Kid Icarus: Uprising takes place 20 years after the events of the original game (go figure), and Medusa is using her Underworld Army to attack Skyworld and Earth, and it's up to the flightless angel, Pit, and the Goddess of Light, Palutena to save the day. This game is graphically, one of the best to grace the 3DS system. The environments, the attacks, even the enemies are just phenomenally gorgeous. The menu is very easy to navigate, tutorials get you equipped for the game in no time. The 3D effects in this game are awesome, both giving depth to show how far away enemies, attacks, and traps are, and also making you feel like you're in the game. The flying segments of the game will actually give you a sense of height and can even make you feel a little dizzy at times as the scenery flies past you. The ground segments show details of buildings around you, with vines growing up the side, and cracks in the brick while lighting and shading adds such a sense of realism to a fantasy world. There is constant dialogue between Pit and Palutena, complete with voiceover work, and even though you're usually too busy with the action on-screen to pay attention to these conversations, if you DO catch them, they are absolutely hilarious and well-written. The music and sound effects of this game add to Kid Icarus as an epic title. The music feels grandiose and keeps your heart pounding. A lot of the music is from the original game, just remixed and remastered to sound awesome. Some of the classic sound effects, such as the dreaded Song of the Reaper makes a comeback, complete in their original 8-bit form. I can't stress enough how well the voice acting in this game was done, between Pit and Palutena, Medusa, Pandora, and all the characters you encounter, the voice acting is just SO WELL DONE and Nintendo is going to be held to a higher standard for future titles.
As well-polished and beautiful as this game is, one of its major downfalls is the control scheme. The default control settings allow you to use the circle pad to control Pit's movement, while using the touch screen to aim your shots by sliding the stylus, to aim a reticule on the top screen and the L button is then used to fire shots. You not only use the touch screen for aiming, but also for looking around. If Pit is facing forward, and you want to look to the side, you spin the touch screen the direction you want to look, then tap it to stop it. The game very accurately describes this as spinning a globe and putting your finger on it to stop it. One big disadvantage to this control scheme is a player's hand will get tired/cramped pretty quickly if you're doing this for so long, and the good folks at Nintendo recognized this problem and included a solution: a Nintendo 3DS Stand packaged with the game. While I will openly admit, the stand DOES provide more comfort for playing this game, I'm also under the firm belief that you should not need a peripheral to make a game enjoyable, but that's just me. (Side note: if you have the Netflix app on your 3DS the Stand is wonderful for this lol.)
Gameplay in Kid Icarus: Uprising consists of three main segments: Aerial Battles, Ground Battles, and Boss Battles. In the flying segments, Pit is on-rails, and constantly flying forward, and the player controls the up, down, left, and right movements, while using the touch screen to fire at enemies and dodge incoming fire. Visually, these are some of the coolest scenes available, and can also be extremely difficult. It almost feels like playing StarFox 64, blasting down waves of enemies as they pop up at you. After the flying section, you proceed to ground battles, and this is where the poor controls can hinder you. You move and fire as described in the earlier controls description, looking for items, battling enemies, and solving puzzles, while trying to find the boss door. The game includes techniques for strafing, dodging, and doing special shots such as rapid fire, charged, side-dash shots, back-dash shots, and every combination you can imagine. When close to an enemy you can perform special melee combos depending on the type of weapon you have. Finally the last section of a level is the Boss Battle. A large intimidating boss, designed very well with a cool cutscene and usually their own voice acting, the boss battles are pretty tough and will test your mastery of the control scheme. Most bosses take place as a ground-style battle, although a few of them (or mini-boss fights) take place in the air. As you progress through the game you will find a variety of weapons categorized into different types (staffs, bows, claws, blasters, etc), and within each category you will find a multitude of individual weapons with their own stats, power-ups, and effects. You can even fuse two weapons together to make a stronger one. Experiment with the different kinds of weapons you find and pick a play style that suits you best.
Kid Icarus: Uprising also has a multiplayer feature known as Light Vs. Dark, in which 6 players compete (either on 3v3 teams, or free-for-all matches) in a contest for victory. In team mode, when one of the players is eliminated, the team's shared health will deplete a certain amount, moreso if the fallen player had a valuable weapon equipped. When the health bar is depleted and a player is eliminated they are brought back as Pit (or Dark Pit, for the Dark team) to try for one last attempt at victory. The first team to eliminate the other player's Angel is the victor. The singles version of LvD is similar, except instead of two 3-man teams, it consists of 6 players competing individually. Light Vs. Dark can be played locally over wireless or also on the Nintendo Network with players worldwide. Competing in a game of Light Vs Dark can earn you new weapons and items for use in your single player game as well!
Similar to Smash Bros Brawl (which was created by the same person who did this game), Kid Icarus: Uprising has a sort of "achievement room" in which you can unlock new items, weapons, and character models by completing in-game tasks such as clearing a level in a time limit, or destroying a certain number of enemies. This extra gameplay gives reason to keep coming back, to try and unlock everything available.
In conclusion, Kid Icarus: Uprising is a fantastic game, and while the controls can be poor it's by no means a total deal-breaker. It's been a long time since we've been able to see Pit in action, but his return to glory is a great one.
***TL;DR***
Kid Icarus: Uprising is a visually stunning game, celebrating Pit's return to the gaming world in a new 3D adventure. The game is divided into flying segments, ground battles, and boss fights, all of which are great. The game's biggest downfall is the control scheme which tends to be uncomfortable and unruly without the use of the 3DS Stand peripheral.
Gameplay: 7.0 - It sucks that I had to hurt this score so badly, but the controls are really hard to get the hang of, and when you DO figure them out, they become uncomfortable over time unless you're using the 3DS Stand peripheral. Aside from the controls the gameplay is awesome in pretty much all aspects.
Graphics/Presentation: 10 - The visuals of this game are breathtaking. The scenery is realistic, the 3D effects help add to the depth of the game, and the cutscenes are just phenomenal.
Story: 9.0 - Taking place after the events of the original Kid Icarus, the story shows Pit setting out to stop Medusa's evil plan. Some things are expected, some are not. The story is deep, and every time you think the story is running out of steam, it just boots up again. Doesn't disappoint.
Sound/Music: 10 - All the sound effects of this game are cool, from the sounds of your weapons, to classic item/enemy sounds brought back. The music gives a feel of epicness that really adds to the quality. One of this game's best features is the voice acting and the well-written script. All the characters have distinct personalities and the interaction is great. Nintendo has really set the bar high for future titles, now that we've seen what they are capable of in this category.
Replay Value: 8.5 - The story mode itself will keep you busy for quite a while, but the replay value of this game comes in the form of playing the multiplayer Light Vs. Dark, as well as collecting all the items, models, weapons, and achievements. There's a lot to do, and a LOT to collect. It's every completionist's nightmare and dream come true.
Overall Score: 44.5/50
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