Cracking open the crisp cellophane on a fresh copy of the original PilotWings 20 years ago, I remember getting pleasantly lost in the pixilated clouds and skydiving to my doom over and over again -- but not until after I'd already clocked dozens of hours in Super Mario World, F-Zero, and SimCity first. The launch line-up for Nintendo's 3DS isn't peppered with nearly as many mouth-watering first-party offerings, so the fact that PilotWings Resort feels like little more than a beefy tech demo to showcase the system's glasses-free 3D is probably a moot point. People will buy it, dig it for a few hours, and then twiddle their thumbs until something better comes along. But is it still fun? Definitely.
Both of the game's two modes strap your customized Mii avatar into a medley of airborne contraptions and send them soaring high above the vibrant tropical setting of Wuhu Island (yes, the same Wuhu Island from Wii Sports Resort). Mission mode is the main attraction in PilotWings Resort, packing about 40 challenges in five difficulty classes that progressively unlock as you earn stars for performing well in individual events. These brief timed missions revolve around the game's three core vehicles -- a plane, a rocket belt, and a hang glider. Each ride handles very differently, and the types of challenges vary depending on which one you're piloting.
Early missions involve simple stuff like flying through hoops, shooting targets, and snapping photos of key landmarks as you pass by. These basic tasks aren't that thrilling at first, but they let you fiddle with the responsive flight controls and get in some pleasant 3D sightseeing. Other missions offer a broader variety of activities and challenge, particularly as you unlock upgraded versions of each vehicle. The airborne action gets a lot more exciting when you have to dump water from a speeding plane to extinguish campfires, don a flying squirrel suit for a high-speed vertical drop, and guide small lost UFOs safely back to their mothership. Though a few missions are tough to tackle, it only takes a couple of hours to blow through the bulk of the challenges. It's an enjoyable romp through sunny skies -- even if it's short-lived.
Free Flight mode stretches the fun a little further. Hopping into any of the aircraft unlocked by completing challenges, you have a time limit to buzz around the island, snapping photos of scenic vistas and hunting down collectibles. The collection aspect gives you something more to do than just tool around, since locating Wuhu Island's hotspots, popping colored balloons, and spinning through stunt rings fills quotas that unlock diorama trinkets which appear in the gallery. It's not much of a reward for your efforts, but searching for missing hotpots to hit your quota is entertaining enough to warrant sinking a little extra time into it.
One thing PilotWings Resort does very well is show off the system's 3D capabilities. Wuhu Island is an upbeat and colorful place, brimming with lush trees, tall bridges, numerous buildings, mountainous outcroppings, and even a roiling volcano to fly in and around. While it looks pretty enough with the 3D turned completely off, PilotWings Resort really shines when you crank the 3D slider to full blast. The depth it instills into the game world is helpful for judging visual distance between objects, and I'm particularly impressed with the way it makes the minute details of each aircraft come to life. In this case, the 3D really adds a lot, and that's not easily said about some of the other 3DS launch titles.
The initial thrill of zipping around high above Wuhu Island's tropical terrain in full 3D fades well before you exhaust the meager amount of activities woven into the two main modes. What you're left with after that point is only a couple hours of flight time to breeze through -- assuming you feel like milking every last drop of fun hidden in these limited depths. A much-needed multiplayer mode might have tipped the scale in the other direction; sadly, that's missing altogether. PilotWings Resort is an entertaining game while it lasts, but its short length and limited scope prove disappointing.