Nintendo's new hand-held came out March 27th here in the states, and I was there day one. I've been excited for the 3DS since it was announced and it is a really nice system, now that I have had it in my hands for almost 3 weeks now. However, it's not perfect and I will tell you now that Nintendo will come out with a 3DS "lite" type of thing in the future that will fix most of the issues I will discuss. However, I think that the most of these issues can be overlooked, with only two exceptions (but I will get to those later). For now, let's get into what makes the system great.
The 3D Effect:
The 3D effect of the 3DS is very real. As you all should know, Nintendo has made a big deal about the 3D being glasses free and I can tell you that it is true. However, after taking it to college, I learned that a lot of people seem to have it in their minds that the 3D was supposed to pop out at you. This isn't how the 3D works.
The 3D works in depth. The 3D goes into the screen, showing you the depth of the layers. It makes it clear what is closer and what is farther away from you. Naturally, if you play a lot of games, you probably wouldn't need 3D in a game to tell you that. However, it is still a cool effect and the slider to control the intensity of the 3D effect works great.
I'll just mention one thing about the 3D slider on the system: It's a piece of crap. When you go to close your system, sometimes the slider will move on it's own slightly. This is annoying when you intend to keep the 3D effect off by keeping the slider fully down, but the second you open up your system again, the 3D effect is slightly in effect, because the slider moved up ever so slightly. It's a small little issue, but it annoys me.
The Circle Pad:
The circle pad (or slide pad, whichever is a correct term) is an amazing little addition to the DS line. During my first week of using the circle pad, my thumb was hurting slightly, since I was not used to using an analog control that caved in, as opposed to them coming out (like on a PS2/PS3/Nunchuck/GCN controller). However, once my thumb became used to how it worked, it was great. It is a much better way to control your movement in-game, since a d-pad is slightly annoying with diagonals. The circle pad is responsive, quiet, and comfortable. It doesn't feel cheap or stiff, which is all I really need.
The Other Buttons:
Compared to the DSi, the d-pad and the A, B, X, Y buttons feel about the same, maybe even a little better. L and R feel great compared to the super cheap DSi buttons, which is a welcome addition. The power button is a little stiff, but you should need to use some force to turn off the game, so that is acceptable. The touch pad (where the Start, Home, and Select buttons are) feels cheap and is hard to press, needing you to use a little more effort then what you should have to do to hit the start button.
Graphics/Screens:
I'll start by saying this: Graphics mean almost nothing to me. However, all I'll say is that the 3DS is more powerful then the DSi, so the 3DS games should and will look better than regular DS games. The only real noticeable thing to me is the fact that the 3DS top screen is a lot wider, which is slightly disorienting when going from the top to the bottom screens.
Sound:
Again, I'll start by saying that sound means little to me. I don't usually notice the quality of sound, unless it's drastic. I notice it way more than graphics, so that's all I can say about that. And the difference between the 3DS speakers and the DSi speakers is very great, with the 3DS speakers being much more powerful and able to project the sound more than it's older counterparts. You won't be blasting music through these speakers, but it's nice when you have a quiet environment.
The way you control sound is by a slider on the side, where the plus and minus buttons were on the DSi. Personally, I prefer the buttons, so the slider control bothers me, especially since it doesn't seem to make much difference overall. It's either loud, soft, or off. The slider is a little more noticeable when you have headphones on.
Battery Life:
The battery life on the 3DS is horrible. There is no hiding it. It is trash. There is no reason why the max should be like 6 hours on the lowest brightness setting. my DSi does double that on the second to lowest brightness setting. Sorry, Nintendo. I'm not okay with that. And nor should anyone else be.
Camera:
The 3DS's cameras are decent. I'm not a photography nerd, nor do I know about lenses or anything super fancy. All I can tell you is that the photos you take with your 3DS are good enough to get put up on the internet. But they won't wow anyone.
3D photos, however, are pretty cool. They can only be viewed on a 3DS, which is a slight downfall. But that won't stop you from uploading your photos to Facebook or anything, since the camera takes a 2D and a 3D image at the same time, keeping them as two separate files.
StreetPass/SpotPass:
StreetPass is a feature of the 3DS that has been used in earlier DS games, like Nintendogs and The World Ends With You, which requires you to keep your DS in sleep mode with that game in and hope to walk past someone who also has that game in and has their game in sleep mode. In the old games, this was very limited and kinda crappy, since it was had for that to ever happen. However, the 3DS takes this idea and runs with it, using it to cover all sorts of things, including any 3DS game that supports it, providing you have activated it in game. The major draw of this is that unlike the old DS games, you don't have to have the specific game in your 3DS. The only requirement is that you need to keep your 3DS in sleep mode, which is as simple as closing the system. Overall, it's a nice feature, but it hasn't been the hugest hit with me so far. I imagine it's way better in the overcrowded streets of Japan.
SpotPass is a message/download service for the 3DS. If you keep your 3DS in sleep mode, it will pick up on notifications and special offers from Nintendo and sometimes from game companies of the games you are playing (Like I have gotten 3 or so messages from Capcom relating to Super Street Fighter 4, all with codes for figures). It's nice and simple.
Internet:
Currently, the 3DS is lacking in this area. Not because playing SSFIV online is bad (because it's actually really good, almost no lag ever), but because there is no browser, no e-Shop, or anything that special about it. Those will be included in an update in May (or around that, from what I understand). That's a pretty big bummer, since I am more than willing to get some 3DSWare or whatever the hell they are going to call it.
The one thing I can say is good is that there is only one friend code now. You only need to exchange one code and then you can interact with others over WiFi with any 3DS game that supports it. The only thing about this that would make me happier is if it was a username, not 12 numbers that I have no control over. Sorry, Nintendo. Just because you have these silly numbers, it won't protect the little kids any more than them having a username that connects to an internet account.
Overall:
Alright. Now we come to the major question. Is the 3DS worth the $249.99 price tag?
The real answer is that it's your choice. If you are a casual gamer and don't see anything that interests you, then go ahead and skip it for now. Personally, I like being in with handheld gaming. I do a lot of gaming on my PSP and DS/DSi/3DS, so I personally wanted this. I'm not regretting my purchase, either. The 3DS is an amazing piece of hardware, with a lot of obvious setbacks that you know Nintendo will use later to put out a sleeker system in two years, but I like going with the originals.
If you have any interest in any of the games now, then go get one. If not, wait until you see a game you really wanna play and then get it. I will say that you should buy a 3DS, but only when you are ready, casual or hardcore, it doesn't matter. It's probably the most interesting system that I have seen in a long time.
