It has been 25 years since Pit’s first outing in the original Kid Icarus for the Nintendo Entertainment System, but how does the third entry in the series fare?

Kid Icarus: Uprising is developed by Nintendo with Masahiro Sakurai taking the lead in creating this game. This is an action adventure game, and lets just say that there is a ton of action. This adventure has you playing as the Goddess of Light’s most loyal servant Pit. Pit is an angel with wings but is not able to fly without the help of the Goddess of Light named Palutena. After 25 years, the Queen of the Underworld named Medusa has came back to life and is wreaking havoc, so your job is to go out and rid the universe of Medusa and her Underworld forces. The game has a Greek mythology vibe to it, as you can see from just looking at the name Medusa.

Gameplay:

This game is jam packed with a plethora of things to do. The single-player campaign is cut up into multiple chapters for you to play through. Almost every chapter has the same set up. You start off in air battle, then move to land battle, and then finally comes the boss fight. There is a wealth of bosses to fight against, along with a huge cast of enemies to plow your way through.

A neat part about Kid Icarus: Uprising is the Fiend’s Cauldron. Before each level you play, you are required to pick an Intensity level for the chapter you are going to play. The Intensity ranges from 0.0-9.0. 0.0 is the easiest, while 9.0 makes the game harder than a piece of toast. The higher you raise the intensity, the better weapon drops you will receive and you will also earn more hearts(hearts are the game’s currency). To raise the intensity higher, you must wager hearts, so if you die while on a certain intensity, you will lose the hearts you wagered.

Another neat thing about the Intensity level, is that there are intensity gates scattered throughout levels that can only be opened if you are at or above the level of intensity that is posted on the gate. Behind the gates you will find treasure chests with weapons inside. It is exciting to find these gates and going inside to capture the treasure.

The game also awards you for exploration like in Super Mario 3D Land. While on land, if you stray off the path you can find treasure, which helps the game from becoming too linear.

A large part of this game is the weapons system. There is nine different classes of weapons such as claws, blades, and clubs. Different weapons have different properties. Some weapons may be good at range shots while it suffers with melee attacks, while other weapons may be good with melee attacks. There is enough weapons to suit your play style. You want to fight from far away or be in the heat of the battle? The chose is yours. I’m more of the range shooting type of person. A cool concept with the weapons is the ability to fuse two weapons together. Doing such a thing could make a better weapon altogether while usually taking some properties of each weapon and mixing it into one. The weapons system is diverse, and people who like to use strategy will probably like this weapons system.

Now onto the controls. There has been a lot of hate for the controls of this game, but I find them to be well suited. Sure, the controls cause the game not to be a stand up and play type of game, but the controls fit. Using the touch screen to control the cursor works well, since you are able to move the cursor fast just by swiping across the touch screen. Using a second analog stick could possibly cause this type of action to become harder. Once you play the game for sometime, the controls become natural and easier to use. The controls are fine while flying, but the harder part is when you are on land. While on land, you have to control the camera also, which makes it difficult, but as you continue to play you get used to it.

The multi-player is also well done. You can either play in free-for-all mode where everyone fights against each other, or you can play dark vs. light mode where people are on teams. While playing multi-player you earn hearts and weapons that you can use in single-player which is a nice touch. My only complaint with the multi-player is that there doesn’t seem to be a rating system like what Mario Kart 7 has. In Mario Kart 7, you had a VR rating that would increase depending on how well you did and then it would match you up with people with similar VR. This game does not seem to have it, but oh well.

Visuals:

One word to describe the visuals in this game? Awesome. Kid Icarus: Uprising has some of the best graphics on the Nintendo 3DS yet. Through the multiple chapters you fly through different scenery. You will fly over lush green hills with bodies of water shimmering in the sun and also glide through mountains. There is a lot of detail put into the visuals. Most notable for me was the shimmering of light off surfaces, which looks spectacular. I can’t stress the point that this game has some spectacular visuals sprawled across the levels.

Sound:

There is enough music in this game to keep you happy. Don’t worry if you think the music is going to get repetitive from playing a single tune over and over. There are multiple pieces of music in Kid Icarus. The music even seems to be orchestrated which is a nice touch. There is soft music along with more heavy music during the more intense moments. I don’t pay attention much to the music while playing, but you will probably enjoy it. They did a wonderful job of making music for the game.

Replay Value:

There is quite an expanse of replay value in this game. In the single-player there is a section called Treasure Hunt where you must complete a certain objective to unlock a piece of a puzzle. There is a ton of puzzle pieces to get, so if you are a person who likes to 100% all their games, well this part of Kid Icarus will have you playing this game for a while. The Fiend’s Cauldron even adds replay value to the game as it challenges you to try a higher intensity level for each chapter, so you may find yourself playing levels over again. The multi-player also adds to the length of the game. You can battle with people across the world for as long as you want.

Conclusion:

This is a very polished game with awesome gameplay, spectacular visuals, and many pieces of music to listen to. This game is fantastic and there is a lot to do. The suggested retail price for this game is $39.99 and it comes with a stand that you can use to prop your Nintendo 3DS up. I don’t know what else to say besides that Kid Icarus: Uprising is awesome. TheGamingPixelShow.com is rewarding this game a 10/10.