Pikmin

"Rocket Man..."

I remember looking at the preview commercials for the Gamecube back in 2001. Other than Super Smash Bros. Melee, I knew nothing about the other games being released. One of the commercials portrayed a small astronaut being followed by a bunch of miniature aliens. For some reason, the imagery piqued my interest and I sought out the game after I received my Gamecube. I didn’t know exactly what I was getting into. Pikmin offers a remarkable amount of strategical gameplay and amazing visuals.

Gamers received a somewhat limited preview of this game early on. All anyone knew was about this game was that you could control a bunch of little aliens. But what appeal does that have? Luckily, Pikmin has a great background story that makes for a more realistic and emotional presentation. Our hero is Captain Olimar, pilot of the spaceship Dolphin. As Captain Olimar is traveling through the galaxy, a rogue meteor hits the Dolphin. The ship crashes on a strange, unknown planet. Fortunately, our hero manages to survive the ordeal. However, the captain’s problems are just beginning. The collision with the meteor resulted with the Dolphin breaking up into thirty pieces. Also, Captain Olimar’s life support system is failing. In thirty days, his life support will fail and his lungs will be exposed to the lethal oxygen in the atmosphere. Captain Olimar has thirty days to recover thirty parts of his ship. If he doesn’t, he will be stranded on this strange planet and die. Your job is to figure out a way to track down all of the spaceship parts and make it off the planet in the given timeframe.

So what can Olimar do? As the desperation sinks in and the time ticks away, Olimar discovers a large onion-shaped object in the middle of a clearing. This “onion” houses tiny beings indigenous to the region. These ant-like creatures are called Pikmin. Captain Olimar enlists the aid of the Pikmin to help with his search for the missing spaceship parts. The captain must learn as much as he can about the Pikmin, their abilities, and their limitations in order to ensure his success. The captain can command the Pikmin to find objects, attack enemies, and find new areas. If things go well, maybe our hero can return home to his family after all.

This game places a great emphasis on strategy right from the start. In order to present the different Pikmin effectively, the game designers decided to use only primary colors for designation. The red, blue, and yellow Pikmin have different strengths and weaknesses that can determine that outcome of your mission. The Red Pikmin have excellent attack strength and are ideal for battling dangerous creatures. However, they drown if they fall into a body of water. The Yellow Pikmin are demolition specialists. They can destroy rock walls and other barriers. The Blue Pikmin can survive in Water, but will get burnt to a crisp if exposed to fire. You need to learn how to use each of the Pikmin’s abilities to their fullest extent. You’re not going to get very far if you march your Red Pikmin into a pond or let your Yellow Pikmin get destroyed by their own demolition practices. If you completely ignore the Pikmin’s limitations, your forces will be decimated in no time.

You’re in charge of up to one hundred Pikmin at a time. That doesn’t necessarily mean that all one hundred have to be moved as a single entity. In a true testament to the Gamecube’s abilities, each single Pikmin can be controlled independently from the other. What does that mean, exactly? For example, if you’re faced with an enemy and a spaceship part, you can divide your army into two sections to deal with the separate problems. One group will focus on destroying the enemy while the other group will carry the spaceship part to safety. Or you can have your strongest Pikmin focus on the attack, leaving the others safely on the sidelines. Since you can control each creature individually, you can have so many individual objectives going on at once.

You’re going to need to have all of your Pikmin acting independently. The challenge of this game is all about multitasking. You need to learn how to use your army of Pikmin while staying focused on the job at hand. Remember, you’re only given one day to find one spaceship part. Since the predators of the area operate by night, you can only do your work during the day. Also, the time in the game doesn’t operate on real time. Each day is only about fifteen minutes. With large levels and areas to explore you’ll need to command your Pikmin efficiently. You have to designate certain Pikmin to certain tasks at the same time. If there are a few barriers in your way, you need to separate your army into task forces. While one group is breaking down a wall, another group can be building a bridge or finding objects. You need to learn to multitask with your Pikmin to get the mission done. You can’t be marching around randomly, or you won’t find everything by the deadline. If night falls and your Pikmin are still working on the field, predators will gobble them up and your army will be destroyed in an instant.

Also, you can’t get anything done unless you have a substantial amount of Pikmin to control. You’re limited to one hundred Pikmin on the field at any given time, but you can have hundreds of them stored inside their respective onions. In order to propagate the species, you must find different colored pellets and command the Pikmin to carry it back to their onion. When the pellet is processed in the onion, it will produce more Pikmin. Each pellet corresponds with the three different colored Pikmin. If a Pikmin takes a pellet with the same color, the pellet will produce more Pikmin. If the colors don’t match up, the pellet won’t produce as many new Pikmin. Also, you can command your army to take out the predators that roam the various areas. If a predator is taken out and delivered to the onion, it’ll produce even more Pikmin once it’s been processed. You need to make choices as to how to populate your forces. Will you create a massive army of Red Pikmin and leave the other colored Pikmin as a minority? Will you charge into battle with only Yellow Pikmin? It’s up to you to build your forces to suit your needs and objectives at hand.

While your Pikmin are hard at work, take some time to look at your surroundings. The graphics and imagery are some of the finest the Gamecube can offer. Captain Olimar has crashed on a world of thick forest. There are plants, trees, and water everywhere. What makes experience so interesting is that you’re seeing everything from an insect’s perspective. Our hero is tiny compared to his surroundings. Tree trunks look like the size of a football stadium Plant stalks look like flagpoles. This great perspective makes the game much more interesting than if Captain Olimar were our size. And since we’re seeing things from a bug’s perspective, we can see the details of things that we as humans take for granted. When you play, you can see the tufts of grass in the various clearings. You can see the rough texture of the tree bark. You can see the light glistening off the tiny ripples in the water. Even though there is so much emphasis placed on the surroundings, you can still see the glow of Captain Olimar’s spacesuit. You can see the shadows cast by the various Pikmin. You can watch as the your surroundings get progressively darker as the day wears on. It’s details like these that make for an amazing gaming experience.

Also, the sound contributes so much to the overall realism. You’re controlling one hundred creatures that have distinctive voices. You can’t understand what they’re saying, but they can still make noises to present their emotions. They shout for joy when they successfully recover a spaceship part. You can hear the Pikmin splash as they enter a pond. You can hear the moans of agony as the Pikmin are devoured by a predator. You can hear the beeps and hums of the Dolphin as it waits to be fully repaired. Also, the music is serene and relaxing. The quiet music adds to the realistic presentation of a peaceful forest setting.

Pikmin is the epitome of strategy games on the Gamecube. Its deceptively relaxing presentation hides a world of difficult challenges and need for intelligent strategizing. You need to learn how to use your time and your Pikmin wisely to ensure your success and Captain Olimar’s survival. And with that need for strategy comes a vivid and realistic presentation. If you’re a fan of strategy, graphics, or both, this is the game for you. Even if you’re into something more action oriented and fast-paced, I’d still recommend giving this game a shot. Like the beings of this game, Pikmin is full of surprises.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/02/04