Review: Pilotwings Resort - Does it Soar Past Expectations?

Developed by Monster Games and Nintendo, Pilotwings Resort is a visually stunning flight simulation game available for Nintendo 3DS.

Players, as their Mii characters, take to the sky in three different types of aircraft - Planes, Rocket Belts, and Hang Gliders. Pilotwings focuses around the player's aerial antics throughout Wuhu Island (of Wii Sports Resort fame) and the various objectives and missions that must be completed along the way.

Pilotwings features two ways to play - Mission Flight Mode and Free Flight Mode, which provide structured, linear gameplay and a free-roaming adventure respectively. Mission Flight Mode offers, as you may have guessed, five sets of missions. Each tier must be completed using at least three different types of vehicles, keeping gameplay fresh and exciting. While early objectives - like following a basic path and flying through rings - are a bit mundane, Pilotwings features a few amazingly unique missions dispersed throughout each tier. In particular, I enjoyed photography-based missions, which offer scenic views in addition to relaxing gameplay. Other missions include rounding up UFOs and diving down a mountainside in a specially-tailored Squirrel Suit. There's certainly no shortage of creativity where missions are concerned, but there is a shortage of actual missions. With just over forty missions in total, Pilotwings isn't going to provide more than a few hours of unique gameplay.

Free Flight Mode offers a great opportunity to fly around Wuhu Island in one of six different aircraft, three of which have to be unlocked during Mission Flight Mode. To keep things interesting, there are various items to collect, balloons to be popped, and tricks to be performed throughout Free Flight. Some items are barely hidden, but others are tucked away in intricate, elusive locations. This means that every crevice of the island must be explored, providing for a great sightseeing adventure. Sadly, there's also an entirely unwarranted time cap, which essentially defeats the purpose of "free" flight. Still, the time limit does add a sense of challenge to what would be an otherwise noncompetitive game, so it's not all bad. There's plenty to see and do in Free Flight Mode, but it certainly gets boring quickly.

Visually, Pilotwings Resort excels. The environment is crisp, vivid, and full of objects that actually make 3D depth perception useful. With 3D turned on, distances and depth can be judged with ease, making flying the skies of Wuhu Island an even more pleasurable experience. No complaints here.

Resort features a relatively limited, calming audio playlist consisting mostly of elevator music. The conservative, yet catchy tracks serve their purpose - setting the atmosphere without stealing the show - perfectly, while well-timed sound effects augment the experience as a whole. Pilotwings Resort certainly doesn't have an award-worthy soundtrack, but its music works subtle magic to set the tone for the entire game.

Pilotwings Resort is a fantastic game, but all of its components share a common theme: Not enough content. With an insubstantial selection of missions, a limited soundtrack, and only one major island to explore, Pilotwings Resort left me feeling a bit cheated. On the other hand, a bit of the game's charm is mastering each mission - an extremely daunting task. Replaying missions over and over in search of a perfect score does, however, quickly become a stale and frustrating venture.

Had more missions or additional locales been added, the game would have potential for greatness. Luckily for fans, Nintendo does have the option to push out new content through SpotPass. Let's hope that Nintendo chooses not to ignore its own, highly ambitious distribution method and decides to send Pilotwings Resort players some love in the form of free downloadable content.  Until that fabled day, however, Pilotwings Resort is better off making a round-trip flight - rent, don't buy.  Despite being light on content, it gets three stars out of four.

Did I get it right?  Does Pilotwings Resort soar, or is it doomed for a crash landing?  Let me know in the comments!