This is an incredibly ambitious game from a technical standpoint and features some pretty fun core gameplay on display, but hardware limitations and several design choices greatly dampen the experience.
Let's start with the technical limitations because this seems to be pretty agreed on from what I've seen:
While the use of the 3D slider is a great showcase of the feature, a lot of the spectacle of the flight sections is greatly diminished by being on such a small screen.
Then when it wants to be a 3D action game/third person shooter the camera is far too limiting and the movement often too stiff or awkward for the environments. I think it works best when fighting large enemies in arenas where you can dash around freely and track your opponent.
The dynamic difficulty system is something I've never liked in Smash's classic mode after Brawl, and I was hoping that I'd like its implementation a little bit more here with the inclusion of secret areas only accessible on higher levels, but sadly it has all the same problems. Rather than giving me the chance to learn enemy patterns the game simply gets easier for me upon death. It's so unsatisfying to have the game rob me of the opportunity to overcome a challenge unless I replay the entire level. Only thing I liked was how it would suggest a setting.
The story was also a bit of a letdown as well. There's some very well designed and likable characters in this game, but I found myself feeling very mixed about the dialogue. A lot of it is charming banter while much of it feels too self-referential in a Boost Era Sonic kinda way. The plot also cannot seem to stay focused. You never know what new element will be suddenly introduced at the beginning of a chapter. The main villain gets revealed and then suddenly you're fighting someone else, so you do a few chapters fighting against that army but wait! Aliens appeared, so we all gotta team up against them!
My favorite part by far is the Chaos arc. If the majority of the game had the tone of Chapter 18, I may have loved this story. I also really liked a moment towards the end where Dark Pit confronts Palutena and Viridi to make them admit their blame in all of this conflict.
If anything I think this was a strong proof of concept that if they tapped into to what worked and left out a lot of what didn't, this could be a truly special franchise for Nintendo. With a stronger narrative focus and better hardware, this series definitely has potential.
Let's start with the technical limitations because this seems to be pretty agreed on from what I've seen:
While the use of the 3D slider is a great showcase of the feature, a lot of the spectacle of the flight sections is greatly diminished by being on such a small screen.
Then when it wants to be a 3D action game/third person shooter the camera is far too limiting and the movement often too stiff or awkward for the environments. I think it works best when fighting large enemies in arenas where you can dash around freely and track your opponent.
The dynamic difficulty system is something I've never liked in Smash's classic mode after Brawl, and I was hoping that I'd like its implementation a little bit more here with the inclusion of secret areas only accessible on higher levels, but sadly it has all the same problems. Rather than giving me the chance to learn enemy patterns the game simply gets easier for me upon death. It's so unsatisfying to have the game rob me of the opportunity to overcome a challenge unless I replay the entire level. Only thing I liked was how it would suggest a setting.
The story was also a bit of a letdown as well. There's some very well designed and likable characters in this game, but I found myself feeling very mixed about the dialogue. A lot of it is charming banter while much of it feels too self-referential in a Boost Era Sonic kinda way. The plot also cannot seem to stay focused. You never know what new element will be suddenly introduced at the beginning of a chapter. The main villain gets revealed and then suddenly you're fighting someone else, so you do a few chapters fighting against that army but wait! Aliens appeared, so we all gotta team up against them!
My favorite part by far is the Chaos arc. If the majority of the game had the tone of Chapter 18, I may have loved this story. I also really liked a moment towards the end where Dark Pit confronts Palutena and Viridi to make them admit their blame in all of this conflict.
If anything I think this was a strong proof of concept that if they tapped into to what worked and left out a lot of what didn't, this could be a truly special franchise for Nintendo. With a stronger narrative focus and better hardware, this series definitely has potential.