General gaming

General gaming

Kid Icarus Uprising Review: Stunning Despite Stumbling

Posted: 19 Mar 2012 05:05 AM PDT

In an age where annual installments are a normality in gaming, waiting 20 years for a sequel seems preposterous. And yet the last time we guided the Pit on his own personal journey was in 1991's Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters on the original Game Boy. Since then, it seems like every Nintendo console and handheld has had its fair share of rumors regarding the return of the angelic warrior in some capacity. Though he had a brief stint on Captain N: The Game Master, along with a playable role in 2008's Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Pit hasn't been able to spread his wings in his own adventure until now. Kid Icarus Uprising for the 3DS shuns the series' platforming roots for a more action-heavy approach, but is it worth the wait?

The story this time around is a pretty simple affair consisting of multiple parties each with their own motivations. Pit, the titular hero, wants to be able to fly on his own, a legion of goddesses want to restore their own versions of stability to the world, and various agents of chaos will stop at nothing to create a whole mess of mischief. Your time in the game is broken up into very distinct sections. Each mission begins with a five minute long flying sequence that introduces your environments as well as your ultimate goal. These soaring sorties play out as a mix of Star Fox 64 and Space Harrier with an extremely cinematic quality to them. Throughout these sections, you'll find yourself threading the needle through a lunar assault and diving deep below the surface of the ocean. The camera remains dynamic the whole time, never losing Pit amidst the chaos of the world. Great care is taken in choreographing the aerial action, such as how Pit will automatically begin sprinting along the surface of a structure if you steer him close to one. Sadly, the reason these segments only last five minutes ties in loosely to the Icarus myth -- his goddess companion Palutena uses magic to bestow Pit with the ability to fly, but only for a limited amount of time. After that, your wings "burn" up and you're forced to enter the on-foot portion of each mission. This is when things take a turn for the worse.

Posted by Shri Krishna

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