If Nintendo's range of ever-dependable gaming franchises were a band, Pilotwings would be the lanky, slightly introverted bass player: dependable, earnest, but not the one the girls rush for at the end of a gig. The series has been around since the days of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, offering a collection of increasingly tricky flying missions using light aircraft, rocket packs and hang gliders.
Pilotwings Resort sticks to the recipe like a fly to a jet plane's windscreen. You start on novice stage learning the basics of your environment (effectively, the skies above a quaint little holiday island) and your various craft. Then you work through bronze, silver, gold and platinum cups, each offering a selection of challenges. Sometimes you're flying your plane through a series of rings, shooting at targets; or you might be swooping gracefully over the town on your hang-glider, tasked with taking a glorious photo of a historic lighthouse. The control experience is different for each craft – the jetpack is all about careful bursts of speed and constant downward glances at the land below, while on the glider you must look out for thermal air currents to provide you with extra height.
The new analogue thumbpad works really nicely here, giving you intricate and comfortable control through some tricky aerial courses. It turns out, however, that the 3D visuals are less useful. The wider-scale depth effect is lovely, with island features passing convincingly in the far distance as you soar through the blue skies. In the free-flight mode there's simple pleasure to be had in zooming around getting a real impression of space and height (you can also pop balloons and soar through info rings to unlock new craft and 'dioramas'). But when it comes to navigating through hoops suspended in the air, or working out how to land on small pads, you never quite get the intricate depth information you need, perhaps because the small screen fails to immerse you fully in the environment.
It's a diverting little game though, with a grading system on each mission that encourages you to come back and improve your scores. The visual style is pleasantly warm and bright, with lovely lens-flare effects from the sun – it all wistfully recalls the simple but expressive polygonal graphics of Pilot Wings 64. Fans of the series will also recognise the musical themes, which have been given a sort of lightly jazzy muzak reinterpretation here, so it sounds like you're flying through a shopping centre or being kept on hold by your bank. But more fun, of course.
There was certainly room here to provide more in terms of options and activities. Alongside Nintendogs, this is a key launch title, so some sort of Street Pass implementation would have been welcome. But for gamers wanting a nicely sedate, yet increasingly fiddly and demanding challenge, Pilotwings Resort delivers in the same way as that introverted bass player – with modest, affable confidence. Only this time, he is not accompanied by a sexy Italian plumber to please the groupies, and he can't quite fill the spotlight alone.
