Launch Station: Kid Icarus: Uprising

It has been 19 long years since the lovable angel Pit has starred in a game of his own.  While it has been many long years, Kid Icarus has been one of the most requested series that Nintendo revisit.  After Masahiro Sakurai and his team at Project Sora finished work on Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Nintendo had them put on this revival of the Kid Icarus franchise.  Since Kid Icarus: Uprising was first shown at E3 2010 along with the amazing unveiling of the 3DS, it has been at the top of many 3DS owners list including yours truly.

After 25 long years, Medusa and her evil Underworld Army has been reborn and seeks to destroy all of mankind.  The only person able to stop Medusa is our angelic hero, Pit, an agent of the goddess Palutena.  To aid in his battle with Medusa, Palutena grants Pit the "Power of Flight", which allows Pit to fly for five minutes at a time.  Kid Icarus: Uprising is a huge departure from previous entries in the series.  Built from the ground up with the 3DS in mind, Uprising is mainly a frantic third-person shooter.  Each level is broken up into two sections, an air section and a land section.  The air sections play much like an on-rails shooter as you control Pit's projectiles and positioning on the screen while he flies through the environment.  The land sections offer more freedom as Pit can freely move around the environment and battle enemies.  The controls for Kid Icarus: Uprising are very similar to those of Metroid Prime Hunters for the original DS.  You control Pit's movements with the Circle Pad or D-pad, control the camera and the aiming reticle with the stylus and attack and/or fire projectiles with the L Shoulder Button.  Being that Masahiro Sakurai is known to be a perfectionist, him and his team have packed Kid Icarus: Uprising to the brim with content.  There are hundreds upon hundreds of weapons to collect and combine, you are encouraged to replay levels on higher difficulties in order to get better loot and there are tons of achievements to complete, which give you other rewards.  Last but not least, Kid Icarus: Uprising includes a full-on multiplayer mode.  You can play locally with friends or online over the newly christened Nintendo Network in Team Deathmatch or Free for All match types.  Kid Icarus: Uprising also includes a pack of AR cards, which can be used to play minigames with the 3DS' augmented reality features.

Personally, I have been looking forward to playing Kid Icarus: Uprising since Pit appeared on screen at Nintendo's E3 2010 press conference to apologize for keeping all us waiting.  It is the game that I bought my 3DS for and I have patiently waited a year for this game.  Now that I am done Mass Effect 3, I will be spending a whole lot of time playing Kid Icarus: Uprising and I cannot wait.  If you own a 3DS, there is no reason not to pick up this game.