Game Freaks 365's Nintendo 3DS Guide

By Kyle W. Bell

Game Freaks 365 was founded to help consumers choose games that are worth their hard-earned dollars and avoid duds that are an expensive waste of time. Writing about video games is our passion. This guide aims to help consumers pick the best games that the Nintendo 3DS has to offer.

Nearly 40 reviews from some of the finest games on the Nintendo 3DS are included in "Game Freaks 365's Nintendo 3DS Guide," including popular titles like Kid Icarus: Uprising, Kingdom Hearts 3D, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Mario Kart 7, Mario Tennis Open, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Resident Evil: Revelations, Sonic Generations, Star Fox 64 3D, Super Mario 3D Land, and Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy.

The 4th Edition is an update that includes all new game reviews for Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, SteamWorld Dig, Shin Megami Tensei IV, and Super Smash Bros. for 3DS. It was released in March 2019.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kyle W. Bell
• Release date: Dec 4, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465788474

Kyle W. Bell

Kyle W. Bell is a Master of Public Affairs graduate student at Indiana University South Bend. He resides in South Bend, Indiana, where he was born and raised. He was the recipient of the Indiana Black Expo's Martin Luther King Jr. Award in 2002. The following year he was awarded the Presidential Award for excellence in education. His research on sports development appeared in Indiana University South Bend's peer-reviewed Undergraduate Research Journal and a piece on gender stereotypes in the university's New Views on Gender publication. His writing interests have more recently taken him into the world of fiction. The 2011 short story "Ozzy" was inspired by real-life events surrounding the life and death of his grandparents. "Operation Bald Eagle" (2012) was his first spy novella, taking readers inside the role of a CIA operative as he embarked on a mission to prevent a Chinese cyber-attack on the United States. Its sequel, "Dusk Before Dawn" (2013), sees a Russian invasion of Ukraine in a plot that weaves international intrigue with the ugly underbelly of American presidential politics. Kyle is an avid reader, enjoys exercise, follows sports, and relishes a good meal whether it is prepared at a family-owned restaurant or in his own kitchen. He is the owner of Game Freaks 365, a video game website founded in 2003 with news and reviews. His personal blog, http://kylebell.com, focuses on both politics and his books. It is meant to generate ideas and debate on policy in a constructive manner.

Book preview

Game Freaks 365’s Nintendo 3DS Guide

By Kyle W. Bell

Smashwords Edition 4, March 2019

(Originally Published December 2011)

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Copyright © Kyle Bell 2019

License Notes:

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Cover design by Angel Cortes [e-mail]

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Table of Contents

Introduction

A-E

F-I

J-Q

R-Z

Acknowledgements

Other Books

About the Author

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Introduction

Game Freaks 365 was founded to help consumers choose games that are worth their hard-earned dollars and avoid duds that are an expensive waste of time. Writing about video games is our passion. This guide aims to help consumers pick the best games that the Nintendo 3DS has to offer.

Nearly 40 reviews from some of the finest games on the Nintendo 3DS are included in Game Freaks 365's Nintendo 3DS Guide, including popular titles like Kid Icarus: Uprising, Kingdom Hearts 3D, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Mario Kart 7, Mario Tennis Open, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Resident Evil: Revelations, Sonic Generations, Star Fox 64 3D, Super Mario 3D Land, and Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy.

The 4th Edition is an update that includes all new game reviews for Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, SteamWorld Dig, Shin Megami Tensei IV, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS, and more. It was released in June 2019.

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Reviews

Asphalt 3D

Developer: Gameloft

Publisher: Ubisoft

Release Date: March 27, 2011

Platform(s): 3DS

I was looking forward to playing some racing games on the 3DS. Blazing at top speeds with the environment coming to life with an enhanced sense of depth is what it should be all about. At least with the launch titles, that does not appear to be the case. It certainly is not with Asphalt 3D, a clumsy attempt that is better suited for the smartphone market.

The game has only three main modes: career, free race and multi-player. The career mode takes place over the course of fourteen different series. Each series contains four events and one bonus event that gets unlocked after completing all events. Some of these are straight-up races, others are takedown events, duels and so on.

All of this sounds fine and good until you start playing. You quickly find yourself retracing your way through the exact same courses in different game modes. In the first series alone you race twice in San Francisco, twice in Aspen and once in Athens (but don’t worry, they’ll make sure you race in Athens again in the next series). Repetition is the name of the game and it is excruciatingly boring.

Gameloft managed to attain some licensed vehicles for Asphalt 3D. The number of cars is relatively impressive for a handheld title at over 40. Use the points that you acquire in the races to tune-up your ride by buying new parts. Further customization is allowed cosmetically by applying decals and painting your vehicle.

These are things we have come to expect with racing games. Asphalt set out at the bare minimum for a product in the genre. Unfortunately, it shows quite vividly in the graphics department. I can quite confidently say that Nintendo DS games look about as good as this. The cities in this game would not even be convincing on the PS2. Asphalt 3D is plagued by slowdown. Seeing oncoming cars is difficult to near impossible. You’ll find yourself crashing unexpectedly, causing you to lose the race and restart.

As far as the 3D goes in the game, the graphics do jump out at you a little bit, especially the cars. However, none of what I see in the game screams to me as being worthy of extra attention and in fact, the 3D only highlights the jagged edges within the game. It certainly in no way enhances your sense of speed or immersion in the race.

Speaking of speed, Asphalt 3D has no sense of it at all. Whether the speedometer is saying you are going 70 or 150, you really cannot tell much of a difference. Worse yet, it feels like you are driving on ice when you turn. It is not that you lose complete control, but more that the wheels do not have a sense of being grounded.

I was hoping that Asphalt 3D would prove to be a launch success. The Nintendo 3DS hardware has a lot of potential with racing games. The developers at Gameloft missed a key opportunity to show off the system by making a shoddy product that is a true sham for consumers at $40. I would recommend that gamers pass up Asphalt 3D and wait until a more legitimate racing title reaches the market. Ubisoft, we expect more from you than this.

Graphics: 5

Sound: 6

Gameplay: 4

Creativity: 5

Replay Value/Game Length: 5

Final: 5 out of 10

Written by Kyle

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Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate

Developer: Armature Studios

Publisher: WB Games

Release Date: October 15, 2013

Platform(s): 3DS, PC, PS3, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360

Armature Studios was more than willing to admit that it wanted to go with the Metroidvania theme when developing Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, the handheld tie-in to the console game Batman: Arkham Origins. Unfortunately, it might have been better off thinking about ways to make the Batman: Arkham series’ hand-to-hand combat system and gadget-based exploration mechanics work better within a 2.5D side-scrolling perspective.

I was pretty thrilled about Blackgate leading up to its release. The idea of a Metroid-style Batman video game sounded like it could never go wrong. His gadgets could easily fill in for Samus’ various suit abilities, and his combat abilities could make up for his lack of firearms.

Unfortunately, this is exactly where the game snags its cape. Blackgate is definitely similar to the Metroidvania game design, but some of the ways it puts a spin on the concept fall completely flat. The traditional Metroid and Castlevania games encouraged diligent exploration, curious interaction with the environment, and careful scanning of your surroundings. They were rewarding not just because of the hidden collectibles and secret areas but also because the effort required and the process of finding them was engaging and entertaining. Due to numerous design flaws, this simply isn’t the case with Blackgate.

Before I dive into all of the things that make Blackgate such a subpar Batman experience, I would like to say that the game at least looks decent from the standard perspective. The environments are large and full of detail, with many areas based on large set pieces that are interactive. The 3DS version was clearly a port of the PlayStation Vita game, and this is especially apparent when the camera zooms in a little closer. This is where Blackgate’s visuals look their worst. Textures are blurry and look like they came from the PS2/GameCube era.

The smoothness of Batman’s hand-to-hand combat animations are totally lost, not to mention the attacks of his opponents are very difficult to see, resulting in a choppy and jarring mess on the small screen. Batman can still perform some of his evasive/counter/stun moves from the console games, but the fact that the enemies are so difficult to distinguish from the murky backgrounds (in addition to the tricky timing of some of these moves) results in a fighting system that simply doesn’t work as well on the handheld.

Unfortunately, it’s not the graphics or cheesy voice acting that tear massive holes in Blackgate’s cape. As I mentioned before, it’s the dedication to making the game feel like a Metroid or Castlevania game that ultimately makes it so boring and tiresome to play.

You see, Blackgate Prison is broken up into three smaller areas, with each being controlled by a different villain: Black Mask, Penguin, and the Joker. The game advertises that players can tackle these three areas at their own pace, choosing which to enter first and which villain to pursue last. Unfortunately, this simply isn’t the way the game works, partially due to the huge amount of backtracking that is required to track down additional pieces of equipment, gear, and access to higher-level security locks. This all should sound familiar to Metroidvania fans, but the way it works in Blackgate is ultimately a mess.

This can be blamed on several things. First, the game has an aimless sense of progression, resulting in a lot of confusion related to where you should be going or who you should pursue next. Second, the map on the bottom screen – an essential part of exploring and finding hidden goodies in any Metroidvania game – is a total mess. Rather than projecting the areas from a side-scrolling viewpoint, the map projects each area from a top-down perspective. As you can probably imagine, this leads to a lot of confusion in areas with multiple floors. More often than not, you end up going the wrong direction without even realizing it.

Lastly, the Detective Mode from previous Arkham games returns in Blackgate, but its use is so excessive and forced that it takes away from the playing experience rather than nudging players to be curious and explore the game. There are points where Batman must use one of his gadgets to interact with the environment in order to proceed. Unfortunately, even if you already know that you have to throw a Batarang or use the Gel Launcher to blow up a wall, you can’t actually do this without scanning with the Detective Mode on the touch screen. This activates the object in the environment and allows Batman to lock onto it. This little design flaw really irked me several times throughout the game, where I didn’t realize I had to scan something before I could move forward, often resulting in more aimless wandering.

Perhaps the worst offense Blackgate commits is its forced stealth sections. Like any of the Arkham games, this one has a few moments where Batman is forced to sneak around his foes, using the grappling hook to spy from above and avoid enemy sightlines. The problem with this is it simply doesn’t work on the small screen or with the side-scrolling perspective. The levels are rarely designed to be large enough to ensure that Batman can avoid the sightlines of his foes, never mind the fact that his movement and controls are so damn clunky that it is difficult to make precise actions.

Although Blackgate offers a few different Batman gadgets to play around with, their use in the game becomes pretty repetitive: blow up walls with the gel launcher, take out lights with the Batarang, and so on. These things have been done before in the Arkham franchise, and Armature Studios does little to innovate with these ideas.

You would think that it could be fun to go back to previous areas with new gadgets, but even when you find new hidden areas or collectibles, the process of tracking them all down becomes tedious and even lonely. The enemies that you’ve taken out in previous trips do not respawn, so you can trek through the same areas multiple times without encountering any resistance. It may sound like less of a hassle, but ultimately it leaves you wanting a way to get around faster without the need to navigate the same sections of the environment.

Blackgate ends up being one of the biggest personal disappointments of the year. I was looking forward to it for quite some time, and perhaps this is why I ended up quitting the game before I finished it. I normally try to trudge through every game before writing my final review, even if I don’t particularly like them, but this one left a particularly bad taste in my mouth. Honestly, I felt like I was completely wasting my time every time that I sat down to play. Any progress I made felt inconsequential. Finding secrets and collectibles didn’t have the sense of reward that can typically be found in Metroidvania games.

Although I feel like Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate might have a bit more to offer for diehard fans of the Caped Crusader, I also feel that its failure to capture the Metroidvania style that it so desperately tries to imitate ultimately serves as its biggest flaw.

Perhaps Armature Studios should have spent more time thinking about smart ways to make a Batman game from a side-scrolling perspective and less about the things that make Metroid and Castlevania so successful. Unfortunately, Blackgate swings and misses at