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> Pikmin Written by: Walter
Hare
 Publisher: Nintendo Price: 19.99 Genre: Strategy E for Everyone
Truly, the biggest flops and the biggest hits in gaming
today are the concept games. These are games that take ideas from out of nowhere and make them playable; the games that are
crazy and quirky, or Japanese, however you want to say it; the games that are just too weird to play. Pikmin is one such title,
and is far from a flop.
Captain Olimar, a man among quarter sized space boys, is the protagonist of Pikmin. After crash landing on a strange, alien
planet Olimar is forced to find the parts to his ship, the Dolphin, or die in thirty days from lack of breathable air. Without
a clue of what to do, Olimar sets out exploring this new world only to immediately find the Pikmin, a carrot-like race of
seemingly sentient beings that have taken a liking to him. Now is where the gameplay kicks in.
Pikmin can do a relatively diverse set of actions. From building bridges to smoking the predatory creatures on the planet
(who happen to be more quirky than the Pikmin), the Pikmin are the handymen of carrot-like creatures. Growing them is also
a fun addition, requiring you to bring food pellets back to their respective colors and wait for them to sprout. As a main
part of the game, it’s fun and un-obtrusive, and it makes for a nice mini-game later on.
It is kind of depressing seeing all these creatures die though. Accidentally leaving one on the planet at nightfall means
they get devoured by hungry predators, which is kind of morally degrading to watch. The little things scurry towards the ships
as they take off and the Pikmin are soon flopped into the air and turned into kibble. That stuff can give even the most battle-hardened
warrior a nightmare. Accidentally misplacing a bomb rock or failing to call back the deliverer of that bomb means watching
them explode.
As a concept game, Pikmin is difficult to brand. If necessary, it can be given a strategy/puzzle-solving title. The strategic
element is in controlling, breeding, and selecting the different kinds of Pikmin. Red types offer a bit more strength and
are immune to fire, yellow Pikmin are easy to throw (ties in with puzzles) and can transport the hazardous “bomb rocks”,
and blue Pikmin can swim whereas the others drown.
The puzzle solving kicks in when parts aren’t just lying on the ground. If they are behind water it will need either
some bridge building or swimming Pikmin if the bridge is unavailable. If there is a giant rock wall with enemies behind it
yellow Pikmin will be necessary to take it down and one of the other types will be necessary to fight those enemies. If a
part is high in the air, yellow Pikmin will be needed to carry it due to their light weight and farther throw length. It’s
kind of reminiscent of kittens.
Quirk it to the max, as it has been said. All the character drawings are awkward. It’s in a good way, seriously.
Of themselves the graphics are smooth, colorful, and easy to look at. Nothing about the game is particularly bad or obtrusive,
but nothing is incredibly spectacular either. The number of Pikmin that are presented onscreen is somewhat impressive, but
it ends there.
Nothing about this game is not quirky. Music falls into this pit o’ quirkiness as does the sound effects. All the
little Pikmin fighting with squeaks and smacks of both them and their enemies fits in well with the mellow music, so again
the quirkiness works out.
With up to a hundred Pikmin following your small hero around like the obedient cultist dogs they are, one might think that
controlling them is difficult. Au contraire mi amigo, it is actually quite intuitive. Using the ‘C’ button as
a nice move all command makes it very easy to navigate around obstacles and across bridges. Some stickiness occurs when a
Pikmin on the far edge of your group falls behind on a wall, or a large section falls into water (which WILL anger you), but
except for perfectionists that are unwilling to lose any Pikmin to accidents, this isn’t a huge problem.
Going through this game a couple of times is not going to drain your life away. Having a thirty-day limit with so many
minutes per day doesn’t make for a long game time. Finishing short of that limit might make for a challenge, but not
much of one, as finishing three or more days ahead of schedule is relatively easy. The mini-game that is given after the first
completion where you must grow as many Pikmin as you can in a day is sort of fun, but not en masse. Fun the first, second,
and at best third time through, but nothing more if that.
Concept games rule! Pikmin stands out with not only its quirkiness but with genuinely fun gameplay. Intuitive controls,
mellow sounds, and nice graphics make this a must have. By now it’s a budget game anyway, so anyone who doesn’t
have it cannot be hard pressed to grab a copy.
Graphics: 8.5 | Sound: 8.0 | Control: 9.0
| Replay: 7.5 | Overall Game Score: 9.0/10
           
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