Kid Icarus Uprising is a difficult game to pin down in any one way. In some ways, this is brilliant, creating original and creative game designs, music, or characters. Sometimes… well, it goes a little too far. It reminds me of child with ADHD in some ways, it’s bright, energetic and sometimes has new original ideas that nobody else could have thought of. However, when it needs to slow down, it literally can’t. So, it begs the question, is this game worth the flaws? To understand this, we’ll go over several crucial aspects in the game that define this game: The Graphics/overall design, the music, gameplay, storyline, and general tone of the game.

Beginning with the game design, this is definitely an area in Uprising that shines. Lots of the designs are unique and clever, and take very good advantage of the 3ds. For example, the enemies are intricate and well-designed, and lots of them have interesting things they do as well, but we’ll go more into detail with that in gameplay. The stages are stunning, hitting the feel of the game far more often than not, although I can name some that were out of place in this game. In general, the stages were full of very detailed and vivid environments, giving the player a sense of atmosphere and large amounts of immersion. The character designs are brilliant; making a lot of the characters feel very in character and even enhancing the character itself. Heck, even the MENUS are engaging!

There isn’t a great deal that can be said about beautiful music. All that can really be well expressed about the music in this game is that it is utterly vibrant and alive. The music of a game oftentimes is the great emotional tipping point for many players. With a soundtrack that sound like they came from Koji Kondo himself, I cannot get enough of them, and mark my words, music that can make an electric guitar sound good in a game about an angel fighting Greek-like gods to save the world has to at least be given props for originality.

Here’s where it starts to go downhill. Gameplay in Uprising is confusing, really confusing. First, there are two parts to a stage. The first part involves you flying to your destination while shooting down enemies. The game has a set course, so that all you have to worry about is shooting. These sections last usually no longer than five minutes, and this limit is at a point in the game an important plot point. After that, you’re stuck on foot. The land battle (the proper term) bits are where it gets annoying. In order to move you reticle, you have to move your stylus across the touch screen similar to- and I quote- “spinning a globe.” This is a really clumsy way to move your reticle around, and it’s really no better trying to change the configuration because it just doesn’t move any more effectively. Your power up menu is ALSO located on the touch screen, so if you want to access that, you have to stop shooting or whatever you’re doing and literally scroll through your power ups to the one you want. As a result, I just ended up never using them, and heaven FORBID you be a lefty. There have been few times where I wished I was right-handed, but trust me, this one one of them. On the bright side, the way to get better weapons is clever- merging two weapons into one different weapon- and I did enjoy that. Difficulty can be set for each stage too, which is useful. It is definitely useful when you’re still getting used to the controls, which definitely takes a while. Overall, the gameplay could be a lot better if they introduced a smarter camera or targeting like the Zelda series. They just tried to cram too much into one set of buttons and it’s just infuriating, I’m sorry.

Finally, my biggest irk from this game, the storyline. Be forewarned, there ARE SPOILERS AHEAD, so DO NOT BLAME ME FOR GIVING AWAY THE STORYLINE. It’s a necessary part of the review, because trust me, it’s just as confusing as the controls.

Alright, So you play as Pit, an angel who can’t fly. During the first stage you find out Medusa, the antagonist of the games and goddess of the underworld from the NES era has come back. There’s already lots of references to the original game, lots of them blatant. for example, in the first stage, Pit will say something rather funny in relation to Medusa, stating “ She was a huge pain 25 years ago, and that was only in two dimensions!” Now, this made me crack up when I first heard it, but stuff like that happens a LOT, and it really hurts the immersion of the game. Breaking the Fourth Wall is okay once or twice, and small references that don’t break the immersion are fine, but it feels like it happened so many times in that game, I couldn’t take anything the characters said seriously after a while. Sorry NOA, thumbs down on that one.

At least that was amusing for the most part, if hindering the storyline. But even then, the storyline a major design flaw in it. Mostly, WHO IN BLEEDING HECK ARE WE FIGHTING? I stated that we were fighting Medusa in the beginning, right? Well, no, you’re actually fighting Hades, who brought back Medusa (no real surprise). Then another goddess, Viridi, comes along who hates humans and Hades, and she is a big enemy (fighting two now, yay.) Then aliens show up because all the fighting and war signaled them (wha?) so everyone teams up and defeats them (Okay?) but then a prisoner in a base of Viridi’s that you destroyed hijacks the Goddess of Light Palutena’s (the person we fight for) body and uses her to seal you in a ring for three years. Three years later, everything is changed (not really) and you free Palutena. Now we’re fighting Hades again, with Viridi on our side because apparently she likes us now. Finally we defeat Hades, and everyone is happy. Well, except for my brain.

This is where I look at everything I’ve just said, crumple it up, and burn it in a fire. This game, as much as I might gripe on it, is actually brilliant. The voice acting, the characters, the enemies, the setting, the music, even the story line (when it isn’t giving me an aneurism) give this game a feel I have yet to experience in another game… passion that is both casual and unbridled at the same time. I really do give props to the crew at Nintendo of America (they were given free rein to design the localization to fit the West)for picking the perfect people for the voice acting, coming up with witty and vibrant conversations and giving this game a feeling of life that really helped it soar. The characters are fun to listen to and the game is fun to play. I would give it eggplant out of ten, because trying to rate this game is like trying to rate your dog out of ten. You just can’t! I CAN say that it is worth getting, and if they come out with a sequel, I’ll be certain to get my hands on it.