Kid Icarus: Uprising
This game, man. This game. The best way to describe Uprising is Smash Bros. meets Cartoon meets Tetris meets Action meets On-rails Shooter meets... It meets a lot of stuff okay.
The gameplay isn't flawless, but it does everything so well that I never could complain about it. The flying, on-rail portion of the game is always action-packed and keeps you on your toes for the five minute limit each stage has. The enemies vary throughout the entire game, so it never feels old, and the locales are beautiful for 3DS standards.The cast of cheery, humorous characters also pulls the game along in these sections with constant bickering that kept a smile on my face the whole time. Controls for this part are basically perfection.. unless you're uh... Left-handed. Can't speak for that, being a Rightie. And if the game is just a bit too easy for you? Well this game's got you covered, with a difficulty system that gives the player all the choice, by giving you the option before each round which difficulty to play on, from 0.0, all the way to 9.0. Default difficulty is 2.0, if that tells you anything about how far a range you're given.
Now, I think, would be a good time to mention the parts of the game that aren't entirely
gameplay. In between every mission, you get sent back to the central hub (A bunch of menus). From here you can do a number of things: Buy, fuse and test weapons; collect in-game figurines, or start another mission.
Buying and testing weapons doesn't need an explanation, but the fusing part does, because it's a big part of the game. Every weapon you obtain has a certain power level (shown in stars) in Ranged attacks, a certain power level in Melee attack, and assigned skills such as "Extra Health", or "Poison." These skills can be sent forward onto other weapons by fusing two together. Though what skills get passed are randomized, meaning you can't make a super weapon of doom to breeze through the game.
The figurines can be collected by playing "Egg Toss," a game which... Really isn't a game, honestly. You take some eggs from the side of the screen, put them in the bowl that rests in the middle of the screen, then launch them by pulling the bowl down and releasing. It's basically like the Trophy Machine in Smash Bros Melee; more eggs give you a higher percentage of getting a new figure, just like putting in more coins did. The eggs grow while you play the main game, or you can spend you Play Coins for an instant egg, if that's more your thing.
Back to the game itself: the on-land portion. This is probably one of the most divisive parts in a game I've ever seen in recent times. The gameplay is kind of like what Smash Bros. Adventure mode would be if it was in 3D. Beat enemies, proceed, do a bit of exploring, beat more enemies, and so on until you reach the boss of the level. Me? I loved it. People complained about hand cramps and the controls generally just being un-intuitive. Ask me, and I'll tell you the exact opposite - The controls fit the gameplay style here perfectly, allowing for snap reactions and unmatched accuracy. Though I do think that some of the stages went on a bit too long in this part, I'd say that 80% of them are fine considering you can always pause.
Now, it's already a great game at this point. It'd still be a favorite if I ended right there. But it goes even further, with an online mode that is unmatched on the 3DS. Everyone chooses a weapon of their own crafting, and then assigns skills via a sort of Tetris grid before getting thrown into, depending on your mode of choice, an all-out Free-for-All to see who gets the most points (Kills), or a 3v3 Team deathmatch that culminates in having to destroy a main target once the team dies enough. I was never one for Free-for-All, but I spent so much time playing Light Vs. Dark (Team) and can safely say I was never bored.
Though the gameplay is awesome, I just can't mention Uprising without mentioning it's amazing score. Some of my favorites are:
Dark Pit's Flight Theme,
In the Space-Pirate Ship,
Dog's Theme,
Solo Menu and so much more.
Basically, everyone who owns a 3DS should give Kid Icarus: Uprising a shot.
Unless you're a leftie, in which case take everything I said with a grain of salt because I don't know any lefties to give the game for testing.
