I’d never played or even seen 3DS in person until I picked it up this afternoon. I’m having a great time with it…or I was until the battery ran out after three hours. Sad battery reality aside, here are some quick initial thoughts:
1. Love the whole user environment, and the camera’s going to get a lot of use.
2. Face Raiders is a blast. It lessens the sting of the hardware price.
3. The AR games are amazing.
4. The Miis look great in 3D.
5. Street Fighter looks incredible, plays great.
6. Pilot Wings is thrilling, with a convincing feeling of height.
7. Nintendogs looks even better than I’d anticipated, and the 3D really pops in this one.
8. Gotta find a coat pocket big enough to carry it to work to earn coins!
So far, I’m very satisfied with the device. Five stars for the built-in software. One star for the battery. I find the 3D very smooth and convincing in the titles listed above. After three hours, my eyes feel a bit tired, but I probably won’t do a marathon 3D session like that again. No headache or dizziness, so far.
One thing, though: Does anyone else here find the speaker volume ridiculously low…even at the loudest setting? This is a shame, because, in the built-in software, the surround sound effect works very well…when I can hear anything. In a quiet room with it turned all the way up, I can barely understand what the Street Fighter announcer is saying. Nintendogs is a bit better.
Through earphones, though, everything sounds terrific and crystal clear.
I just scratched the surface on this first battery charge, sampling as many features as I could. Can’t wait to play some more.
All you purchasers–What do you think? How’d your first session go?
