So PAX East ended yesterday and I went and got to play the 3DS for the first time! Here are my impressions.
The Unit itself: The same size as a DSi, except it feels more solid. I like the sparkly paint job and layers of color (I played with the blue units). The d pad felt fine and the side pad feels awesome, tight and responsive. The buttons were clicky and the shoulder buttons didn't feel mushy. I like the new telescoping stylus and the placement of the earphone jack didn't bother me (I brought my own earbuds so I could test sound and such). The size of the 3D screen was just right, I didn't feel while playing the games that it was too small. The touch screen certainly felt better, more responsive than both the Lite and the DSi. The home buttons didn't work on the demo unit.
The 3D Screen: The first game I got to look at was Pilot Wings and it was a cool shock to see 3D without glasses. The slider felt solid and depending on the game, it was easy to adjust the varying degrees of 3D before landing on what was comfortable. I am very happy with the decision to make the borders around the screen black because it really enhanced the "view into another world" sensation that the 3D produces. Unless you have Parkinson's, it is relatively easy to maintain 3D while holding the system. Tilting it left and right of course breaks it, but little movements of the 3DS did not break the 3D for me, neither did looking at the touch screen and back. Tilting the machine forward and back still maintained the 3D as well. As for games, the way that I would describe it, everything appears to be in a layer sandwich. The first layer is where your player controlled character is, the 3rd layer at the far end of the background is the back wall to your traditional 2D scenery, and everything in the middle just kind of floats in a 3D space at varying distances. This effect is of course more pronounced in polygonal games, but is no less impressive in predominantly 2D side scrolling games.
Pilot Wings: My first demo. At first the 3D was not very pronounced because I was facing the sea and sky in the biplane. When I started flying over the town in Wuhu island, the 3D became much more pronounced immediately. The game played excellently with the circle pad. The directional pad was being used to pan the camera to the left and right of your vessel. I played with all three initial vehicles in free flight mode (still timed unfortunately but it was a demo unit after all and when it finished would say thank you for playing our demo). The plane controlled like the one in Resort and the island looked the same although I didn't have nearly enough time to explore it fully. The frame rate was between 30 and 45, but I never saw 60. It did not detract from the game nonetheless. The 3D did make navigating the island a little easier and although most of it was into the screen (like looking into a window), the wind trails from your wings and stars that appeared after hitting points of interests would fly out the screen. It was a neat effect that made me smile. I never played the original Pilot Wings games so this was all brand new (outside of playing WiiSports Resort) so I was left with a very laid back, easy pace in short sessions impression of this game. Still getting it at launch, but can't see myself getting this game alone.
DOA Dimensions: This game looks and plays fantastically on the 3DS. The 3D is used to great effect as the stages are in 3D into the background. The jump to 60 fps in 2D mode is stark, especially after seeing other games not running at that frame rate, very nice. Graphically, the game looks great and the characters and backgrounds are very detailed and animate smoothly. When this releases in NA, I will definitely pick it up. It will be the first DOA game that I would own.
Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition: The game looks great and plays great. There were demo units at both Nintendo's and Capcom's booth for the game. The d pad works fine (my preference) and the 3D is great in game. I didn't spend much time with it because I knew that it was launch game number #1 and I didn't want to spoil to much of it.
Ocarina of Time: I didn't play it, but watched a kid play from behind (from my angle I saw it primarily in 2D) It looked fun and brought back old memories of the game that I haven't played in 13 years. The frame rate was rock solid (unlike the original) and never appeared choppy. Day one purchase for me.
Kid Icarus: This game looked great! The demo started off in a Sin & Punishment (or Space Harrier) like flying section. Pit is sort of attached to the screen, the far horizon is the 3rd layer, and all the enemies, land masses, and shots fired exist in the space in between. It was a marvelous effect. The game controlled fine in the air. Pit flies around using the circle pad, you hold down the left trigger to shoot, and use the stylus on the touch screen (which is divided into a grid of four squares) to direct your reticle on the top screen. Although the control setup doesn't allow for a lot of variation in how you hold the system, I found I was able to play quite comfortably without loosing the 3D despite how hectic things got on screen (to be fair, I did use my right pinkie to balance the system while I played, but the system is light enough even with the added bulk of the cart locks and such that it didn't feel uncomfortable). On the ground controlled fine and I'm sure with practice will become a breeze. The camera was easy to control (just swipe it and tap down when you want it to stop), so I didn't have the slow turning problem that some have commented on. But given that, it is not an easy pick up and play solution. I'm looking forward to the game. I don't know if it's a day one purchase for me, but I do look forward to seeing a more complete version of the game in the future. I can tell you that it has gotten me real excited for a portable Sin & Punishment though (especially the score attack system and leaderboards).
Other games: I didn't play Steel Diver because I felt like that type of game is best experienced in a more quiet and calm atmosphere where I can take my time getting used to the nuances of it, so I kept it fresh for launch. I also wanted to keep the AR games fresh until launch (my brother was blown away by it as he did not know much about the 3DS and nothing about the AR stuff packed in.) Resident Evil: Mercenaries was playable in many multiple locations, but I just didn't feel compelled to play it given my time constraints. It looked as good as RE4 though I can say for certain.
Overall Impressions of 3D: I played with all the games with the 3D both on and off. I found that when I went to 2D, the games lost, I don't know, like...soul. They still looked great (and some cases ran at a smoother frame rate) but they just felt like they were missing something. It wasn't until I switched it back to 3D that I felt like the game was playing like it was meant to be. My eyes didn't hurt at all, nor did I even feel any nausea, headaches, or general discomfort with the 3D (even while trying to find the sweet spot). It just felt like I was looking at any regular screen, except it was 3D. To put it into comparison, there were many stereoscopic 3D games displayed at PAX, especially at Nvidia's booth. Most 3D tvs and Nvidia's 3Dvision uses active shutter glasses to create 3D. When wearing those I immediately felt my eyes being worked, almost like the muscles attached to my eyes were vibrating. After about 5 min they began to tire a bit, but after some conditioning by wearing them for longer periods of time while I played the games, the feeling went away. At movie theaters, I have no problem with seeing that style of 3D in comfort after about couple minutes. With the 3DS, I did not need an adjustment time, it was comfortable through out.
Conclusion: I was impressed with the system and the hands-on time has definitely helped to satiate my anticipation for it until it arrives in less than 2 weeks. it's amazing that despite the many impressions people give, no one seems to have the same experience with the 3D effect. I was glad to confirm my reaction personally. I have to say that now that I have finally tested the 3D and some software, I am more excited for the overall package (pack in games, OS, activity log, street and spot pass, pedometer coins, friends list, mii plaza, games, etc.) and really think Nintendo has the potential for an even bigger hit if they (and 3rd parties) utilize the tools here because as a whole they are powerful and can make for a very compelling experience.
Topic: Nintendo 3DS Discussion (Read 551941 times)
