Pikmin 3! Another good reason for the Wii U to exist. As any long-time readers will know, I started with the second one on Wii and went back for the first one. After finishing this one and enjoying the mission mode immensely, I went back for the missions of Pikmin 2 to see if they were as good. The comparison was a little painful, with slightly wonkier controls and greatly blurrier visuals. So although it wasn’t too evident as I played it from memory, a direct comparison in that way just shows what an improvement Pikmin 3 is.

First of all, it looks beautiful. I never used the first-person screenshot thing because it was dumb, but I’ve heard it makes textures and whatever look crummy. That’s ok, the game is meant to be played zoomed out. Everything looks so great, it looks real. You don’t have the Gamecube’s plasticky feel, and there’s sparklyness and it’s just nice to look at. The music gets annoying though, what with all the repetition. I needed auditory feedback on gameplay though, so I was stuck with that.

The plot is interesting, if a little short. It’s about the same length as the previous ones though so I guess it’s ok. The missions really lengthen your enjoyment though. I was worried when hearing about it that there wouldn’t be any amusing writing as there is for 2’s item descriptions. But there’s the new data files, and tons of incidental dialogue that wasn’t there previously, as well as interplay between characters. Previously, Olimar has either been alone or with an arguably autism spectrum/self-absorbed crew members (Louie and the President, repsectively). This time, we have three characters who have different opinions on each other and quirks, plus Olimar’s logs. Certain incidental dialogues did repeat unpleasantly often in either content or gist, though. Overall it’s a plus.

It’s always disappointing when a sequel cuts things from a previous installment instead of expanding on them. It’s the Nintendo way, but the systems here are streamlined and well executed, which is their intention behind those practices. The basic mechanics are tuned from previous games, so the basic play experience is better. It’s good to have control options, but the Gamepad option is garbage (I assume it’s similar to the original GCN controls?) so like a lot of people I opted for Wii remote with Gamepad on lap for a map and whatever else it does. It works well, and the Gamepad is used very well on this occasion. No more treasure, but fruit was satisfying to find and had different classes so you knew what to expect for carrying it.

This leads to the juice mechanic, where your time limit is based on the fruit you find. I found the game was tuned way too easy, I quickly built up a good stock and stayed consistently very high (until it’s abruptly taken away at one point for some real tension). Otherwise though, a great idea, better than a hard 30 days or the vaguer Pikmin 2. It brings up the end-of-day schtick though. Juicing the fruits introduced a surprising amount of lag for what’s a simple white screen with some fluid effects. It’s what I’ve come to expect on the Wii U unfortunately. Anyway that bothered me, and it happens every day so you see it a lot.

As I’ve alluded to though, the missions are great fun and while they didn’t grab me in 2 (and were non-existent in 1), here I was hooked. Using the skills you’ve gained to clear out a small area quickly is a very different experience to the exploration and longer-term planning of the story mode, so both coexist peacefully. Boss rush mode can just go away though, the bosses weren’t much fun for me and doing them again was not something I was into. Plus, there was a cool co-op mode for missions (why doesn’t story have co-op?!). My wife surprisingly got really into it and we’ve been having tons of fun getting platinums, more often on the collect treasure as opposed to fight enemies. Micromanaging multiple captains is hard work for me, but having a human to communicate with we can get much more done. But seriously, give us a co-op story why not?!

I liked cutting white and purple Pikmin in favour of rock and flying, and the different abilities that were swapped or introduced, with new mechanics to learn for us veterans. But then, having white and purple come back in the missions was nice, like an old friend returning and it added more complexity which can be fun.

I don’t know what else to say. I was constantly impressed by the mix of cuteness and strategy gaming. It’s a true Nintendo game. Just a bit more content would have been nice. Buy the DLC missions, it’s worthwhile if you enjoy the mission structure (especially the second pack). I dunno, people say the Wii U has no games but here’s one. Although I have finished it now, but ooh Donkey Kong’s here. (Actually I’ve 100%ed that by now but you’ll see that review later). Anyways this is the best Pikmin game yet, very fun.