The cutest little workers in the world. (Pikmin 2 (GC))

Name: charby

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Product:	Pikmin 2 (GC)
Date:	18.04.08 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Adorable, good fun game, good for the whole family

Disadvantages: Expensive even though its been out for years

Before I write this review, I have to tell you a few things about myself. Firstly, I love video games. I'm not into fighting games or shooting games or anything, but I'm a huge fan of games like Zelda and Mario, that are fun but not to easy. Secondly, I am totally obsessed with cute things. I know a lot of girls are, but if I see something cute I have to have it. In my bed at home have a cuddly yoshi (so unbelievably cute) and a little cuddly thing that I bought from a gift shop in Edinburgh that says it's a haggis, although it looks nothing like one. I bought it anyway because it was absolutely adorable, even though it was £5 and I was running short on money.

So, being a person that loves video games and is a slave to cuteness, what could be a better game for me than Pikmin? Pikmin are absolutely adorable little things, with huge eyes that stare at you, and they follow you around and do what you tell them to. How much cuter could you get?

Before I played it, I had seen Pikmin in shops before and not bought it, even though it looked adorable and I had a gamecube, because it was usually £30 (rip off) and by the name I used to think it was something trying to be the new Pokemon, which was an assumption I made just by its name. However, last year I got a nintendo wii for my birthday and so brought it up to my boyfriend's so we could all play on it. His flatmate told me that he had Pikmin 2 on gamecube, but since he didn't have a console to play it on, he offered to let me borrow it and play it on the wii. Of course I said yes, as who am I to turn down a free game?

*The story*

Upon starting to play, it became obvious quickly that this was in no way trying to be Pokemon, and my assumption was totally wrong. The story of Pikmin 2 picks up from the end of Pikmin 1, which I haven't played, in which a small alien person thing (Captain Olimar) crash lands on a planet, and with the help of Pikmin travels around trying to find the pieces of his ship so he can get home.

This, the sequel, has a similar story - the company that Olimar works for is in financial trouble, so he and an employee Louie go back to the Pikmin planet to collect treasure to sell, as a couple of things that Olimar brought home with him were found to be valuable. So after landing on the planet you refind the pikmin, who help you in finding treasure (well junk) that you can sell to erase your company's debt. Your spaceship is also helpful in this task, as it gives you advice etc. when you get to new places.

I like the story of Pikmin 2, as its a fairly simple idea that gives the game quite a lot of freedom: yes your objective is to get enough money to pay off the debt, but a lot of the time you forget about that, and spend more time trying to find new pikmin and new areas to explore.

*The Pikmin*

These little things deserve their own section, as they're the heart of the game and also achingly cute. This game features five different types of pikmin in different colours: red, blue, yellow, white and purple. Players of the first game will recognise the red blue and yellows, but the white and purple are new to the sequel. Each Pikmin is basically the same, little and cute, with either a leaf, bud or flower growing out of their heads, as pikmin are actually plants. Aww. To get new pikmin, you get your existing ones to kill an animal or flower, and the thing that they take back to their homes (bizarrely named onions) then causes little pikmin to sprout out of the ground. I thought this was a great idea, as the longer you leave the pikmin in the ground unpicked, the more powerful they are. For example if you pick it straight away, it has a leaf, but if you wait a long time until it has a flower, it is much quicker and more mobile, and therefore is much better to take into battles et cetera.

Each colour of pikmin has its own use - for example, blue pikmin can walk through water, whereas other coloured ones drown (which is very sad, as they scream and I feel so guilty for leading them there by accident), and the red ones don't get set on fire et cetera. This means that choice of pikmin is important when you're giving it a task to do, as if you throw the wrong coloured pikmin at something you could kill it.

Honestly, these things will make you smile, unless you're somehow immune to canny little things that do anything that you ask them to. I tried to see if I could get a cuddly toy version of these somewhere, but I don't think they make them :(

*Gameplay*

Ok, so story and cute creatures aside, the gameplay is the most important thing. Good plot and characters means very little if the game isn't enjoyable, but fortunately, this game is great! There's a lot of strategy involved, as some moves could kill a lot of your pikmin, but also a lot of random exploration which often ends up in finding something that will help you - be it treasure or a gateway to somewhere exciting. There are four areas in the game, which you unlock by finding specific items, and at the start of each day you decide which one you want to go to. A day lasts about 15 minutes, and after this time you have to make sure that you have all pikmin either with you, in the ground or in the onions or they will be eaten by night creatures when you and the ship go into orbit for the night. The fact that you have to stop everything at the end of the day can get rather annoying, as I often find something new at the end of the day that I want my pikmin to work on, but then I have to put them away instead and waste time getting back to the same place the next day.

However, all in all I can't really complain, as this is a great game with lots to offer. It does involve strategy but is still fairly simple, and you can get by in it even if you're not that bright or experienced with video games, so don't worry!

*Sound*

I honestly rarely listen to the sound on the game, as I prefer to listen to a CD while I play. When I have listened to it though, I have noticed a lot of ambient sounds, such as baddies moving about and pikmin destroying walls etc, and (oh how cute) the pikmin sing 'dum dum dum' while following you around. Aww. I think there is a gentle music in the background, but to be honest, the sound isn't hugely important in this game, and there's nothing wrong with it anyway.

*Graphics*

The graphics are fairly standard for gamecube games - nowt to complain about, but obviously they're not Playstation 3 standard. They're fine though, and because this is clearly fantasy, nothing is meant to look sharp and clear and lifelike. A lot of the items in the game are objects that we have on Earth (as I think the pikmin planet is meant to be Earth in the future) such as strawberries and batteries, but they're absolutely huge, as the aliens and the pikmin are very very small.

*Longevity*

I've been playing this on and off for a couple of months now, and am only about 60% of the way through the amount of money I need to collect to finish the game, and haven't even found the last area. Saying that, I reckon by the time I finish it I would've spent about 35 playing it, but that's only to finish the game's objective. If you want to find every single piece of treasure in the game, you could spend mayble another ten hours doing so. Really, it depends how you play the game - if you spend a lot of time each day growing new pikmin and exploring, then you're going to have a longer game time than someone who just does everything in order and to the bare minimum.

*Conclusion*

I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who has a gamecube or wii, as its a lot of fun and good for all ages. I recently saw Pikmin 1 for £5 in Grainger Games, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to get this for that cheap. On amazon they only have it for £35 used and new (jesus), although the original is only £5! You could hunt around on ebay and hopefully get a good deal. If not, why not try the first one? I'll probably try the first game soon, as I enjoyed the sequel so much. Go and and play this!

Summary: The most adorable game I've ever seen