Hands-On: Kid Icarus: Uprising

Kid Icarus‘s first solo adventure in decades takes a little bit from Starfox and tosses in some Legend of Zelda.

Nintendo’s announcement of Kid Icarus: Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS finally put an end to countless rumors about the classic NES character’s return. But do gamers actually want Pit to fly back onto the scene outside of Super Smash Bros. Brawl? I got a chance to find out at Nintendo’s New York 3DS event.

Kid Icarus: Uprising features two primary play modes. After players choose one of multiple weapon types, such as a sword or dual orbs that fire off energy bullets, they enter the game’s levels in a third person view. Pit will either be flying through the air or running around on the ground.

Air-based levels play out similarly to Starfox. Enemies fly onto the screen from all angles and Pit must use his ranged attacks to take them out. Players control Pit with the analog stick while using the stylus on the touchscreen to aim a targeting reticule around the screen. It works pretty well.

In the ground-based level, I had a little more trouble adjusting. On his feet, Pit can use both melee and ranged attacks, but players must also physically move Pit while rotating the camera. Though combat works virtually the same as when in the air, Pit feels more vulnerable. After surviving a few rounds of enemies, I went up against one of the game’s bosses.

This boss could only be shot in the face (I’m not kidding), which sounds easy enough until you realize that he’s swinging a giant scythe. I died. This was evidently a level of the game that was marked “hard,” while the flying level was “easy.” Hard might take a bit more practice.

Nintendo representatives told me that Kid Icarus: Uprising is “coming soon,” so I’m not sure how far along this version was. What I played felt like a mix of Starfox and Legend of Zelda, but the game had a much faster pace than either. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to experience any story, but I’m definitely interested to see how deep Pit’s adventure will go in Kid Icarus: Uprising‘s final version.