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After 25 years since the original's release, and 20 years since it's last installment Kid Icarus comes blasting through the heavens with Kid Icarus: Uprising. Gladly, thanks to Super Smash Bros. Brawl Pit Returns to save Skyworld from Medusa's invasion.

After 25 years since the end of Kid Icarus (NES), Medusa, the queen of the underworld has been resurrected and is back for revenge against Palutena and our protagonist Pit. But why has Medusa been revived? Only playing this game will unravel the mystery.

Every Level usually runs with a Sky and Land portion. In sky mode you will be playing in a shooting gallery fashion, however Pit can be attacked. You blast any and all enemies possible. Using the circle pad to move around the screen and using the touch screen to target you mow down enemies. Also on the touch screen are two orb gauges that steadily fill as the Sky mode progresses. Tap an orb to unleash a screen mowing attack for a few seconds.

In Land mode you play in a third person platforming style. The touch screen acts as a camera angle changer as well as it's targeting aspect. You can roll by double flicking the control stick in any direction. While under enemy attacks you can dodge by quickly flicking the circle pad just before an attack hits. Now how do you attack?

You utilize a multitude of weapons which are Bows, Clubs, Claws, Blades, Rods, Gauntlets, Cannons, Palms, and Orbiters. Each have special properties in terms of attacking. However all weapons have projectile properties and melee capabilities. Weapons also include improvements or special add-ons like poisoning properties or additional projectile range. All projectile attacks gain a charged shot ability when they are not fired after a while. Plus while rolling you can fire shots which have special properties such as better homing, more power, or spread shots.

Lastly, the Fiend's Cauldron appears before every level. You sacrifice hearts (the currency of the game) to increase the difficulty level of the level. Higher difficulties require more hearts. The trade off for stronger enemies is better heart pay and also better spoils (usually stronger weapons). If you die, the Cauldron will spill the hearts you paid and lower the level luckily.

The biggest problem to the game is the very complex style of movement. Using the circle pad to move around and co-ordinate with the touch screen for camera and view control is superbly tedious, however once mastered, the game becomes much more enjoyable. Expect some frustration in the beginning. The other problem lies within the running stamina Pit has. Somewhat realistic but really can hamper down level completing times and, not to mention, leave yourself wide open to enemy fire. I can understand it pit gets tired with a huge club real easily but orbiters (which is the only non-held weapon) should keep pit from tiring much much longer than they should. At average, Pit can run about 15-20 sec before getting tired.

The dialogue of the game is very lively and my favorite aspect. Pit's witty conversations with Palutena is funny half of the time with Palutena's mischief streak. Even the bosses and main antagonists have very lively conversations with Palutena and even Pit himself during every chapter. Alse the numerous 4th wall breaking is very interesting as they all seem to know that they are in a video game. I suppose Pit took his new knowledge from meeting so many other Nintendo characters in Brawl into Uprising.

The Musical score is divine...no pun intended. They all sound incredible, especially the boss themes. Dark Pit has one of the best themes in the game. Leave it to nintendo to make some very well composed music.

Nonny's rating: 8.75/10. This game had a lot of promise and it lived up to it. Though the initial control issues are a bit tedious, the incredible gameplay, the amusing game dialogue, the extremely well made characters, not to mention the fun multiplayer modes, Kid Icarus Uprising performs well for the Kid Icarus series' revival in Nintendo.

Nonny's tips: Dodge, dodge, dodge! Learn how to dodge effectively not only in land but in the air too. You won't die if you don't get hit and will attribute to level success.