E3 2013: Pikmin 3 Impressions – Bingo Battle

I have to be honest, for the longest time I haven’t been excited about Pikmin 3. I never really was a fan of the original two games, I love the characters, I just never bothered to finish the originals. So going into Pikmin 3 I didn’t have any expectations or thoughts, I was just going to play it.

I like it a lot.

However I can’t say much about the games single player as what I did play was the great new multiplayer mode Bingo Battle. Just like the seniors play, you have use items on the playfield to create a line on a bingo card. Line up in a row vertically or horizontally or even diagonally and win. The items you need to collect are randomised and you’ll need to fight your fellow competitor for them.

The first battle I played went for over 20 minutes as we battled over some marbles on the list. Your squad will regenerate with each thing you bring back so it’s a choice between fighting over one item on your list that’s easy to find or perhaps taking your squad to look for a harder to find item. The game also only has local multiplayer included, however there was talk around the water cooler that online leaderboards may be included, however no one at Nintendo would confirm this for me.

I was given a Wii Remote and Nunchuck for the game, something I tried to avoid for every demo. However the pointer controls for Olimar are actually quite good, personally I would have preferred the GamePad. You can also play the game with the Pro Controller, something not every game in Nintendo’s line up is offering. The game be played entirely off the TV, but it can also be played with the Wii Remote and Nunchuck combo but having the Wii U GamePad as a second screen solely with the map, the choice is up to you.

There is no real camera control when playing with the Wii Remote and Nunchuck combo but this didn’t get in the way too much as you can re-center the camera with the Z button. Also on the nunchuck is the ability to launch a horde attack where every Pikmin in your party launches at the enemy or object. You can now also switch between the type of Pikmin in your party. No more sending random types of Pikmin out, send the new Rock Pikmin to tackle that big barrier, or get the red Pikmin working on the fruit. The choice is yours.

The game has come a long way graphically, when first revealed you could see glimpses of its Wii heritage, however the showing at E3, even in multiplayer put my fears to rest. It’s a beautiful game.

Pikmin 3 is due for release on the 27th of July 2013 in Australia. Not long now!