Pikmin 3 Review

Pikmin 3 brings you back onto a scary planet to command a colour coded army on the Wii U

In the first two Pikmin predecessors the series saw Captain Olimar journey through danger infested worlds with the enlisted help of his Pikmin army, whom helped him restore his damaged spaceship, however this time things have taken a new turn.

In Pikmin 3 the title veers away from Captain Olimar and focuses on three new playable characters from the planet Koppai, Charlie the captain, Alph the engineer and Brittany the botanist. The three are sent out on a mission to retrieve food supplies from the planet “PNF-404”, since their home planet is suffering from food shortage.

Crash landing on the planet and being separated from Captain Charlie, Alph and Brittany reunite, and team up to find him. In the process they discover the Pikmin and that the planet is rich full of resources and has seeds that can replenish food shortages on their home planet (Koppai).

The main focus of the story is not to track down Captain Charlie (You reunite with him shortly) but to find the former Protagonist of the series Captain Olimar and retrieve the Cosmic Drive Key from him (THIEF!), which is the only device that can start the trios ship and return them safely home with new hope.

GAMEPLAY

Although Pikmin 3 may have had a console swap and added new features such as new characters, new setting, enemies, multiplayers etc. It still plays as a usual pikmin title; make teams of different coloured consisting obedient pikimin that are ready to be thrown (each equipped with their unique skills), take on a broad range of tasks such as uncovering treasure, finding and carrying fruit, destroying obstacles, conquering obstacles, creating bridges, intense boss and enemy battles.

The time limit and days system returns, which you have a time limit to complete levels as well as the entire game, which means there is no room for hesitating or making mistakes. Every thought must be thought through carefully and executed confidently.

For the first time you can control three teams at once and deploy them to different sections of the map, which covers more ground but can prove costly. If you stay focused on one team another may die so it’s best to have all your teams together.

CONTROLS

The Pikmin 3 controls were at first a nightmare especially on the tablet, which was terrible to use when commanding your Pikmin during battles, however after reading a few insightful sites the controls became a lot more smoother and less frustrating while using the traditional Wii Control and Nunchuck (Heaps better). However don’t count the tablet out it can still be used as a very useful navigational map.

VISUALS

Pikmin 3 is a game rich of colour and Nintendo always does a flawless job of bringing vast environments full of stunning visuals, however at times the texture does lack a bit of detail, but it doesn’t really do any major damage to the overall look of the game.

MULTIPLAYER

There are two types of multiplayer to choose from Mission Mode (use to be called Challenge Mode) and Bingo Mode, which are loads of fun.

MISSION MODE:

Mission Mode allows players to play together through three types of mission collect the fruit, battle enemies and defeat bosses. Each mission type takes usually takes around 5-15 mins to complete.

BINGO MODE:

Two players are put against each other and are given two cards, known as Bingo Cards. Each card is filled with enemies, fruits and marbles, which each player must make a Bingo Row by collecting the designated item on their card. Whichever player is successful to make a Bingo will win.

REPLAY VALUE

Pikmin has three different types of endings, depending on how much fruit resources the player gains by the end of the game will determine the ending type. So if the player gains the bad ending it may be worthwhile for the player to play through the game again to either achieve the good or best ending.

OVERALL

Besides the extremely frustrating control issue of the game pad, it’s easily remedied by the Wii Remote and Nunchuck. However don’t let the controls put you off, this is still a brilliant game of thoughtful strategy, immense action, adorable team work and a game for players of all ages, plus it’s full of cute Pikmin, how can you say no.