Pilot Sports (Nintendo Switch) Review

Pilot Sports is Pilotwings in everything but the name. Given how long the latter has gone without a single installment, this is not immediately so bad, as it at least gives fans the chance to sink their teeth into familiar territory, but extended play sessions will, like clockwork, devolve into audiences wishing they weren't playing such a cheap imitation of a beloved franchise. The former fails not because it copies its inspiration so blatantly, but because it does so haphazardly. There is a distinct lack of polish present in the flight simulator where, no matter how hard it tries, it cannot lived up to Pilotwings' high standard.

If nothing else, the series always felt appropriately refined in terms of aesthetic and controls. Pilot Sports, on the other hand, opts for a clean, but homogenized look that does its tropical setting no favours, along with a rather low skill ceiling and floor. Gameplay is split up across fifty missions, themselves split into four separate categories: Plane, Jetpack, Hang Glider, and Parachute. Each mission involves a timer either counting up or counting down depending on the objective, and all four play styles feature enough similarities where it's simple to jump from mode to mode without the entire experience coming off uncomfortably uniform.

Of the four, the Plane is easily the best to play as, due to its depth. Of course, said depth is only in comparison to the other three categories. The plane can accelerate, decelerate, and break, meaning that manoeuvrability has to be given a bit more focus than in other modes. Turns require some semblance of precision, and simply going as fast as possible won't get players far. The skill ceiling is not particularly high, but it is a good deal higher than the skill floor, requiring the most mastery.

Jetpacks are an interesting enough concept, prioritizing strategic, vertical movement in place of standard turns and curves, but the addition of fuel is perhaps one step too far, taking the timer, and effectively adding another notch of complication over the mode. Naturally, it is not as if the fuel tank is particularly offensive, but later stages do make poor use of it as it contributes little of value outside the presence of the perpetual timer. The Hang Glider and the Parachute are rather in similar in that both more or less involve propelling downwards towards a target.

Both modes do play differently, with the Parachute focusing on vertical downward movement specifically, but they are so conceptually linked together that it also seems a waste for half of the title's four modes to be dedicated to the same concept. What really roughens the whole package, though, is how little room there is for personal growth. The need for mastery is not exactly non-existent, given how insufferably hard the latter half becomes, but the core mechanics simply do not allow for greater depth than what is already present.

Learning to curve with the plane will happen by the second set of stages. From there, it's just stagnation until the very end. On the subject of difficulty, the first half is fine enough, as it allows for a fair bit of leniency, along with just generally offering a familiarly relaxing experience, but the second half is a tried and true nightmare, necessitating perfection far often than not. Given how stilted the controls how, this effectively leaves only one way to progress through each level, killing experimentation.

Pilot Sports can be fun, but only when it really channels that Pilotwings feel. More often than not, it comes off like a pale imitation that wants to give series veterans a taste of what they've been missing without really wanting to put in the effort of expanding the franchise its homaging's concepts or mechanics.