Pikmin Nigel ! Pikmin ! (Pikmin (GC))

Member Name: latino reheat

Product:	Pikmin (GC)
Date:	23/07/02 (206 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Highly playable, Flawless controls

Disadvantages: Bit short, according to other reviews

Notice the reference to Popstars tagline? My humour really is wasted.....

Ever since I saw a few pictures of this game last year, I was drooling in anticipation and that was just at the sight of something that may not of been.

It's release in Japan was a huge success, quickly being heralded as a classic. The mastermind behind Mario and Zelda, Shigeru Miyamoto, was behind this game.
He watched the insects in the garden of his new house (a very rare thing in Japanese cities), mainly ants, working hard together, gathering food and things. Something in his head clicked and the concept for Pikmin was born.

And thank god for those ants, Pikmin is one of the killer titles that the Gamecube needed.

You play (or rather "control") Captain Olimar, a space pilot the same height as a 50 pence coin. On his homeworld of Hocotate, he is a famous space explorer. He decides to take a short holiday to relax from over working.
Olimar did not plan to go anywhere, so hopped into his ship and let himself go wherever he may go.
While the ship was on auto pilot, a huge meteor colided with his ship and sent it plummeting towards a strange planet.

The Dolphin (his ship) was in many pieces when he awoke and his sensors show an oxygen atmosphere - toxic to Olimar and his race.
The life support on his ship has 30 days left before it packs up and becomes useless. You can probably guess what'll happen to Olimar then.

The only way he can survive is to rebuild his ship, but, the 30 pieces of gadgetry have been scattered across a small region of the planet on impact.
The planet itself is a garden itself, covered with trees, foliage and lush fields, with the occasional pond here and there. There are five regions to explore and you can only access them after collecting a certain ship piece.

When you first start the game, you come across a red pod, with a flower next on top of it, go near it and it pops
up into the air and three legs sprout to hold it above the ground. This is called an onion. It'll sprout a lone seed which will bury itself into the ground.
Give it a while and a small shoot will pop up, wait a bit longer and it will get bigger. Once it starts glowing you can go over to it and press the A button. This will make Olimar pull the shoot out of the ground.

Here they are ! Introducing the Pikmin ! The first Pikmin encounter is a sweet moment as we get to see the Red Pikmin in all it's glory. Pikmin are creatures, smaller then Olimar, and rather loyal to those who pull them from the ground. The longer you leave a Pikmin in the ground, you'll notice the shoot change to a bud, leave them for almost a day and the bud will flower. Pikmins with flowers are faster and stronger then bud or leaf types. Another way to get Pikmin to this mature level is by finding sap (either by digging it up or by killing these docile insects carrying big sacs of sap).
Now the game begins..............

Olimar can't move the ship pieces by himself, can't break down walls or fight off predators, thats where the Pikmin step up for duty. With your first Pikmin, you must use it to chop down the small flowers scattered about the levels. These contain coloured pellets, which the Pikmin can carry back to the onion. The onion will absorb them and release new seeds upon the ground around it. These pellets range in size, the bigger they are, the more Pikmin are required to carry them, but also the more Pikmin you get from them.

You can only have 100 Pikmin on the screen at any one time, but can keep as many as you want stored in the onions. This is handy because you'll, inevitably, lose Pikmin during the game and can go back to the onion and get some more out.

Later in the game, you'll encounter the two other types of Pikmin, Blue and Yellow variety. Each of the three types have their own special attributes :

Red
Pikmin - Impervious to fire, stronger then the other two colours and are great for fighting off predators.
Yellow Pikmin - Lighter and faster then the other two types, allowing them to be thrown higher and further. They also have the ability to lift bomb rocks, which are mainly used for demolishing walls.
Blue Pikmin - These can swim and breathe underwater, which is great for getting to secret areas surrounded by water.
Dismissed or inactive Pikmin will turn a pale colour until called or touched by Olimar.
Aswell as having their own attributes, each individual Pikmin has a seperate personality, like theres always one or two Pikmin lagging behind the rest of the group. You'll also get the stupid Pikmin that'll run into the wall if you have turned around a corner too quickly. It's kind of cute in away, but it's a shame they can't be distinguished any further. Otherwise I would of given them all names !

Pikmin are very versatile, you are able to use them in many ways, from carrying objects and ship parts, battling with baddies, to bashing down walls, clearing paths or building bridges.

The controls are stupidly easy in this game, to control one or more Pikmin, simply press B and Olimar will whistle. Any nearby Pikmin will be under your control, they will follow you around and do as you tell them, there are two ways to make a Pikmin do something, first is by throwing them at whatever (a wall for example) by pressing the A button, a Pikmin will have to be behind you and capable of fufilling the task (see the above types). The other is to walk next to something. E.G. if you walked next to a bomb rock and a yellow Pikmin was following, he'd pick it up.
This, however, can be rather annoying, as sometimes you'll want your Pikmin to do something and they'll stop half way to chop down a plant.
Other controls are -
X button - Will dismiss the pikmin nearby, into their seperate colour groups.
Y bu
tton - Allows you to view Olimars monitor. This shows a map of the area, and statistics, such as how many Pikmin have been sprouted etc.
Z button - Change the camera angle.
L button - Rotates the camera.
R button - Zooms in and out (3 levels of zoom).
Control stick - moves the cursor, and Olimar, around the screen, this also aims where Pikmin will be thrown.
C Stick - This lets you control all the Pikmin with you.

Pikmin aren't the only inhabitants of this mysterious planet. I have mentioned earlier that there are predators lurking about and theres plenty of different ones ! Most common are the pupdogs, two legged creatures resembling strawberrys. A pupdog delicacy is of course Pikmin ! The best way to attack these beasties is to go up to them from behind and throw your pikmin onto it's back. Other little nasties include Breadbugs (which will try to steal your pellets), Puffy Blowhogs (which blow your Pikmin away - seperating them over a large area and Flame Throwers, which will breathe fire on your poor little Pikmin.
You'll lose many Pikmin from fighting these creatures and it almost brings tears to your eyes when you see the tiny spirit of a fallen Pikmin float up into the sky.

You'll also have to face a "Boss" in certain areas, like the PuffStool or the Armoured Cannon Beetle. These are more tricky then the standard creatures and require their own method for exterminating them. Watch out, all of the baddies can hurt Olimar if he gets in the way !

Right, 30 days to find 30 pieces, sounds easy, well it's not. Some pieces are hidden in obscure places, like behind a wall, which would take several days (depending on how many Pikmin there are) or in unreachable parts of an area until you come across certain types of Pikmin. This means travel between the 5 areas through out the game.
There are transitions in the game, day will become night pretty quickly. But to help, theres a sun met
er across the top of the screen, starting from dawn and ending with dusk, a little sun picture will move along, from side to the other, showing you the rough time of day.
When it starts getting late, the lighting will change to night and you are warned to collect all your Pikmin before the end of the day. At night, the predators come out in huge groups. Olimar's ship and the onions will take off into the skies. Any Pikmin left behind are, sadly, eaten. The time is set to the internal clock of the GameCube and lasts around 15 minutes, so time-management is the key to getting things done.
You'll have to develop a system of getting various groups to do certain things, such as while one group is building a bridge, another could be fighting off the baddies.

At the end of the day, you can view Olimars daily journal, see how many Pikmin were gained and lost and various other statistics. It also offers the only chance to save the game to a memory card.

Be warned though, it takes 19 blocks of memory to save one game (out of a possible 3). That is alot and most mem cards for the GameCube hold 59 blocks. On the plus side however, when you play Super Smash Bros Melee, if theres a Pikmin saved game on the memory card, it'll automatically award you with the Captain Olimar Trophy !

From the end of day menu, you can then select to "Go to next day". This gives you a small map of the searchable area and it's locations. When you move Olimars ship to the locations, you'll get a small row of stars, showing how many pieces there are in that area and how many you have collected.

The music for the game is quite brilliant, ambient and peaceful. The music sets the atmosphere of each level wonderfully. While it may be slightly quirky, it's easy on the ear. Sounds effects are nicely done too, from the Pikmins squeals when thrown, to the crashes and booms of falling walls. Spot on.

As for the graphics, they
are mind-blowing, very lush. Rich in green, obviously. Leaves will sway when brushed pass, water splashes and waves when paddled through. Time has obviously been spent on the scenery, highly detailed backgrounds, textured ground with plenty of objects injected into the levels. The lighting is another marvel, a complicated system where the day gets lighter, then darker, with sun pouring through the foliage, with great work on shadows, getting bigger as the sun sets etc.

Now talk to anyone, read any review, and someone will whinge about the length of the game, yes, if you were very good, you could finish it in a few hours. I still haven't completed it and i've had it for about a month ! In my opinion there is replay value as you'll want to improve on your past scores and with an extra incentive, theres a bonus Challenge Mode, which allows you to pick an area you have been to and then see how many Pikmin you can grow and sprout in a single day.

Since I first saw this game, I wanted it, I needed it in my collection. As the Halo was to the Xbox, everyone who owns a GameCube needs this game. Don't dismiss it as a kiddy game, as it's complicated, with time-management coming into effect, it's emotional and above all, fun.

It's highly original, and thats what the game industry needs, it doesn't borrow other ideas, it generates completely new ones. The only trouble with an original game, is that it spawns clones and gets lost amid all the dross that copies the ideas.

However, i'm sure Pikmin is uncloneable !

Summary: