novice and a couple of bronze levels on the commute in and was sucked in.

Great fun, a great demo piece for friends and seemingly challenging enough (managed to crash on the first bronze course, so I'm assuming tough trials ahead!).

[Couk]

The ones with crates on? If not I'm not as far as you.

If so, re-read the details for that level.

ps: as an aside the baloons are red on mine. Could they be coloured in relation to Mii colour, as the crafts are?

Youre thinking of a different level.

[Fatsam]

It's truly wonderful this isn't it. One of the very best looking game I've ever played and a beautifully judged level of challenge to the missions.

Reviewers are indeed mental for criticising the length. A game that demands repeated plays to perfect challenges is exactly the kind of experience I want in this type of game. And the structure means that you can challenge yourself at your leisure. You have the option to try a new mission, some leisurely exploring in free flight mode, or there is the sterner challenge available of perfecting earlier challenges if you fancy it.

Compare this to the way fellow launch title Ridge Racer 3D does things. An epic journey through progressively harder and faster grand prixs, with the basic grand prix offering very little challenge at all. That's 1/3 of the game you have to play through before it offers a proper challenge. It's grinding gaming like that, which just serves to numb an otherwise thrilling experience, that should be criticised.

And I can tell I will be going back and back to Pilot Wings. Hang gliding over WuHu is a joy comparable to riding Epona over Hyrule Field. How good is that experience going to be in 3D????? Oh wow!!!!!!!!

Nintendo has a tradition of making some wonderful, tightly constructed, relatively short games that I repeatedly return to after finishing. I think this is another.

[Slartibartfast]

Just wanted to add that I couldn't agree more with some of the recent posts. It's such a joy to play, even in free flight mode half the time I'm not even looking for collectables, instead I just like to swoop around in the hang glider, flying through the trees or swishing past the side of a mountain.

It's such a beautiful self contained little world, and most reviews that are coming out just make me angry, it's if they are totally missing the point of what can make games magical in the first place. They talk about it being slight (which I disagree with entirely) but rarely do they talk about the joy of just playing within the gameworld...the perfect balance between moments of relaxation we rarely see in games combined with real tension (trying to make a perfect landing in the hang glider after nailing a particularly tough level for instance). I'm sure there may be small changes or additions we would all like, and they may vary from person to person (for me this would be online leaderboards and weather effects..flying through a storm would be wonderful me thinks). But that doesn't mean that what's there isn't great, because it is. I'm still in awe pretty much everytime I play it, I can't believe I have such a perfectly formed world in the palms of my hand.

Speaking of online leaderboards, does anyone fancy having a score challenge on a few of the levels. Just because it doesn't have online competition doesn't mean we can't do it the old fashioned way, does it? I mean, surely everyone here is reasonably trustworthy might prove fun, especially once everyone has perfected all the stars (which shouldn't take more than 2-3 hours, right?

[deKay]

OK, I've put three hours into this, have got half way through Gold, done very little free flying and have no dioramas. And only a few 3* scores (well, except all the novice ones, obviously). I'm guessing this is going to be 10 hours at least - not really the "short game" people have said.

[matt!]

Just seen the credits on this having 3-starred Gold and Platinum. Amazing.

just under 5 hours on missions, 20 mins so far on Free Flight

I reckon easily a good few hours left, and then I try to get the remaining perfects...

[scottcr]

I'm rubbish - on Silver, there's a few I can only one star.

I hate the games press sometimes. They think that all the people playing this game out there are obsessives who sit and play the game for hours on end in a darkened room. It'll take me AGES to get 3 red stars on everything in pilotwings... I'll have my money's worth out of it easily... it's just such a joyful game. I think it also has a bit more character than WiiSports and WiiSports resort... a bit less sterile and focussed.

I also like Wuhu island... I want a wee Mii adventure set on it.

[kiroquai]

I've become horribly addicted to free flight mode. The time limit is a little annoying I guess, but it does add an element of tension when you find a balloon/location/ring you hadn't snagged and the clock is ticking down. Just unlocked my first diorama and also just clocked Silver with all 3-star ratings.

Wonderful game , really relaxing and yeah, definitely a lot less slight than the media led us all to believe.

[Charliemouse]

This is just a lovely little game isnt it, it just has so much character and charm.

Its also the perfect game to play in bed too.

[CandyBob]

I'm rubbish - on Silver, there's a few I can only one star.

I hate the games press sometimes. They think that all the people playing this game out there are obsessives who sit and play the game for hours on end in a darkened room. It'll take me AGES to get 3 red stars on everything in pilotwings... I'll have my money's worth out of it easily... it's just such a joyful game. I think it also has a bit more character than WiiSports and WiiSports resort... a bit less sterile and focussed.

I also like Wuhu island... I want a wee Mii adventure set on it.

They clearly haven't taken into account the replayability of the game which is odd. Maybe the mindset for gaming journalism now excludes going back to a game whethers its to improve on scores or just for the sheer hell of it.

This is really what mobile gaming should be all about and something Sony could learn a thing or two from with the PSP2.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Well, despite the game being 'short on content', I've already spent 3 hours on it and haven't 3 starred (let alone red starred) an entire class yet and struggling to rack up 18 stars in Silver to unlock gold. I've found about a third of the locations and not even 25% of the balloons in Free Flight. So lots to do and unlock still. It's truly a joy to play.

[scottcr]

They clearly haven't taken into account the replayability of the game which is odd. Maybe the mindset for gaming journalism now excludes going back to a game whethers its to improve on scores or just for the sheer hell of it.

This is really what mobile gaming should be all about and something Sony could learn a thing or two from with the PSP2.

I remember Ngggggggggggggggggggggggg Croal did a poncy blog on 'circular gaming' and how bad it was in a game if you weren't constantly moving forward... if you were revisiting places you had been before. His criticism was aimed at the Metroid games. I think a mindset develops in the heads of people who play so many games and play so often that they need to get them done and dusted quickly, they need to see everything there is and then move on. If they're going back again, they're not going forwards and therefore it's holding them back from getting to the next thing.

[kiroquai]

I remember that, and I remember disagreeing with a few of the things he said. Whilst I do agree that in some games a sense of progress is needed, there's also very much a place for games like Pilotwings in which you revisit areas and collect items and trophies. It's every bit as satisfying to me to fly out onto Wuhu Island and just loop around the place scanning for little secrets and nooks and crannies that I had missed before - it's like a little treasure hunt.

Just managed to epically gain my 30th stunt ring... and celebrated by not being able to stop myself slapping into the side of the volcano. Brilliant .

[CandyBob]

I remember Ngggggggggggggggggggggggg Croal did a poncy blog on 'circular gaming' and how bad it was in a game if you weren't constantly moving forward... if you were revisiting places you had been before. His criticism was aimed at the Metroid games. I think a mindset develops in the heads of people who play so many games and play so often that they need to get them done and dusted quickly, they need to see everything there is and then move on. If they're going back again, they're not going forwards and therefore it's holding them back from getting to the next thing.

It can't be an age thing can it? I'm sure there are many here who are a lot younger than me enjoying this game for its replay value.

See I'm used to going back and revisiting stages. It was programmed into me in the 80's when I mostly played games for score or perfecting levels so I could 1CC games.

[Comrade]

I think people are deluding themselves a bit to say that reviewers are wrong to site the lack of content as a failing. The simple fact is that Pilotwings 64 had one small starter island, two islands probably a bit larger than Resort's one, and then one huge island bigger than everything else put together. Meanwhile Resort has one mid-sized island that is entirely re-used from another popular game that already had a flying mode in it!

It's definitely worth complaining about, as much as I enjoy everything else about the game.

[Massive Invisible Dog]

It has more missions though.

[scottcr]

This is first pilot wings game...

[pulsemyne]

This game is another example of reviews getting things horribly wrong. Saying you could complete the game in 2-3 hours is a huge disservice as we all know, as any real pilotwings player knows, its all about perfecting the game. Getting the three red stars is a daughting task. What I actually think has happened is that in a rush to meet deadlines they just completed shit and never bothered with the rest.

The trouble is journos know what sells a magazine and its two main things. Pretty pictures of games (espically the HD games as they look nice) and controversail game scores. Espically when it comes to nintendo games.

For me pilotwings resort is a very strong 8/10 game. Yes prehaps more than one island would have been better and maybe more craft but what you have is a wonderfully solid game, which is fun, looks nice, sounds nice and controls well. And of course theres those red stars to get.

[spanky debrest]

I think people are deluding themselves a bit to say that reviewers are wrong to site the lack of content as a failing. The simple fact is that Pilotwings 64 had one small starter island, two islands probably a bit larger than Resort's one, and then one huge island bigger than everything else put together. Meanwhile Resort has one mid-sized island that is entirely re-used from another popular game that already had a flying mode in it!

It's definitely worth complaining about, as much as I enjoy everything else about the game.

So it's the lack of diversity in the environments which is the crux of the problem? I need to check Pilotwings 64 out as it appears familiarity with that (as well as Wii Sports) stunts the Pilotwings Resort love.

I never bothered with the N64 game at the time for the silly and shallow reason of being put off by the jerky garishness of it in comparison with the original. I hear it's got amazing tunes.

[Massive Invisible Dog]

I never bothered with 64 because at the time everyone complained about the lack of content.

[Len]

This is just a lovely little game isnt it, it just has so much character and charm.

Its also the perfect game to play in bed too.

This.

Been playing on my daily commute but also have a quick go before collapsing in a heap in bed. With all the the lights off (and the missus snoring next to me) it brings the world even more to life. Try it...

As other have said it is a truly wonderful piece of software and just makes me smile everytime I play. Perfect balance and options of taking it easy or trying to push yourself for that next elusive star. I bought PES as well and haven't touched it yet bar a cpl of quick games due to this. Happy days...

Quick qu, how do you do the stung rings which have yr head upside down? You can barrel roll and bank but what's that all about or am I missing something...?

[Comrade]

It has more missions though.

Well, I think if you include the bonus vehicles in 64 then they have about the same number of missions. But the missions in 64 were much, much harder, and so it took a lot longer to get through them. I'm not complaining about the missions though, I prefer Resort's (although I think 64's were a bit more varied). The point is that exploring the islands was a huge part of 64, much of which is missing in Resort. I got the game on Friday, by Tuesday I'd found all the info points, and by Wednesday I'd found all the white balloons. And all on an island I'd seen before. With 64, months later I was still finding abandoned ghost towns tucked away on the Little States.

It's a real and valid disappointment, and people complaining about negative reviews by saying "Oh, but you can three-star all the missions!" are taking the piss.

[dvdx2]

Quick qu, how do you do the stung rings which have yr head upside down? You can barrel roll and bank but what's that all about or am I missing something...?

hold both bumper buttons to fly upside down

[Len]

Hurray...thanks for that, was doing my head in!

[deKay]

RED stars?