Pikmin 3 Review
After several years, Nintendo finally decides to release yet another Pikmin game. However, does this game live up to its predecessors after all these years or is it a disappointment? Let's find out!
Story
Pikmin 3's story is based around a planet that is going through a famine, and "three intrepid explorers" fly to a planet named PNF-404 in hopes to find a new food supply for their planet. In my opinion, the story is not too simple and not too complex. It is a basic story that any player can get drawn into.
Gameplay and Controls
Pikmin is a real time strategy game where you control up to 100 little guys called... well pikmin, assigning them to do specific tasks such as building, carrying and fighting. To assign them to do these tasks, you simply throw or swarm them at the corresponding object. Throughout the game, you will need to make more pikmin so you can take on stronger enemies and more complex tasks. You will also need to keep a good supply of pikmin in case you lose any.
There are three different control options for Pikmin 3: Wii Remote (Plus), Wii U Pro Controller and Gamepad Only. All three have their own pros and cons. This means you can choose any playstyle that you find comfortable. However, every one requires the Wii U Gamepad so you will need to find a comfortable setup for that.
Pikmin 3 introduces three new control functions: Locking on, charge attacking and the dodge whistle. The lock on function allows you to lock on to an enemy or object. This makes attacking enemies and assigning your pikmin to do certain tasks easier with any control scheme. The charge attack allows you to make your pikmin ram into any object you lock onto, and the dodge whistle allows you and your pikmin to quickly roll to the left or right. These all may take some getting used to, but eventually you will be able use all of them effectively.
This game also introduces shaking the nunchuk or gamepad to disband or charge your pikmin if you don't want to use buttons. This allows more accessibility for players in my opinion and it makes things more convenient.
Story Mode
In the story mode, you play as three captains: Alph, Brittany and Charlie, in a mission to find food for their new planet. Throughout this mode, you use your Pikmin and the three captains to find fruit for their planet and to progress through the story. There are five different pikmin types that you discover throughout the mode: red pikmin, which are immune to fire and have higher attacking power, blue pikmin, which are immune to water, yellow pikmin, which are immune to electricty, and can dig buried objects very fast, rock pikmin, which can break barriers, do more damage when thrown at enemies, and cannot be stomped on, and winged pikmin which can fly, and lift up objects, but are very weak. In my opinion, every single pikmin is utilized in some way to their corresponding abilities. I never felt that a pikmin was not used that much. However, this also means you will have to learn to use all five different pikmin effectively and even learn to use more than one at once. Also, considering how fruit is scattered around the areas in the game, you will have to learn how to divide up work so you can complete tasks more efficiently.
Speaking of the fruit, they play a big part in this game. For every fruit you find, the captains take the seeds from the fruit, convert it into juice, put it into bottles and drink one each in-game day. The more bottles of juice you have, the more in-game days you can progress through the story. This means you have to focus on both progressing through the story and finding fruit too. However, you can also just search for fruit and then switch gears to progressing through the story. In addition, the amount of fruit you find effects the ending to the game, which can possibly add replay value for people who want to see the different endings.
The in-game days play a big part in this game just like they did in previous installments. Pikmin's gameplay solely based around in-game days. During every in-game day, you only have a set amount of time to complete tasks until sundown. Once sundown hits, you are forced to go back into your ship and fly back out of orbit until the next day, leaving any pikmin that are not near the onion or with you. This means you will need to manage your time well and make sure you have all of your pikmin either near the onion or with you before sunset.
In replacement of tutorials, this game features "data files" that can be found all over the different areas you explore. I have to say, don't be worried about not knowing anything. These data files sometimes give you captain obvious information. However, it doesn't tell you everything. There are some tutorials in the game, but they don't feel like handholding.
Now all of this might sound underwelming to you. However, one of new features to Pikmin 3 is the Koppad, which is displayed on your Gamepad during gameplay. The the Koppad features 6 different menus that can be accessed anytime during gameplay. This includes the map, pikmin info, exploration notes, fruit files and camera. The map allows you to basically see all enemies and fruit on the map, including areas you have explored. Pikmin info shows exactly how many of each pikmin are out of the onion, how many of each pikmin in the onion, how many pikmin are working and how many pikmin are idle. Exploration notes allows you to look back at any notes you have acquired. Fruit files allows you to look at all information about any fruit you have acquired including Brittany's Notes on the fruit (which can be very entertaining to read at times), how many pikmin are required to carry the fruit, and how much juice each fruit carries. The camera allows you to go into first person mode and snap pictures which you can share on MiiVerse. Also, remember how I mentioned you will need to sometimes divide up work? Well, the Koppad's map funtion features a "Go here" function. This allows you tell any character to move somewhere automatically while you take of something with another character until you switch to them to do something else. All of these features will help you complete tasks more efficiently and prevents you from being overwhelmed with information.
Another new feature in this game is the ability to replay days and time travel if you get a game over from running out of fruit, a day doesn't go according to plan or you feel that you have messed up a whole portion of your playthrough. This means you don't have to worry so much about mistakes you make since they can easily reversed or fixed.
One last thing I want to cover are the areas, enemies and bosses. The areas in this game are vast enough so they aren't too small or too large. There is enough to do in each one since you don't start out with all of the pikmin, this means that you will have to go back to these areas if you are aiming to find all of the fruit. Also, going back to these areas do not feel like backtracking since the areas that you can't enter until you have certain pikmin open you up to completely different sections. Also, every area uses has different sections that utilize all five different pikmin. Overall, the areas are very well designed and give the player a lot to do.
Ememies in this game all have unique attack methods that you will need to experiment with using diffrent pikmin so you find out how to attack them the most efficiently. Also, you will have to learn to not be afraid with experimenting with pikmin that are not immune to their attacks since pikmin can be saved from fire, water (sprayed water, not bodies of water). There are even attacks that no pikmin are immune to such as poison and eating.
The bosses in this game all have interesting attacks and ways to beat them They all use the pikmin in interesting ways and really put you to the test of whether you know how to use these pikmin or not.
Overall, the story mode is not that long if you have a lot of time on your hands, but I feel that you can play the story mode more than once, trying to do things more efficiently and better than you did before. If you are a busy person who doesn't have that much time on their hands, I think the story mode will last you even longer especially if you are aiming to find all of the fruit.
Mission Mode
This mode features three different modes: Collect Treasure, Battle Enemies and Defeat Bosses. In collect treasure, there are enemies (sometimes with fruit inside them), fruit and gold scattered around the map which can all be brought into a machine by your pikmin. In fact, there are even pikmin scattered around for you to get. You goal is to divide up work to get as much treasure to increase your score in a given time limit.
In battle enemies mode, there are enemies scattered all around and you goal is to kill as many enemies possible. There is even a boss somewhere in the stages that gives you a lot of points if you kill it. You even have to raise more pikmin so you can battle stronger enemies.
In defeat bosses mode, you are given a set amount of pikmin to use with extra pikmin scattered around the arena. Your goal is to defeat the boss within a given time limit.
With each mode, you are given a medal depending on how you did. This means you can keep playing these modes, trying to improve your rank and beat your highscore. Not only that, this mode can be played with a second player.
In addition, there are DLC packs available if you are want more levels to play in battle enemies and collect treasures mode. Not to mention that you get 2 dlc levels each for the two mode free for updating your system.
The mission mode is very fun and it's one thing you might come back to this game for. In fact, I even come back to Pikmin 3 to play this mode.
Bingo Battle
In this mode, you play against freind gathering and fighting over fruit and enemies and using items on each other all in the means to get a bingo. There are a variety of maps to choose from, each with 3 different random variations. There are even adjustable rules such as the macaroon which is basically capture the flag, and 2 on 2 mode which allows both players to use two captains.
In addition, both Mission Mode and Bingo Battle feature two more types of pikmin that are not available in the story mode: white pikmin which are very fast and poisonous meaning that enemies die when they eat them, and the purple pikmin which have the strength of 10 pikmin allowing them to carry heavy objects.
Graphics
Compared to how it's predecessors looked on the Gamecube, this game looks amazing. Everything is so detailed and realistic considering that Pikmin is one of those games that's meant to look and feel realistic. However, the game doesn't look too realistic. It still have that cartoony look that Pikmin is known for.
Music
The music in this game is very well done and varies from peaceful, to upbeat. The music very memorable and catchy. Not to mention that some of the music slightly changes when you approach an enemy or your pikmin are working.
Verdict
Pikmin 3 doesn't have as much content as something like Zelda, Kid Icarus Uprising or Smash Bros., but it has enough content to justify it's price my opinion. Also, just like Miyamoto said himself, I think Pikmin 3 was made for Wii U. It utilizes the functionality of the Wii U Gamepad and it shows the kind of graphics Wii U can offer. If the Pikmin series has ever caught your eye before, or you are veteran of the series this game is a must have if you own a Wii U.
