QCF: Pikmin 3

hen gamers reflect on just what’s makes Shigeru Miyamoto so legendary, some of them generally stop the buck on what he’s contributed like Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda, but others acknowledge what truly makes the man significant; his ability to imagine entire video game worlds built around concepts inspired from his everyday life.

Take for instance, Shigeru’s love for gardening, it spawned one of most criminally underrated franchises in Nintendo’s first-party line up—the 3^rd title in the series takes the best out of what the Wii U can offer, resulting in that trademark Nintendo charm that keeps them in the game in the first place.

Pikmin 3 takes the ideas introduced from the previous entries and juxtaposes them together in the most beautiful way. Just like the second title, this space adventure doesn’t hold you to some grandiose deadline to the venture—however, like the first, you can’t afford to rest on your laurels because you have a finite food supply that dwindles with each passing game day.  

You’re given a starter supply of juice to keep your crew alive, each day you’re tasked with trying to get as much fruit as you come across while simultaneously collecting parts to increase the capabilities of your ship’s signal to cover more territory. It’s because of these dynamics working with one another, Pikmin 3 pushes you to work, and yet it still gives you the chance to experiment and explore. Some fruit can give you more than one juice canister and can easily be obtained through out your expedition, but that bought time is spent towards dwindling down the health of a tough boss or cultivating the population of a new Pikmin species—you’re always doing something. Unlike the previous games polarizing their application towards difficult, the newest galactic garden outing doesn’t pull it’s punches; more like it stacks the odds in a dynamic manner—like a track runner approaching hurdles in his path. The key to the new depth is to effectively micromanage against the clock and make the best out of each passing day.

A day on the planet PNF-404 is fifteen earth minutes, and there’s a lot of ground to cover, this time around you have three leaders to divide labor and progress among. This is where Pikmin evolves among its peers from the big N, there are areas that demand teamwork among the three leaders between throwing them to areas that can’t be reached, and assigning the right Pikmin to the right leader in any given area of the stage—the rewards you reap from successful delegation are immensely gratifying. Having the utility of a wide-screen overhead map at your fingertips quickly becomes essential, and plays it’s part in making the player feel genuinely resourceful. The overhead map is not only detailed immaculately to accurately depict certain aspects of atmosphere within areas of a stage or depictions of the local landmarks, but it also marks points of interest like fruit or trinkets. One of the best features is the auto-walk waypoint feature, simply trace a route that you want your explorer and his/her army to travel in and they’ll automatically walk that direction, giving you plenty of time to switch over to another leader and multi-task even more efficiently.

Being keen to the world around you, the presentation does an excellent job of telegraphing which Pikmin are best to take with you in this sprawling stage design that balances the pedestal of pushing mechanics and pumping out lush aesthetics of nature and its elements. Each little leaf dude has a specific talent that seamlessly blends puzzle and strategy mechanics into an active hybrid; Red Pikmin take out the fiery slugs, Rock Pikmin destroy crystal barriers, winged Pikmin dog-fight against hornets, Yellow Pikmin jumpstart battery-operated lights—every aspect of gameplay has a role and the fun is figuring it out.

Still, these polished endeavors aren’t without their inexplicably gross blemishes…

One sorely missed dynamic that’s unfortunately absent this go-around is platoon direction. On the GameCube titles, you were able to use the C-stick to create a line of Pikmin that would could be manipulated in different directions to swarm against enemies. This technique was not only useful when attacking the back of an enemy but it was great to speed up your organic army as well giving you an edge against have any of the little creature straggle behind—this incredibly useful ability is gone. Offensive tactics are solely placed on throwing the carrot-nosed creeps with the aid of your reticle cursor now gaining the ability to lock-on à la Wind Waker style. Two huge issues with this, one, assembling your numbers when you’re busting down walls or attacking foes isn’t entirely effective on throwing alone. Battling can become an exercise of patience on how fast and hard the player can mash on the A button which is inexcusable to the superior alternative that could have been effectively used against the evolved designs and dynamics of Pikmin 3.

Second is just control and aim of your reticle, even with the most skillful fingers at the helm, getting your reticle where it needs to be can become an act of congress.  This all lies mainly in the sensitivity with dictating the range and axis of your reticle. Aiming the cursor is symbiotic with your physical movement, so a mere twitch of the left stick to adjust clocse-combat scenarios can become a chore, and it becomes even more problematic when you’re trying to aim reticle to lock-on to specific spot; especially boss encounters. Now you can alleviate these concerns by opting for the Wiimote/Nunchuk combo that adapts the New Play Control! Interface from the Wii port of Pikmin, but this will cost you the map functionality that gamepad offered and all those multitasking benefits, along with camera controls that turn to shit when at the mercy of Wiimote pointing.

Multiplayer is done handled in a separate mode where your competing to get the most loot and kills on the map. The hustle and bustle when competing against a friend is more relaxed than the tension of the story mode, and it even offers more depth to the mechanics as the White and Purple Pikmin from the second entry of the series make their return. The other mode is Bingo mode. More fast-paced then the title of the mode would suggest, it’s a strange hybrid of scavenger hunting meets bingo, and is the more frenetic than the alternative multiplayer mode when you race to see who can get that Apple they need. Even though Nintendo is staying on top of providing DLC stages for multiplayer maps, these modes are regrettably local only through split-screen. While the local multiplayer functions just fine, it makes no sense that that players can’t throw their Pikmin over the internet; the Wii U is more than capable to host online-completive play and has a large assortment of other third-party titles making use of what should now be a standard in every multiplayer function.

Whether you’re new to Nintendo’s quote unquote “Command & Conquer for babies” or not, Pikmin 3 is the series at its best and should be played by everyone out there with a Wii U in their home. Honestly, had it not been for the controls being so averse to you doing what you want to do with them half of the time, this title would be nothing short of perfect and an excellent example of that famous Nintendo charm.