Flying too close to the sun.

Every now and then, someone jumps in to try and fill a hole that Nintendo has temporarily left. We’ve seen tons of Mario clones, Zelda clones, Metroid-vanias and even Smash Bros. style games (like this year’s “Brawlout”). The Pilotwings series is, in my humble opinion, one of the best and perhaps the most underutilized series in Nintendo’s well-worn catalog, but despite only three entries over the last 28 years it doesn’t seem to have many imitators. This is one reason why I was so excited for the pending release of Pilot Sports on Switch (and PS4). Would it fill the Pilotwings sized hole in my Nintendo library that had been ever growing since 2011? Shouldn’t a series as seminal as this one get its share of clones and copy cats too? Unfortunately, Pilot Sports has answered both these questions with a resounding no.

The game attempts to replicate the Pilotwings formula pretty blatantly. Players will fly planes, jet packs, hang gliders and skydive through timed courses complete with points to collect, rings to fly through, and landing pads to avoid crashing into spectacularly. Players will earn medals depending on performance and will need to collect enough gold medals in each series of courses to unlock the next set of challenges.

MSRP: $34.99
Platforms: Switch (reviewed), PS4

Unfortunately, unlocking new levels by collecting enough gold medals can be a tedious and maddening task due not only to some gameplay and camera challenges we’ll discuss below, but because the game doesn’t tell anyone what a gold medal score is. The most basic, fundamental aspect of any Bronze, Silver, Gold challenge type game is to tell players what score they need to get to be at the next level. Pilot Sports made me guess that based on my last performance and the meter that fills up after I had completed a course showing how close I was to the next level. This not only made each challenge a “wait and see” game, especially the first time through the course, but also completely striped out the joy and motivation that came from being only points away from my objective.

Pilot Sports is a game that plays fine. It’s not exceptional, but it’s not altogether offensive either. The plane handles mostly the way you’d expect, like turning a pregnant Yak when you’re moving fast but nimbler if you slow down. The Jet Pack is hit and miss, dodgy to control, and frustratingly staccato in its movements without a low and high engine. Lack of dynamic camera control really rears its ugly head here and makes it difficult to clear courses quickly with this machine. The omission of a camera angle change button/buttons and an overhead view for landings wreaks havoc on controlling this vehicle effectively. Hang gliding feels heavy in all the wrong ways, especially when attempting to increase altitude through riding jet streams. Skydiving is fun, but accompanied by (along with hang gliding) some of the absolute worst animations in the entire game.

Visually the game attempts to ape the style of Pilotwings Resort, an island in the middle of the ocean with a giant volcano in the middle. Unfortunately this turns out to be the developer’s worst mistake. The setting is so familiar that you cannot help but draw comparisons to Wuhu Island (from both PW and Wii Sports Resort) and that’s where it really falls apart. Textures are brown and muddy. Altitude, especially at sea, can be difficult to judge. The island is just not visually as interesting or charming as Nintendo’s ocean resort. Again, this to me is an instance where the developer really shot themselves in the foot. They could have set this game over a field in Kansas or in the mountains in Colorado and the same visual issues would be present but it wouldn’t be so easy to compare them to what Nintendo is able to do. A 7 year old 3DS game should not be more visually appealing than a Switch game in 2018. The animations are about as stiff and wooden as it gets, with animations connected to some modes of transportation actually looking like there are frames missing because they’re so choppy.

One thing that Pilot Sports does bring to the table is a multiplayer function, which actually can be fun. Pilotwings is the sort of game that has always sort of begged to be experienced by multiple players at the same time so that works well here. Essentially the set-up for this mode is Mario Kart style. Select the challenges that you want to complete competitively against another player (or players) and then play through them one by one, earning points based on what place you finish in. The person with the most points at the end is the winner. This is a really nice addition and a smart idea.

Pilot Sports is a huge disappoint to me. I’ve been waiting for a game in this style for a while now and so to finally get something with the flaws that this game has feels a little bit like a “Monkey’s Paw” situation to me. If you’re thinking though “Hey I bet it’s at least pretty cheap”, I’m sorry to disappoint you again. The game is (currently) $34.99 on the Switch and $29.99 on the PS4 which is flatly outrageous. If you love games like this your best bet is to save your money and pour it into buying extra copies of Pilotwings Resort in the hopes that a resurgence in sales will lead Nintendo back into the genre.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.

Good
  • Plane and Skydiving missions can be fun
  • Multiplayer
Bad
  • Bland, muddy graphics
  • Laughable animations
  • Jet pack and hang glider challenges
  • Camera
  • Price tag is outrageous
5
Mediocre
Written by
Wombat lives by the code that if you are playing a game from this year, you are doing it wrong. His backlog is the stuff of legend and he is currently enjoying Perfect Dark Zero, Skies of Arcadia and Pong.