Gaming Impressions on 3DS and games after the Amsterdam's event

[pachura]

http://www.cdaction.pl/news-17141/nintendo...y-wrazenia.html

Hi,

Some impressions on 3DS after the Amsterdam's event were published on a website belonging to a Polish gaming magazine.

Let me give you a short summary:

General impressions:
- 3DS feels significatly heavier than DSi
- the slidepad is very comfortable and precise
- the 3D effect is great, it really works
- the graphics are on par with PSP, but the 3D effect adds much to it
- they played for 2h, experienced no headaches
- in some games with fast action your eyes need some time to adjust to changing 3D environment

Lineup games impressions:
Steel diver: looks much better than on screenshots - the 3D effect adds very much, especially seabed looks beautiful. You can rotate the periscope by rotating yourself while holding 3DS in hands (or using stylus, alternatively). Other games rarely make use of the gyroscope.
Zelda: Ocarina of time 3D: graphics seem disappointing, it shows it's just a port and not a real remake making use of 3DS' hardware.
Nintendogs+Cats: a really cute game, gonna be a hit.
Dead or Alive: Dimensions: backgrounds and characters look great, however the interface has some problems with 3D (pops out too much), the guy had to reduce the 3D effect by half to fix this
Pilot Wings: Resort: a great game (3D, colorful graphics, open spaces). You can fly a plane, a glider and a rocketpack. The guy had to turn of the 3D effect completely, had problems adjusting vision
The Sims 3: graphics are decent. You can generate your character's face using a camera, but MiiMaker does it better.
Asphalt 3D: shitty, looks like a direct port of a smartphone game with 3D added.
Ridge Racer 3D: even shittier than Asphalt, shitty physics, shitty AI, PSP version blows it away.
Pro Evo Soccer 2011 3D: there's a new point of view with camera following the player. The quality of character animation and AI is however quite bad. Shooting from a long distance is much easier and satisfactory in 3D mode.
Lego Star Wars III: one of the best games shown so far, lots of levels, the isometric view works well in 3D.
SSFIV 3D: the best game in the lineup, looks comparable to home consoles version. In StreetPass mode, the characters will be fighting without users' interaction and earn some statues.
Super Monkey Ball 3D: uses 3D and gyroscope in the same time which makes no sense at all because you loose the 3D effect all the time.
Combat of Giants: nice graphics, so-so playability. It's a rhytm-driven game.
Rabbids 3D: works very well in 2.5D, similar to New Super Mario Bros.
Resident Evil: Mercenaries: shows the power of 3DS' hardware. Looks fantastic. You fight incoming waves of enemies.
Kid Icarus: each level has 2 parts: in the first one you fly in the clouds (great), in the second you run on the ground (not so great, the character is too close in 3D). The game looks very Japanese.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

Ocarina of Time 3D is not a port.

 

[Veho]

Super Monkey Ball 3D: uses 3D and gyroscope in the same time which makes no sense at all because you loose the 3D effect all the time.

I knew it

The area where the 3D is visible is way too small.

 

[Aijelsop]

This sounds nice, I really want to get it.

 

[MizuInu]

Ocarina of Time 3D is not a port.

The model of Link is a bit different and change compare to the original.

It is a shinier update port of the original N64 but in 3D and higher resolution texture compare to the original.

 

[Velotix]

This is pretty cool news to me. Thanks.

 

[machomuu]

Ocarina of Time 3D is not a port.

The model of Link is a bit different and change compare to the original.

It is a shinier update port of the original N64 but in 3D and higher resolution texture compare to the original.

So you're one of those "no new features" guys, huh?

 

[awssk8er]

I'm still stuck between Pilot Wings Resort and Lego Starwars for my launch game.

I don't really want either of them, but the launch is very limited...

 

[pachura]

So it seems that what I was expecting was confirmed:
- level of graphics is just slightly above PSP
- car driving games suck big time
- 3D + gyroscope doesn't work, although stupid developers will push such games anyway
- not much interesting in the release lineup for me (would get SSFIV 3D, but I'm not that into fighting games)

Ocarina of Time 3D is not a port.

A port with textures and some models updated. Apparently, does not look as good as other games written from scratch for 3DS.

 

[Midna]

The Gamecube version is a port. This is a remake. Even if you're pissed that there's no new features. That, by the way, is speculation. It's never been confirmed. The whole thing came about because Bill Triton (Yes, the Bill from E3) said not to count on any new dungeons. No new dungeons ? complete absence of new enhancements.

Anyway, even if they don't look as good as, say, SSFIV, they're stunning compared to the original. Check it:
http://gbatemp.net/t277184-new-ocarina-of-time-screenshots?

 

[Snailface]

Lego Star Wars III: one of the best games shown so far, lots of levels, the isometric view works well in 3D.

Was not expecting this, at all.

 

[KingVamp]

General impressions:
- 3DS feels significatly heavier than DSi
meh...
- the graphics are on par with PSP, but the 3D effect adds much to it
That can't be right?
- they played for 2h, experienced no headaches
Thank you!!!

Dead or Alive: Dimensions: backgrounds and characters look great, however the interface has some problems with 3D (pops out too much), the guy had to reduce the 3D effect by half to fix this
Pops out too much, is that even possible?

Super Monkey Ball 3D: uses 3D and gyroscope in the same time which makes no sense at all because you loose the 3D effect all the time.
Your doing it all wrong...

 

[Nathan Drake]

The graphical capabilities are significantly better than the PSP. Previews already bypass anything the PSP could ever do. Who ever generated these impressions isn't very good at judging things apparently.

 

[machomuu]

The graphical capabilities are significantly better than the PSP. Previews already bypass anything the PSP could ever do. Who ever generated these impressions isn't very good at judging things apparently.

Honestly, I was thinking this, too.

 

[Traversal]

The graphical capabilities are significantly better than the PSP. Previews already bypass anything the PSP could ever do. Who ever generated these impressions isn't very good at judging things apparently.

Honestly, I was thinking this, too.

Yeah, especially when they say that SSFIV is “Very comparable to the home consoles version”, and that Resident Evil “Really shows off the power of the 3DS”, all this after saying the graphics are on par with the PSP. Whoever wrote this article could not make up their mind.

 

[pachura]

Yeah, especially when they say that SSFIV is “Very comparable to the home consoles version”, and that Resident Evil “Really shows off the power of the 3DS”, all this after saying the graphics are on par with the PSP. Whoever wrote this article could not make up their mind.

That's what they've written.
I guess they meant that except for SSFIV and RE, the other games are on PSP level. And Ridge Racer and Asphalt are even worse.

In the end, I believe 3DS is somewhat more powerful than PSP, but you have to put effort into unleashing its full potential. And shovelware developers won't care.

 

[DiscostewSM]

The PSP has been out for many years, and development teams have learned how to get the most out of it. The 3DS is new, and those same teams need time to really push it to the limit.

 

[Terenigma]

General impressions:
- the slidepad is very comfortable and precise
- they played for 2h, experienced no headaches

Lineup games impressions:
Zelda: Ocarina of time 3D: graphics seem disappointing, it shows it's just a port and not a real remake making use of 3DS' hardware.
Dead or Alive: Dimensions: backgrounds and characters look great, however the interface has some problems with 3D (pops out too much), the guy had to reduce the 3D effect by half to fix this
[b[Resident Evil: Mercenaries:[/b] shows the power of 3DS' hardware. Looks fantastic. You fight incoming waves of enemies.

^ Everything i wanted to know. honestly im not that bothered about the initial game lineup because i know better games will be coming in the future so dead or alive (the game im going to get with the console) and the actual 3DS features will keep me going untill something like mario kart comes out

 

[pachura]

There was also a 3rd page which I haven't translated:

Built-in games:
Face Raiders - you take a photo of yourself, it is put on a sphere and you chase it around your room (AR). Funny but gets boring quickly
MiiMaker - works surprisingly good, the created avatars really mimic your face's distinctive features. You can edit it afterwards manually
AR card game - you put a card on your table, a dragon appears in its place and you shoot him with virtual bullets. You will not come back to this game, however future AR games can potentially be great
Eurosport - they've shown Australian Open tennis match in 3D, despite the small screen it looked satisfactory
Shaun the Sheep - Nintendo will include a few 1-minute clips featuring Shaun the Sheep character from Aardman Animations - for free with 3DS.

No signs of Facebook intergration.

 

[koji2009]

The Gamecube version is a port.

Actually, no it wasn't. The Gamecube version was an emulation... The emulator used for GCN was hacked and later used to play a few other games (thought the compatibility was pretty low).

Think of it as the fore runner to the Virtual Console emulators on the Wii as that's almost certainly what it was.

While it's hard to tell for 100% certain without having touched the game myself, OoT 3D definitely looks to be a remake and not a port, but that's not to say it's not impossible that it's an upgraded port... You can port a game from the Wii, use most of the same code but update the models/textures/effects to and release it as a PS3 or 360 title (in fact there are a couple such examples of that). That doesn't make it necessarily a remake.


You really do have to get hands on and actually look at a game in motion at the very least (and much more likely dive into the actual game code) to tell for certain when so much is changed... As I said before, it looks to me like a remake and not a port, but it's not a guarantee... No discussion on the GCN one though, that is most definitely an emulation