Pik up a Pikmin Today! (Pikmin (GC))

Member Name: chaobreeder16

Product:	Pikmin (GC)
Date:	25/02/09 (115 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: adictive, great plot and gameplay

Disadvantages: a bit difficult in some areas

First Impressions

At the beginning when this game was first released I was not so keen to get it as it was a brand new idea and I was used to seeing and purchasing games under the titles of Mario, Zelda, Metroid and Pokémon. In the big picture about 60% of games produced for the gamecube were utter tripe so it was no wonder I was sceptical about this new title.

Why I bought it?

After purchasing and playing though various other gamecube only games and being sadly disappointed by super Mario sunshine and Pokémon channel I turned my attention to gameing review sites and magazines all of which recommended the original pikmin and gave it a general rating of 8-9 stars out of ten, by this time also the game had achieved player's choice status and only cost £19.99 as opposed to the previous price of £39.99 so I had nothing to lose.

Plot

Captain Olimar a seemingly little guy with a big nose ears crash lands his spaceship on an alien planet, much of his space ship gets scattered across the region and he is unable to return home. During his initial exploration of the area he comes across little blue, red and yellow people called pikmin. These little alien plant people seem to think olimar is their leader and constantly follow him around and help him to gather pieces of his space ship so he can get home.

Object

The object of the game is to collect parts of your spaceship and return home using the help of pikmin within the space of 30 days pikmin time. However this isn't as easy as it sounds as there are giant bug and frog like monsters hundreds of times your size blocking vital areas where space ship parts have fallen. In order to destroy these creatures you have to send your pikmin army on them in a command and conquer type of manor. Sometimes your pikmin get eaten, but you can bring more to life by bringing beast corpses back to your ship wreck beside which are three onion like tripod space ships, this plants seeds and then you pull the pikmin out of the ground like the vegetables from super Mario brothers 2.However if you don't get your pikmin back to the ship before dark they get eaten by beasties also and you have to grow more all over again.

Game play

This is an extremely fun and addictive game and obtaining various parts of the space ship gets harder as you play through. In order to optimise the pikmins potential you have to coordinate the different colours to different tasks. The blue pikmin seem to have gills and can travel through water and attack giant toads and tadpoles, the red fire breathing bugs and the yellow deal with metallic and electrical beasties and can survive explosions. If you use the wrong pikmin with a enemy it could end up with your entire fleet being wiped out. You can only have 100 pikmin out of their onion ships at one time so you have to plan your strategies carefully when attacking end of zone bosses. There are 30 ship parts to collect but if you obtain less than 25 before the end of the time limit you fail, which is a little harsh I guess, but at least it's a challenge.

Visually

It is very pretty visually and colourful, the camera angle can zoom in and out to adjust, there are no weird pixilations or obvious graphical glitches and the environments and enemies look very realistic and sometimes a little scary. The characters have been really well designed and are automatically likeable and attractive looking.

Sound

The environmental and monster noises are very realistic sounding also, the pikmin make little high pitched noises which I think is really cute also. The theme music is very unique and relaxing also and makes it pleasurable to continually play onward.

Longevity

The game works in real time and every pikmin world day lasts for 15 minutes so the length of the game is around 450 minutes so if you got really into it and addicted to it you could maybe complete it in a day however it maybe takes a second or third play through to get all 30 ship parts.

Extras

There is also a challenge mode to complete if you still haven't had enough from the main game or want something less intense as the stages become pretty difficult towards the end. These would include growing pikmin or collecting different pieces of machinery within a time limit and don't affect the main game play.

Other stuff

This version has now been released on the wii so you can now play wirelessly. There was also a sequel made for the gamecube which is a bit longer and is more of a treasure hunt, it involves bringing a crew member with you so you can separate groups of pikmin up to work in different areas, there are also two new breeds of pikmin, a sumo purple and a toxic white.

Plot 9/10
Game play 8/10
Visuals 9/10
Sound 8/10
Longevity 8/10

Summary: not what I thought it would be like at all!