Opinion: The 3D is not Impressive in Zelda 3DS

With my all new 3DS XL

in hand last night (got the blue one folks!) one of the first things I did

after the system update was finally check out the Zelda 3DS trailer. Sure,

nothing was going to be shown that I hadn’t already seen, but I really was

wondering how the 3D itself affected the world. Previously, Nintendo had stated

they really wanted the 3D itself to have a major impact on the next Zelda game.

The problem? It

doesn’t. In fact, I would argue the 3D usage in Zelda 3DS only solidifies how

gimmicky 3D can be when done for the sake of simply having it. Sure, the trees

have depth, the mountains have depth, Link looks like he is flying off the screen

as he is sprung in the air, and it all “feels neat”. But at no point

did it feel essential.

That’s really the problem with 3D in

general. Often times it feels forced (Super

Mario 3D Land), and other times it doesn’t truly add a lot to the

experience. Now, I enjoyed Ocarina of

Time 3D back in 2011. I played the game to completion with my 3D on full

blast. After a few minutes, my head and eyes are fully adjusted and I didn’t

have to worry about headaches. The visuals felt nice, and while the 3D itself

didn’t add anything to the experience, it at least felt like it belonged.

When I initially saw

Zelda 3DS my thoughts mirrored what Nintendo and many other fans were saying:

The 3D is going to feel great and really bring this top-down Zelda to life. But

it just didn’t give me the same feeling Ocarina

of Time did. Sure, some of that is the art direction and the perspective,

but mostly it’s because when I found myself switching back and forth… it

turned out the 3D didn’t even matter.

In fact, as cool as it

is to see Link flying in the air looking like he’s about to kiss my cheek,

that’s all it really was “cool”. That same sort of feeling you get at

certain points in 3D movies. Where “yeah, that was neat, but it didn’t

actually make the movie any better”. Avatar

is one of those rare movies that show what 3D is all about. It’s not about

gimmicks (Link flying off the screen), but rather about making you feel like

you are in the world your experiencing.

It’s something that

should work well in games, since we are even more involved, yet we’re still

waiting for that Avatar moment. That

may be unreal expectations to put on Zelda 3DS, but all of the initial complaints

with tree angles differing from cliff angles was far from alleviated with the

3D on.

Now, this in no ways

means the 3D is terrible – in fact I daresay the 3D isn’t really terrible in

any 3DS game. It just isn’t achieving what Nintendo likely hopes it would:

enhancing the experience. I bet that for every person who says the 3D looks

good, I can find 10 that say they prefer it to be off. Even the people who like

the 3D in the trailer are likely going to play the game mostly with it off. It

just doesn’t do anything to really make us feel like we are in that world.

Now, a lot of this

complaining isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault outside of Nintendo trying to push

3D in the after shock of Avatar.

Nintendo has often tried things in the past and missed a bit, while not

creating a total failure. Mini-discs are a good example of their first fore ray

off cartridges being misguided.

This isn’t meant to

say that you are not going to enjoy playing this game in 3D. You very well

might, and on the subject of 3D it’s a very subjective experience. I also know

this is beta footage, so sure things are going to change. Still, it just became

blatantly obvious that, yet again, the 3D just isn’t enhancing the experience. It’s

neat, and likely has some cool moments, but it’s just not working for me.