Namco Bandai recently released a demo for Ace Combat 3D, a game that saw retail release a few months ago in Europe and North America, on the Japanese Nintendo eShop. I have yet to try the game and was hoping to pick up the Japanese release sooner or later, since it supports the Circle Pad Pro attachment. So I was pretty excited to download the demo to see how would the Circle Pad Pro controls work and what the game is all about. Unfortunately, the demo gives you neither to enjoy, and instead only gives you a five minute tutorial section.

The gameplay seems very solid and well put together, although in the short moments it lasts you barely get a good grip on it. It wants you to learn all the ropes of air combat, but it manages to forget that you want to learn about what the product actually offers. The demo itself is pretty straight forward and I felt that I knew everything after trying it twice.

What actually happens in the demo, though? You shoot every aeroplane twice, dodge them and go in their trail a few times with the Y-button. Once 10 planes have been shot down your mission has been completed. If you don't reach your target goal and finish everybody off in the time limit, the demo ends. You are thanked for playing it, and after that it reboots. The demo doesn't explain to you too much. Most of it is learned through a few pages of text you get before starting the mission, with occasionally offers a hint of which buttons are supposed to press during the mission.

The controls work really well. It seems to pick up the slightest movement very well with the Circle Pad and felt like I had full control over the plane. It uses the L and R buttons for braking and throttle, which was a bit hard to getused to, but felt like second nature over extended periods of gameplay. The visuals, in 3D especially, were great. The HUD really pops out at you and environments seem to be rendered well enough.

Despite the great visuals and controls, the demo itself is too limited and doesn't fully show off what the full game is about. The play sessions will last you barely enough to understand it and if you don't, well you are forced to start right back from the beginning. The demo also limits you to three play sessions, which makes even less sense considering the other demos that are out there. The high quality visuals and controls do still promise a great gameplay experience, but the demo barely shows off the full potential of the product. I still want to try the full game and I think newcomers are better off doing the same.