14 DAY TRIAL // The Nintendo 3DS is officially out all over the world, and we already posted our initial hardware review, after experiencing what the device had to offer from a purely technological standpoint.
Now, in this software review, we'll check out the applications installed on the device, how they work, if they're useful and what other things should the 3DS need to become a fully pledged next-generation console.
The 3DS comes packed with quite a lot special applications, as well as a few games, some visible while some are hidden within other applications.
Nintendo 3DS Camera Depending on whether or not you have a game card inserted on the device, the first actual application you can access is the Nintendo 3DS Camera. This app, like its name suggests, allows you to use either the 3D-ready twin cameras on top of the 3DS lid, which can actually shoot 3D images, or the single, inside camera for self portraits.
While it's not a professional camera, the one from the 3DS has quite a few nifty little touches and options. You can opt to shoot regular photos, 3D or otherwise, but also add special effects like soap bubbles or hearts, which are controlled by you blowing into the 3DS microphone, a dream or pinhole effect, but also use options like the face melding one to put your face on another person's body.
You also have manual settings, in which you can control the post processing, by adding effects like sepia or negative, as well as change up the sharpness, contrast or brightness.
You'll be able to take photos with either the left or right bumper buttons, or use a timer.
The second part of the applications is the photo browser, which takes you through the pictures you have stored on your SD card, either taken with the camera or snapped from games. They're categorized by date and you can even edit them with the graffiti option. This allows you to add text, special effects like hearts or bubbles, as well as plenty of other nifty little tricks, not to mention 3D ones.
There's a special slide show function for all the photos, which can either show you the pictures, or you can select criteria and themes like showing images of males, females or animals, and the 3DS will automatically showcase the ones matching those specifications.
Nintendo 3DS Sound Next up, we have the Nintendo 3DS Sound application, which doubles not only as a voice or sound recorder, but also a music player, allowing both for .aac and .mp3 files to be played back through the speakers or headphones, if they're plugged into their slot.
Once you have a sound file, you can edit its various features, like pitch or speed, not to mention make it sound like it was coming from a parrot, trumpet or through an electric fan.
When playing back music, you can use visualization options ranging from regular synthesizers to even seeing gameplay from the classic ExciteBike title unfolding to the actual music that is being played. The sorting feature on the music player, however, isn't all that great, so it's safe to say that the 3DS won't become anyone's primary mp3 player anytime soon.
Mii Maker Next up, there's the Mii Maker application, which, as its name clearly suggests, allows you to create your own Mii avatar to use in games and other 3DS apps. You'll be able to make your own Mii from scratch or take a picture of yourself and the 3DS' detection systems will configure a few Mii versions based on your actual face.
The customization options are more solid than the ones on the Nintendo Wii home console, and you'll even be able to share them using the Streetpass connectivity feature.
StreetPass Mii Plaza Speaking of the special option, next up there's the Streetpass Mii Plaza, which has quite a few interesting features.
First up, let's explain the Streetpass system. When you close the lid of your 3DS or put it into sleep mode with the wireless turned on, the console will auto-detect other 3DS devices in your vicinity and automatically share data with them. The information can range from high score data in certain games to sharing Mii avatars with others.
These avatars will show up in the Mii Plaza, where you can interact with them or engage in two special mini-games. These games consist of Streetpass Quest (otherwise known as Find Mii) and Puzzle Swap.
While the Streetpass system sounds very good, as of yet, it's still pretty much useless, as there aren't a lot of people with 3DS devices. In the future, however, it might become an incremental feature for the portable console.
Streetpass Quest is a barebone role playing game, in which your Mii avatar is captured by an evil villain and it's up to the Mii characters you've met up until now to stage a rescue. Puzzle Swap is basically your traditional image puzzle application, but you don't have all the pieces when you start it, so it's up to other Mii characters to help you by adding pieces of the puzzle to your collection.
In case you haven't met any other 3DS owners yet, then you can use Play Coins to hire players in the RPG or purchase new pieces in the puzzle app.
How do you get Play Coins? You just walk around with the 3DS, which, using the built-in pedometer, gives you one game coin every 100 steps. In one day, you can earn a maximum of 10 game coins, which can be spent on a variety of things, both in the Mii Plaza and in other games or applications.
Augmented Reality Games Next up, we have the AR Games, which are a collection of mini-games that center around augmented reality. With any new 3DS, you get a set of six cards which can be used with this app, allowing you to indulge not only in a variety of activities, from shooting arrows to fishing, but also mess around with Nintendo mascots like Mario, Link, Kirby, Samus Aran or the Pikmin crew.
This is by far one of the fun activities you can get from the out-of-the-box 3DS, as the augmented reality, coupled with the 3D effect, really astonishes practically everyone who interacts with it.
Face Raiders The last true game included in the 3DS is Face Raiders, a shoot-em up where you use the device to fire on flying faces that can be modeled after people ranging from yourself or your friends (even enemies) to celebrities like Barack Obama or Angelina Jolie.
While that may sound a bit weird, it's quite fun and, as you progress through its few levels, gets increasingly challenging.
Other Apps Next we have the Activity Log application, which shows not only what games you've played, but also how much time you've played them and other information like how many steps you took that any given day.
While this app won't be used all that much, it's nice to study your gaming patterns or your daily commute.
Besides these applications, which you'll find in the regular menu list, there are also a few extra ones, found in a row of icons on the top side of the touchscreen, ranging from game notes, where you can scribble down things about the games you play, to the friends list, where you can check out your other 3DS friends, the notification area and the Internet browser.
Sadly, the last app, like many others, isn't available, as Nintendo says that it will be added through a future software update. This is by far one the biggest problems with the 3DS from a software side.
Future firmware updates need to bring a variety of key features, from the browser to the 3DS eShop from where you can buy new games or the Virtual Console and 3DSWare service, from where you can also get special applications.
From this point of view, the 3DS still feels like a work in progress, and Nintendo does seem like it has rushed the launch of the device just to have it on the market.
Conclusion The Nintendo 3DS packs quite a punch, with its special apps doing their job and highlighting the most important features of the console, even if some key ones are missing at its launch.
The games in particular work great in 3D, but, after the first few hours, when the novelty wears off, you realize that the feature isn't all that great, and start gaming in 2D mode.
If you blew your budget on just buying the 3DS, then rest assured that you'll be able to have quite a lot of fun with the apps and games within, so there isn't any need to buy some of the games that were launched alongside the platform these weeks.
