Pikmin

"Nintendo + RTS = Fun"

Pikmin is one of the best RTS games I have ever played. In other RTS games like Warcraft and Red Alert I never felt bad about my little pawns getting killed... but there is something about Pikmin that makes you feel guilty when they are hurt. The game leaves you with a feeling of 'I stood up for the little guy'. It is very fun and well worth the money.

Ok, so what is this game about?

Basically, you are Captain Olimar (remove the 'L' and rearrange the letters for a little easter egg) who has been crash landed on a planet and must repair his rocket to return home. Although it is never said in the game I am lead to belive that the planet is Earth either some time in the future, or in a remote area. But it doesn't matter, the otherwise alien world has a sense of familiarity to it no matter where it is supposed to be (you will notice cans, bottles and other trash on the ground as well as earth-like shrubs in the game). But the planet's inhabitants large monster like animals. The neat thing about the 'monsters' in this game is they act more like animals than anything else, they arn't out to get you, they are just trying to survive. The goal of the game is to find the needed rocket parts to repair your ship and return home before your life-support runs out and you breathe in the planets 'toxic' air (heh, which is Oxygen). When Olimar lands he finds a small onion-like plant on the ground, and he calls it... an Onion. The Onion turns red sprouts a flower that it uses like a helicopter to rise up and turn into a tri-pod with little root like legs. The Onion is basically the Pikmin's mothership. The Onion shoots out a single red seed that falls into the ground. That seed is the first Pikmin. When all your Pikmin die off the Onion will produce another single seed, this leads me to believe that they have been extinct for quite some time. After a few seconds the seed will sprout a leaf and glow with a red light that Olimar feels is summoning him to pick it. When he does, you meet Pikmin for the first time, and Olimar names it Pikmin because it reminds him of the Pik-Pik brand carrots he used to eat at home. Once he picks it, the flow of events will teach you all about the game and controls.

Basically you have to use the different types of Pikmin (from the Onions you will find later in the game) to retrieve your rocket parts. You don't need all the parts, just enough to get you out into space. Some extra stuff is not needed but will result in different endings.

What the heck is a Pikmin?!

This took me forever to figure out and, I never did, until I finally sat down and played the game. Basically, there are 3 types of Pikmin:

Red - Think of the Red Pikmin is the Army, they can resist fire, they are strong and battle, and are your basic warriors.

Blue - Blue Pikmin are more like the Navy. While they are useful and combat, they aren't as strong as the reds, and arnt resistant to fire. Blue Pikmin excel in the water. Although they can't swim (none of the water in the game is that deep) they can walk in the water without freaking out and downing. Blue pikmin can be sent over seas (eerr... puddles) to do tasks that the others can't.

Yellow - Think of the Yellow Pikmin as the Green Berets. They do all the odd jobs that the others can't. You will never need more than a few at any time but it is nice to have backups incase they get killed. Normally you will find Olimar taking them with him on tough missions that the others simply cant fallow. What do they do? They are much more athletic and can be thrown up onto cliffs and ridges that the other Pikmin are to sluggish to reach. Since some areas can only be reached by Olimar (via the steam lifts) Yellow Pikmin are the only ones that can fallow. The Yellow Pikmin also have the ability to use weapons, something that no other characters in the game can do. When a yellow Pikmin finds a Bomb Rock it can use it as powerful explosive to fight in battle, blow up walls or unintentionally kill the Red and Blue Pikmin (it happens some times, and you will feel really bad about it too).

So, how do you PLAY the game?

In the game, you control Olimar, NOT the Pikmin. That might be hard to explain, but in most RTS game you are like a god that can control your men at any time. In Pikmin you are Olimar. Your Pikmin will listen to you, do what you say, follow you, and even let you throw them... But, you are still just Olimar.

You need Pikmin to carry the rocket parts for you. All the rocket parts are much to heavy for Olimar and he lets/makes the Pikmin carry it for him. All objects have a weight, when a Pikmin touches an object he will try to carry it and the weight value will apear in the form of a fraction telling you how many Pikmin need to carry it and how many are currently trying to carry it. You can carry pretty much anything (including Olimar, dead monsters and flowers). Pikmin can tell what is a rocket part, and what is food. If it is organic, they will take it back to their Onion and use it for food. If it is a rocket part they will take it to the rocket and the rocket will absorb the part into its system.

Sound simple? It gets much more complex. There are many obstacles between the rocket part and the rocket. Keep in mind that Pikmin are tiny little creatures, and while it my be a challenge to get to the rocket part in the first place, sometimes it can be even more difficult to bring the large rocket part home on the path that the Pikmin used to get to it. Many times you will find that you can use a second path, if you clear the way the Pikmin will (almost always) take the easier route. There are all kinds of obstacles to face, monsters, fire, water, 'gates' (walls of tangled up weeds that Pikmin can tear down with a little time and and work) 'stone walls' (walls of cracked stone that can be blown up by Bomb Rocks). There are even little bundles of sticks that can be used to build bridges and climbing poles that your Pikmin can shimmy up to get to a remote place. Don't worry about building the wrong thing, just show the Pikmin the lumber and they will know what to do.

How easy to learn are the controls? This game seems too complex...

Suprisingly, the controls are quite simple and never a problem. Most actions done with the 'A' button. Very seldom will you even find control a problem. If the Pikmin are out of line, it normally wont be the control's fault, it will be the Pikmin. You have to remember that you control Olimar, not the Pikmin. While Olimar will fallow your commands exactly as you tell him to, the Pikmin will not. Pikmin are not really lazy or against Olimar, but they have their flaws. Some Pikmin can trip, some can fall asleep on the job. Some can get lost. The young can fall behind. The adults can go to far ahead. When you walk the Pikmin will fallow behind you like ants. But you can use the 'C stick' to lead them in a certain direction and they swarm around you like bees marching in the direction you tell them to (with the C stick). Both Olimar and the cursor are controlled with the control stick. The cursor will basically just be in front of Olimar at all times, but if u tilt the stick really slightly you can move it to a percise location. All the cursor does is tell you where a Pikmin will land if you throw it, which can become important in battle or in dangerous areas.

How good are the graphics?

The game looks good. The textures are realistic and the water is convincing. However, it is lacking in some areas. It seems that when the objects touch the water it effects it in no way at all. And, it may just be my imagination, but it looks to me like some of the objects don't actually cut through the water and don't have the semi-transparent texture visibly overlapping them. As if they were walking on top of the water or something. And the sometimes cartoony creatures can kinda clash with the realistic forest settings. Kinda like the Sonic Adventure games, there is something odd about super-realistic envoirenments with super-cartoony characters.

What about the sound?

The music is ok, very peaceful and fitting of the foresty areas. The sound effects can seem 'cutesy' at times. But this wont bother you after you get into the game, in fact you might just crack a smile at some of the things the Pikmin do. From the high pitched grunting of the laboring Pikmin to the sqeeks and sqeals that come from battles. All the creaters in the game sound like you think they would by looking at them. The sounds arn't anything special but they fit the game well.

Is there much replay value?

Sadly no... There are three endings, so it is worth playing three times, but thats about it. There are challenge odes but they are kind of... 'meh' ...The same rocket parts are in the same places every time. It would have been nice if they had like, 50 different places that rocket parts could be in for each level and they randomly appeared each time you made a new game... but sadly they didn't. The replay value is this games only flaw, and it isn't really like it was a problem that was that hard to fix. Hopefully, if there is a Pikmin 2 (and if there is a God, there will be) they will fix this problem.

So, overall, is this game worth buying?

YES! A classic. Its just one of those games you have to play. If you are one of those people that thinks the video game industry is running out of ideas-then stick this in your GameCube and play it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/04/02, Updated 08/04/02