Pilotwings (SNES, 1990)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-7.5 Control-7/7.5*/6** Challenge-7/8.5# Story-5
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5/9# Fun-7/6** Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
*Plane
**Hangglider
#Hard mode
+
Decent illusion of 3D space with pretty smooth movement
5 different vehicles/game modes which feel mostly distinct to play (skydiving including parachuting, airplane, rocketbelt/jetpack, hangglider, hover flight/moon jumping in some of the bonus levels, helicopter)
Good overall draw distance (great for the backgrounds)
Radar/mini-map (very zoomed in though)
Level maps (top down view, pretty zoomed out, shows the circles and landing point) - can't zoom or rotate while in this view though)
Fairly detailed rankings after each level (time, points, accuracy, angle (?))
The jumping/bouncing bonus levels are technically one of the first 3D (or 2.5D) platformers
Sometimes relaxing vibes (early on anyway)
Good warnings for when you're about to crash
Two different viewing angles for some vehicles
Animated dialogue portraits (somewhat ugly though)
Some interesting level design (the upwards airstreams)
Unlockable hard mode with a new set of levels and backgrounds
+/-
Password save
No 2-player
Pretty forgiving hit detection on the rings
Sometimes rude instructors
Can't name or see your character
Time limited levels via fuel in the plane levels and in hard mode via the scoring requirements
-
Have to redo all (2-4) sub levels of a level if you fail a level and have to retry
Can't choose retry from within a level meaning you can't practice a single sub level until you get it right
Some control/interface issues (hard to judge distances - especially as you get closer to what you're aiming for and movement feels more finicky and the scaling more choppy+your avatar being a 2D sprite can also make it seem like you're closer to something than you really are, sometimes hard to judge your trajectory, overly slugging skydiving controls, overly slow turning in the airplane and helicopter, sometimes hard to tell where you are in space due to not being able to reverse or rotate the camera nor change the angle to top down view for some vehicles like the hangglider, can't track your current score during a sub level - would've been useful for knowing if you'll likely have to replay the whole level or not)
Worse draw distance for the circles during skydiving
A bit short (about 13 short levels)
Sometimes uneven difficulty (game is sometimes more forgiving about time taken, very hard to land on the small moving platforms which lead to bonus levels - being slightly off with your falling speed means you bounce off of the platform and into the water)
Not much variety besides the different vehicles and the action-based helicopter levels (which in themselves are very simplistic)
Hard mode is a lot harder due to how much tighter the margin for error is (can finish the levels decently well but still not make it due to not having scored enough points and then have to replay all the sub levels as mentioned above, getting to the bonus levels and scoring well there can also help)
No buildings or mountains
No staff roll until you beat hard mode
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5/9# Fun-7/6** Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
*Plane
**Hangglider
#Hard mode
+
Decent illusion of 3D space with pretty smooth movement
5 different vehicles/game modes which feel mostly distinct to play (skydiving including parachuting, airplane, rocketbelt/jetpack, hangglider, hover flight/moon jumping in some of the bonus levels, helicopter)
Good overall draw distance (great for the backgrounds)
Radar/mini-map (very zoomed in though)
Level maps (top down view, pretty zoomed out, shows the circles and landing point) - can't zoom or rotate while in this view though)
Fairly detailed rankings after each level (time, points, accuracy, angle (?))
The jumping/bouncing bonus levels are technically one of the first 3D (or 2.5D) platformers
Sometimes relaxing vibes (early on anyway)
Good warnings for when you're about to crash
Two different viewing angles for some vehicles
Animated dialogue portraits (somewhat ugly though)
Some interesting level design (the upwards airstreams)
Unlockable hard mode with a new set of levels and backgrounds
+/-
Password save
No 2-player
Pretty forgiving hit detection on the rings
Sometimes rude instructors
Can't name or see your character
Time limited levels via fuel in the plane levels and in hard mode via the scoring requirements
-
Have to redo all (2-4) sub levels of a level if you fail a level and have to retry
Can't choose retry from within a level meaning you can't practice a single sub level until you get it right
Some control/interface issues (hard to judge distances - especially as you get closer to what you're aiming for and movement feels more finicky and the scaling more choppy+your avatar being a 2D sprite can also make it seem like you're closer to something than you really are, sometimes hard to judge your trajectory, overly slugging skydiving controls, overly slow turning in the airplane and helicopter, sometimes hard to tell where you are in space due to not being able to reverse or rotate the camera nor change the angle to top down view for some vehicles like the hangglider, can't track your current score during a sub level - would've been useful for knowing if you'll likely have to replay the whole level or not)
Worse draw distance for the circles during skydiving
A bit short (about 13 short levels)
Sometimes uneven difficulty (game is sometimes more forgiving about time taken, very hard to land on the small moving platforms which lead to bonus levels - being slightly off with your falling speed means you bounce off of the platform and into the water)
Not much variety besides the different vehicles and the action-based helicopter levels (which in themselves are very simplistic)
Hard mode is a lot harder due to how much tighter the margin for error is (can finish the levels decently well but still not make it due to not having scored enough points and then have to replay all the sub levels as mentioned above, getting to the bonus levels and scoring well there can also help)
No buildings or mountains
No staff roll until you beat hard mode