Pikmin (Gamecube) Review
Introduction
Pikmin is a very unique game, as you might have heard; Shigeru came across the concept as he was in his own garden and admiring the small bugs running around doing their thing. His idea of the small bug-like creatures fitted in perfectly with his 100-Marios movie, the 100 Marios was a movie shown at E3 before the GameCube was out, it was supposed to show the capabilities of the GCN. How does Mario fit into the idea of Pikmin? Well, as youll read later on, you will only be able to carry 100 Pikmin out of the Onion and into the field. Its quite confusing huh? Well, read on.
Gameplay
I said that Pikmin is very unique, at one time, there werent many games I could say that about. But now theres a huge range of strange games coming out, with the new consoles, developers and always trying new ideas to attract buyers. Pikmin is the perfect example of a new idea for a game, on the GameCube. Dont let this make you think that Pikmin is just a rough sketch for a game though, its uniqueness makes it quite addictive. You play the role of Captain Olimar, he has unfortunately crashed on an alien planet, and he must escape before his supplies run out, and he is forced to breathe the poisonous gas called Oxygen. His supplies run out in 30 game days and conveniently, there are 30 pieces of the ship to collect so you can go back home. Im told that each game day is worth about fifteen minutes, so youll have to manage your time very well. Hah, I said it, time managing. Time managing is THE most important factor of the game, youll find yourself jumping up and down in frustration because you forgot one thing and then you have to restart the whole day. Then of course, the next day youll concentrate so hard on remembering that youll forget about something else. Retrieving 30 pieces of a ship is a hard task for one man, and Captain Olimar finds the perfect way to help him collect them, Pikmin. The Pikmin are small half plan half animals that feel a love towards Olimar because he is the one that picks them from the ground. There are various enemies to kill in the strange world that Olimar lands in, and the best way to kill them is to send your Pikmin onto it! Yes, you get control of your Pikmin. You can throw them to a flower for food or onto a wall to knock it down. Its quite a challenge to get through this game and retrieve all the pieces, but its not as long as I hoped so it doesnt really take up much time.
Controls
I always say that the controls section is one of the hardest sections to write, and Ill say it again. The controls section is one of the hardest sections to write, so most times, my controls section is boring and not really helpful. In Pikmin, you do the normal walking with the control stick, but theres something else you need to control. If you move the C Stick while Pikmin are under your control then you can move them in a small circle around Olimar. I found it a little difficult to understand the tutorial on controlling Olimar and the Pikmin, but after a short while of experimenting I quickly picked it up. The Pikmin can be thrown on to something with the A button, and when thrown away from you, they know that theyre being told to do something. Do something can consist of attacking enemies, breaking down a wall, taking a part back to base or other things. If you throw one of your Pikmin into an area where there isnt anything to do, he will sit there and turn a strange colour to let you know that hes idle. If you move your cursor over him with the Control Stick and press B then Olimar will blow his whistle, and the Pikmin will come back to your side and keep following you. There are various ways to send your Pikmin on a job so its vital you know the correct method to send a Pikmin to a job. If youre facing a big fire-breathing enemy, you might wanna stay back and throw your Pikmin at him. But if youre going to pick up a piece for the ship, you should probably just walk over to it and press the C Stick in the direction of the piece and all the Pikmin will walk into it and carry it back to base, this can save a lot of time. Ugh, time managing; youll hear that a lot through this review.
Graphics
I found the graphics very amazing in this game. I think Miyamoto was really trying to make it look good seeing as this was one of the GameCubes first games. At first I didnt think too much about them, as I normally dont, but soon I was a little bored and just looking around, I noticed how great the graphics really were! It was all running totally smoothly, in gameplay and I was still getting the wonderful graphics! Everything in this game is quite round, and the colours are mostly consisting of the colours of nature, seeing as Miyamoto wanted it to seem like an untouched world. Theres not much else to say here, other than that I enjoyed the graphics very much.
Sound
The sounds in this game are quite interesting. You will hear affectionate little wahoos or yaays by the Pikmin as you take them out of the Onion (a Pikmin storage device). And they also make sad little dying noises when they, die. The Pikmin have no vocabulary at all but they do make lots of sounds throughout the game. The background music is often very in tune with the graphics. What I mean is that, the graphics are very natury and the music is also. It has very peaceful tunes that youll hum along to while you play but you probably wont hum them to yourself as you go about your life. Again, theres really not much to say about the sound, and I also enjoyed the sound in this game very much.
Replay
Pikmin is the first game for GameCube that I have that IMO doesnt have much replay value. As you may know, the game is very short. It is a game thats made to be played over and over but I dont think I could do that very much. It tries to compensate for its shortness by adding a Challenge Mode. The challenge mode is where you have one game day (fifteen minutes) to raise as many Pikmin as you can. Raising Pikmin is very easy. You will find coloured pellets around the level and if you throw some Pikmin onto it then theyll take it back to base. Something I have yet to explain is the colours. There are three colours of Pikmin, blue, red and yellow. Each different colour is good for different things. Blue can swim, red can withstand fire and are very strong, yellow can be thrown long distances and can use bombs. Anyway, if you send corresponding colours of Pikmin to the pellet then you will get more Pikmin! So in the Challenge Mode you will have to co-ordinate your Pikmin to get maximum efficiency. I found the Challenge Mode kept me busy for a little while but not for that long. Maybe this game isnt really for me.
