Is it just me, or does Kid Icarus: Uprising feel really overrated?

I bought this game recently, and have gotten through the first 3 levels and replayed a couple of them, and so far, while the game is really charming me with its graphics, voice acting, music, and overall presentation, I feel there are so many LITTLE annoying things about the game that build up to make this an overall somewhat disappointing experience. Even though there is still something about the game that makes me really really NOT want to dislike it. I'm trying (part of it may be because for $39 I got the complete game in like new condition with all parts and 10 AR cards as a bonus).

First off, the 3D effect,while pretty, tends to get a "ghosting" effect WAY too easily. It may be the way I'm holding the 3DS (I haven't tried the stand yet as I enjoy playing DS games while sitting up in bed or sitting on a couch... I can't imagine why they thought people would care to use a stand to play the 3DS, this seems like a last minute ditch effort used to try and remedy a hacked control system). The ghosting 3D tends to annoy my eyes to the point where things on the screen become too confusing and I need to literally shut the 3D level all the way down. It's disappointing because I feel I can't get the most out of the what the game was originally created to be (I also own Resident Evil Revelations and this ghosting effect NEVER happens with that game, RE is on a side note pretty stunning with not only its animations but also 3D visuals).

Next, the game only comes with one mini "poster" instruction booklet that only goes over the basic controls but NO other real features of the game. There are no tutorials on the weapon upgrades, weapon selection and sorting, heart buying/exchanging system, equipping, etc, so the menus in the game feel so overly convoluted I honestly have no idea what half of the stuff is used for or even HOW to use it (the "puzzle" weapon-equip "mini-game" feature is freaking confusing as hell, I have no idea what I need to equip, how and why, and the layout doesn't really explain anything, so I think it's just something I need to sort of figure out on my own, which is ridiculous... there is no reason why there couldn't be a BETTER instruction booklet with the game explaining this convoluted set-up). Many times these notes come on the screen telling me things I can do, and I really have no idea what the game is even talking about... perhaps if there was an actual INSTRUCTION BOOKLET to explain everything!! what the hell is an idol!!!??

Next, the game feels either too easy, or so strange that I feel I win by luck and not actual skill. Now while there are differences in intensity of games (or difficulty, whatever you wanna call it), I feel that the control set-up causes a large part of this. Air battles are easier because you simply use the analog stick to move Pit around, and even though aiming while moving around gets a bit confusing (especially with all the enemies and projectiles they toss at you at once), it may be something I just need to get used to and build on. The land battles controls are just plain annoying. I mean, no jump feature? Also, the swiping the touch screen just to get Pit to turn around makes things feel too awkward... more times than not he turns too far, so I have to swipe a little bit in the opposite direction just to get him straight again (how about a camera centering button?). I wish I could just move him left and right with the analog stick alone and just used the buttons to shoot and melee, not the L button and not the touch screen. Using the L button to shoot is irritating. The same deal is with Metroid Prime Hunters and using the L button as the shoot button just feels unnecessarily difficult. Why not just shoot with the R button like a normal game? It'll make things MUCH easier. Anyway, many times when I complete a stage it feels just lucky because there is so much junk going on at once, that I see no real way a person can really "get good" at this game, instead just see if you can move around a lot and be lucky enough not to get hit. Not being able to jump means you get hit lots of times for no reason, especially attacks that actually in any other game would REQUIRE you to jump.

Next, the enemies completely lack personality. They just seem like random things picked off the cutting room floor. There is no real "theme" to the enemies, and the fact that they are always and simply referred to as "monsters" just makes things feel so much less, well, intriguing. I feel like a 5 year old kid - "oh my gosh I need to kill the monsters!!" Sure there is Medusa who's the last boss, but these random enemies shooting random projectiles and such make thing them feel like cardboard cutouts, not real enemies with actual strategy to take you down. In the Gamespot review it was said that lots of different enemies require different methods of being beat. Gimme a break. One enemy being killed by your blades shooting, uh, "lasers" or whatever and one enemy only being able to be killed by "melee combos" is not diverse enough to be able to say that I actually need to THINK before taking on ememies. In my experience so far, just tap L a lot, and move around constantly, and if I'm lucky I can come out of an area with minimal damage. Heck, some enemies don't even give a clue as to how they are to be beat, so in one section of the first stage I'm taking on this tank thing and my weapon and melee attacks are powerless against it. So what do I do? does the game give me a clue? No, so I just let myself die. ... and tapping the same button while near an enemy to use a melee attack DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AS A COMBO!

The weapon effects and shooting dynamics feel weak. The projectile "lasers" or whatever that comes out of the blade don't feel like they do actual damage. I'm not sure why, they just don't feel very heavy or have any real weight to them. Lots of times I'm not even sure that the lasers and stuff even hit an enemy, as the weapons doesn't necessarily shoot straight but sort of "sprays" crap all over the place. It seems the developers were so insistent on pretty special effects and pretty colors and fast moving action that they forgot to actually make things feel somewhat organized. Things sorta just feel too "messy" and all over the place.

Also, the game feels WAY too linear. There is no real reason to explore anything or anywhere, no real discoveries that feel need to be made. No just, quiet time, but you sorta feel rushed through a stage to get to the next part and next wave of annoying enemies... er, MONSTERS! *gasp!* Hence there feels like there is no real strategy to this game, no time to collect your weapons together or thoughts, maybe find a special item or concoct stuff to heal yourself. Stuff just constantly pops out at you, screaming "oh my gosh! more monsters! more action!!"

Lastly, the fact that you need some sort of coach to talk you through everything just goes to show that if this game's weapons, controls, abilities, and general playability was actually done well, the voiceover wouldn't even be needed, I could just figure out how to use skills on my own, without having that girl basically be my in-game instruction manual... not that half the time she even becomes audible anyway, as you are in the middle of constant fighting and now you're supposed to actually listen to what she says with her voice drowning in sound effects and music??

If you ask me either this game should've been on the Wii, or it should've been planned out way better. Lots of people are happy that there is no sequel in sight. I for one am upset about this. It would be awesome to have a Kid Icarus game have this same presentation and charm yet with actual gameplay and instructions that didn't feel so unnecessarily messy. In a Kid Icarus game where Pit is not only known for his cute one-liners and playful attitude we can have a game where the world actually DOES feel threatened by Medusa, like I'm actually out and really NEED to kill these enemies to avoid some ultimately huge disasterous outcome. In this game Pit just feels like he's constantly playing a kid's game with friends. As cute as he may be in this game, I dunno, he just doesn't have much of a personality, at least not a deep one. Yea, this game didn't deserve an 8 as given by Gamespot, I would say a 7/10 would be more fitting.

It is overrated. A 10-12 hour shoot 'em up gets repetitive and of course the controls, at least on foot are not satisfactory enough to provide a smooth experience

I agree. There are a lot of things that I don't like about it. But I may have been able to look past if it had a good control scheme.. but my god, it is, the least fun control scheme any handheld game I've ever played had... I felt like I was playing some crappy FPS on an iphone thats how bad these controls were. Sure I hear you get used to it but I just didn't care, its just not fun to play because of how just needlessly ridiculous they are.

I disagree, if anything it is underrated. And just saying, the rest of that was complete crap and like you complaints were because you didn't explore the problems you were having.

Play it for more than three levels....

There are 25 chapters in the game, nine different types of weapons that can completely change how you approach combat, a sliding difficulty scale, at least four different overall groups of enemies (you've only seen the Underworld Army at this point), and a dozen tutorial videos to show you how most of it works.

The control scheme is something that no one has ever really experienced before, so everyone has to go through the same adjustment period. You just have to play it more.

And as for your last paragraph about the story... dude.... PLAY IT MORE. The story goes in places you could never guess. It was written by a crazy person who knows he's crazy and puts it right out in the open.

You can't judge this game after playing the first three levels. You might still not like it after playing more, but most of your complaints would be mitigated if you would just play more of the game. I've put 20 hours into it, and there's still a ton of stuff I'd like to do.

I did not like this game. I personally hated the voice acting. It made the game too much of a joke. Like, they say stupid things that usually aren't funny, aren't witty, or are just plain obvious. Pit's voice actor belongs in a baby cartoon or some Bakugan anime or whatever, they can't make the game feel like a parody with their lame jokes and then try to make Pit seem all serious when he says stuff like "In the name of the Godess of Light, I will banish you!" Like, the game feels totally westernized, I don't feel any inspiration from Greek mythology, heck Pit talks about loving ice cream, that just doesn't fit in the atmosphere of a Greek mythology game. It just felt completely corny.

They constantly tried pointing out that you're playing a video game, and pointing out the faults in the game in an attempt to make these things comical, but it was just annoying, like when Palutena or whoever said "Didn't you just see that loading screen?" not even witty, just a dumb attempt to show that "hey, we know you're playing a game! Hahaha!" Also, the game was very plain. You pretty much just had to rush from one area to another to kill stuff. You barely ever need to make use of your environment, there are no puzzles, it's just a plain floor you have to run through to kill stuff. That's it.

Is it me or does most of the bashing come from people who just play the first few levels and give up because they refuse to get used to the control scheme :/

It's new people, obviously it's going to fling you out of your comfort zone. If anything you should play around with the aiming options a bit before diving in

I disagree, if anything it is underrated. And just saying, the rest of that was complete crap and like you complaints were because you didn't explore the problems you were having.

Sora278

This. So it's just you.

I did not like this game. I personally hated the voice acting. It made the game too much of a joke. Like, they say stupid things that usually aren't funny, aren't witty, or are just plain obvious. Pit's voice actor belongs in a baby cartoon or some Bakugan anime or whatever, they can't make the game feel like a parody with their lame jokes and then try to make Pit seem all serious when he says stuff like "In the name of the Godess of Light, I will banish you!" Like, the game feels totally westernized, I don't feel any inspiration from Greek mythology, heck Pit talks about loving ice cream, that just doesn't fit in the atmosphere of a Greek mythology game. It just felt completely corny.

They constantly tried pointing out that you're playing a video game, and pointing out the faults in the game in an attempt to make these things comical, but it was just annoying, like when Palutena or whoever said "Didn't you just see that loading screen?" not even witty, just a dumb attempt to show that "hey, we know you're playing a game! Hahaha!" Also, the game was very plain. You pretty much just had to rush from one area to another to kill stuff. You barely ever need to make use of your environment, there are no puzzles, it's just a plain floor you have to run through to kill stuff. That's it.

rubber-chicken

[QUOTE="rubber-chicken"]

I did not like this game. I personally hated the voice acting. It made the game too much of a joke. Like, they say stupid things that usually aren't funny, aren't witty, or are just plain obvious. Pit's voice actor belongs in a baby cartoon or some Bakugan anime or whatever, they can't make the game feel like a parody with their lame jokes and then try to make Pit seem all serious when he says stuff like "In the name of the Godess of Light, I will banish you!" Like, the game feels totally westernized, I don't feel any inspiration from Greek mythology, heck Pit talks about loving ice cream, that just doesn't fit in the atmosphere of a Greek mythology game. It just felt completely corny.

They constantly tried pointing out that you're playing a video game, and pointing out the faults in the game in an attempt to make these things comical, but it was just annoying, like when Palutena or whoever said "Didn't you just see that loading screen?" not even witty, just a dumb attempt to show that "hey, we know you're playing a game! Hahaha!" Also, the game was very plain. You pretty much just had to rush from one area to another to kill stuff. You barely ever need to make use of your environment, there are no puzzles, it's just a plain floor you have to run through to kill stuff. That's it.

JordanElek

I didn't think it was overrated. It is currently my favorite 3DS game. :)

In personally have had a blast playing it. The controls are still a bit of a pain at times but the stylus does offer prescision at least. While I agree the ground levels are pretty linear and repetitive they still have a couple of hidden areas and the dialogue and story were good enough to make those sections worth it, especially as the flying sections and boss fights were great. The amount of contents also pretty amazing, Sakurai must know I love collecting trophies!

Only real problems I have with it is the aforementioned ground levels gtting a tad reptitive and the controls. Also the the exo tank. Hardest vehicle to control EVER.

there is no reason why there couldn't be a BETTER instruction booklet with the game explaining this convoluted set-up). Many times these notes come on the screen telling me things I can do, and I really have no idea what the game is even talking about... perhaps if there was an actual INSTRUCTION BOOKLET to explain everything!! what the hell is an idol!!!??metalgrinch

[QUOTE="metalgrinch"] there is no reason why there couldn't be a BETTER instruction booklet with the game explaining this convoluted set-up). Many times these notes come on the screen telling me things I can do, and I really have no idea what the game is even talking about... perhaps if there was an actual INSTRUCTION BOOKLET to explain everything!! what the hell is an idol!!!??wwefanforlife

Well, it got me addicted enough to make me break the L button on my 3DS.

It was tough to get used to, but in the end the only realy problem I had with it was the annoyingly bad writing which is thrown at you constantly. Luckilyit can be muted and turned off though

I'll admit the controls felt awkward for a while, but it's an excellent game and still among the best available for the 3DS.

I don't usually do this but there's plenty wrong about what has been said here. My response is in bold text.

I bought this game recently, and have gotten through the first 3 levels and replayed a couple of them

Come back when you invested 'enough' time.

Next, the game only comes with one mini "poster" instruction booklet that only goes over the basic controls but NO other real features of the game. There are no tutorials on the weapon upgrades, weapon selection and sorting, heart buying/exchanging system, equipping, etc, so the menus in the game feel so overly convoluted I honestly have no idea what half of the stuff is used for or even HOW to use it (the "puzzle" weapon-equip "mini-game" feature is freaking confusing as hell, I have no idea what I need to equip, how and why, and the layout doesn't really explain anything, so I think it's just something I need to sort of figure out on my own, which is ridiculous... there is no reason why there couldn't be a BETTER instruction booklet with the game explaining this convoluted set-up). Many times these notes come on the screen telling me things I can do, and I really have no idea what the game is even talking about... perhaps if there was an actual INSTRUCTION BOOKLET to explain everything!! what the hell is an idol!!!??

These days instruction booklets are extremely vague. So no disagreement here.

Next, the game feels either too easy, or so strange that I feel I win by luck and not actual skill. Now while there are differences in intensity of games (or difficulty, whatever you wanna call it), I feel that the control set-up causes a large part of this. Air battles are easier because you simply use the analog stick to move Pit around, and even though aiming while moving around gets a bit confusing (especially with all the enemies and projectiles they toss at you at once), it may be something I just need to get used to and build on. The land battles controls are just plain annoying. I mean, no jump feature? Also, the swiping the touch screen just to get Pit to turn around makes things feel too awkward... more times than not he turns too far, so I have to swipe a little bit in the opposite direction just to get him straight again (how about a camera centering button?). I wish I could just move him left and right with the analog stick alone and just used the buttons to shoot and melee, not the L button and not the touch screen. Using the L button to shoot is irritating. The same deal is with Metroid Prime Hunters and using the L button as the shoot button just feels unnecessarily difficult. Why not just shoot with the R button like a normal game? It'll make things MUCH easier. Anyway, many times when I complete a stage it feels just lucky because there is so much junk going on at once, that I see no real way a person can really "get good" at this game, instead just see if you can move around a lot and be lucky enough not to get hit. Not being able to jump means you get hit lots of times for no reason, especially attacks that actually in any other game would REQUIRE you to jump.

This is a matter of getting used to the controls. It's more convoluted but not broken. It will grow on you if you invest enough time into it. The way I handle it, I have my right pinky resting on the R button so it provides extra support holding the 3DS. R is the activation of powers too, so it's much more convenient than touching the tiny icons on the screen. And this game does require alot of skill from you from difficulties 5 & up. Since you only played a couple levels, then you have absolutely no idea. Enemies are more plentiful and more ruthless.

Next, the enemies completely lack personality. They just seem like random things picked off the cutting room floor. There is no real "theme" to the enemies, and the fact that they are always and simply referred to as "monsters" just makes things feel so much less, well, intriguing. I feel like a 5 year old kid - "oh my gosh I need to kill the monsters!!" Sure there is Medusa who's the last boss, but these random enemies shooting random projectiles and such make thing them feel like cardboard cutouts, not real enemies with actual strategy to take you down. In the Gamespot review it was said that lots of different enemies require different methods of being beat. Gimme a break. One enemy being killed by your blades shooting, uh, "lasers" or whatever and one enemy only being able to be killed by "melee combos" is not diverse enough to be able to say that I actually need to THINK before taking on ememies. In my experience so far, just tap L a lot, and move around constantly, and if I'm lucky I can come out of an area with minimal damage.

Again, YOU'RE ONLY 3 LEVELS IN. There are so many variations of enemies you will encounter that require different approaches.

Heck, some enemies don't even give a clue as to how they are to be beat, so in one section of the first stage I'm taking on this tank thing and my weapon and melee attacks are powerless against it. So what do I do? does the game give me a clue? No, so I just let myself die. ...

Yeah, you have to shoot or melee its back. As for a clue? It's a big red spot that pretty much resembles a target. There's some diversity you wanted.

The weapon effects and shooting dynamics feel weak. The projectile "lasers" or whatever that comes out of the blade don't feel like they do actual damage. I'm not sure why, they just don't feel very heavy or have any real weight to them. Lots of times I'm not even sure that the lasers and stuff even hit an enemy, as the weapons doesn't necessarily shoot straight but sort of "sprays" crap all over the place. It seems the developers were so insistent on pretty special effects and pretty colors and fast moving action that they forgot to actually make things feel somewhat organized. Things sorta just feel too "messy" and all over the place.

That's only one weapon that is quick but weak. There are countless of other weapons that act differently. For example, a club is a very powerful weapon that shoots one giant projectile that has a crushing sound effect when hit. Even the enemy pauses for a second, portraying a great sense of pain.

Also, the game feels WAY too linear. There is no real reason to explore anything or anywhere, no real discoveries that feel need to be made. No just, quiet time, but you sorta feel rushed through a stage to get to the next part and next wave of annoying enemies... er, MONSTERS! *gasp!* Hence there feels like there is no real strategy to this game, no time to collect your weapons together or thoughts, maybe find a special item or concoct stuff to heal yourself. Stuff just constantly pops out at you, screaming "oh my gosh! more monsters! more action!!"

I somewhat agree but there are still secret areas you can find if you look hard enough.

Lastly, the fact that you need some sort of coach to talk you through everything just goes to show that if this game's weapons, controls, abilities, and general playability was actually done well, the voiceover wouldn't even be needed, I could just figure out how to use skills on my own, without having that girl basically be my in-game instruction manual... not that half the time she even becomes audible anyway, as you are in the middle of constant fighting and now you're supposed to actually listen to what she says with her voice drowning in sound effects and music??

If you want less distractive tutorials, then watch the tutorial videos somewhere in the options.

If you ask me either this game should've been on the Wii, or it should've been planned out way better. Lots of people are happy that there is no sequel in sight. I for one am upset about this. It would be awesome to have a Kid Icarus game have this same presentation and charm yet with actual gameplay and instructions that didn't feel so unnecessarily messy. In a Kid Icarus game where Pit is not only known for his cute one-liners and playful attitude we can have a game where the world actually DOES feel threatened by Medusa, like I'm actually out and really NEED to kill these enemies to avoid some ultimately huge disasterous outcome. In this game Pit just feels like he's constantly playing a kid's game with friends. As cute as he may be in this game, I dunno, he just doesn't have much of a personality, at least not a deep one. Yea, this game didn't deserve an 8 as given by Gamespot, I would say a 7/10 would be more fitting.

Well, that's subjective. I personally find this lighthearted nature a great change of pace compared to the rest of the industry.

metalgrinch

I implore you to play more of it and see the game in its entirety. If your opinions hasn't changed, then no big deal. It's just foolish to accuse a game of being 'overrated' when you only just played a fraction of it.

Yeah. It's extremely overrated in my opinion. I'd give it a 6.5.

The controls were horrible and the level design in later levels didn't accommodate for the horrible controls which lead to many unnecessary deaths, i.e. Dashing off platforms because the dash command and walk command are basically the same. The camera took some use getting use to, but I was never able to get use to the dashing when on a small platform. Don't even get me started on the vehicle controls.

Other then that the difficulty system is flawed because it the difficulty when you die even if the death was caused by the cheap pesudo-platforming. This makes the game even more easy when it comes to fighting bosses and enemies. Most bosses fell within a minute.

The lack of checkpoints is also rather annoying. I would have liked to saved sometimes between air and land parts of a mission, seems unreasonable that you can't.

Why is a thread from 2012 bumped?

Thread necro... I never understood the control issue here. Maybe because I played Metroid Prime Hunters. They worked great IMO.darkspineslayer

I absolutely love Kid Icarus Uprising (one of the best soundtracks since Mario Galaxy aswell may I add) but I'm a lefty and the controls are extremely awkward in KI:U to the point where I cannot really give it my all and play to the best of my ability (which sucks)

I just remembered that the controls in Metroid Prime Hunters are exactly the same  but I refused to play that one, so I'll probably go back to it now since I'm tolerating the controls in KI:U.

I wish both of those games were on the Wii though, I feel like the only reason they weren't was because of budgeting.

[QUOTE="darkspineslayer"]Thread necro... I never understood the control issue here. Maybe because I played Metroid Prime Hunters. They worked great IMO.NirdBerd

I absolutely love Kid Icarus Uprising (one of the best soundtracks since Mario Galaxy aswell may I add) but I'm a lefty and the controls are extremely awkward in KI:U to the point where I cannot really give it my all and play to the best of my ability (which sucks)

I just remembered that the controls in Metroid Prime Hunters are exactly the same  but I refused to play that one, so I'll probably go back to it now since I'm tolerating the controls in KI:U.

I wish both of those games were on the Wii though, I feel like the only reason they weren't was because of budgeting.

If anything Kid Icarus Uprising is an underrated gem of a game. Aside from controls (which can be customized and you just need to kinda deal with it) the game itself is charming and wonderful to play. I love all the characters in this game, and the way they interact with each other. The multiplayer combat is great too, havent played light vs. dark in a while, but I recall it being one of the best, and balanced multiplayer experiences i have ever dealt with. Sure it may not be for everyone, but I see nothing but charm and wonderful fun from this game.