For all your Pikmin needs.

The review scores are out now for Pikmin 3 and it's fair to say that it's been rather well received.
I've played it and it's easily one of my games of the year (and it's certainly one of the best looking).

We'll likely do a podcast on the trilogy in the not too distant future so please share your memories of the Gamecube duo as well.

I remember them announcing this at e3 and our fanboyish needs for a new IP were reality! Pikmin (1) was pretty tough with its strict day/night cycle but I loved it immensely.

Pikmin 2 expanded on it in so many ways and didn't disappoint. If you couldn't tell, I'm rather excited for 3. Its been over ten years, right?

About 9 years since Pikmin 2, 11 since Pikmin - in the UK anyway.

Some review scores here:

gamesTM - 9/10
NowGamer – 9/10
Videogamer – 9/10
Nintendo Life – 9/10
CVG – 8/10
ONM – 90/100
Nintendo Insider – 92/100
Eurogamer – 9/10
GodisaGeek – 9/10
IGN – 8.8/10
Kotaku – No Score
The Telegraph – 5/5
GamesRadar – 4.5/5
DenofGeek – 4/5
Ready-Up – 9/10
Games.it – 9/10
Nintendo World Report – 9/10
Meus Jogos DS – 4.5/5
Famitsu - 37/40
Spong - 8/10
BT - 5/5

I've seen a lot of "I've gotta buy a Wii U now " which pisses me off a bit. People want these games but don't actually want to pay for them and the console.

Also the people moaning about Earthbound being $10 can jump into the pit of fire alongside the other moaners.

dezm0nd wrote:I've seen a lot of "I've gotta buy a Wii U now "

That's a weird attitude. No-one has to buy a Wii U.
They should do though

Yeah, all the consoles will be worth buying but I think the stigma of calling it Wii U is just a bit too much even though the Wii is/was ace.

I imagine this'll be ten fold when Bayonetta 2 comes out.

dezm0nd wrote: Also the people moaning about Earthbound being $10 can jump into the pit of fire alongside the other moaners.

Anyone complaining about the price of any videogame outside of Australia can go there.

Anyway, I played Pikmin 3 at PAX for a few minutes. I used the GamePad and immediately noticed two things.

1) I'd forgotten just how much better the New Play Control versions of the Pikmin games are where you can aim with the Wii remote.

2) They're doing a lot to make it as easy as possible. On top of having no time limit, you'll be able to replay days to get high scores, because the main game has just become a score attack, instead of a loose framing device with a score attack/challenge mode for extra gameplay. And now you can just tap the GamePad to freeze time and look around the area instead of having to explore yourself.

I came to realise that having the map on the GamePad, along with the ability to just pause the game while you sit and think about what you want to do next, takes away from both the difficulty and the wonder that the first two games had. They had such an incredible feeling of exploring each new, foreign area; initially filled with fear and trepidation, and at the same time a compelling sense of duty (at least in the first game, when you had a limited number of days to do things in) to go forth boldly and tackle this world so much bigger than yourself; slowly discovering all of the tricks and traps of the areas, where the monsters were hiding, what shortcuts you could take, what real-life objects were hidden as treasures.

In its bid to be as accessible as possible, it seems like Nintendo have taken away some of that magic. You don't collect treasures, you just collect fruit. You aren't on your own, you've got three people to switch between. You don't have a limit on days and you can repeat days ad infinitum. You know where everything is from the get-go. Though there is a time limit per day, you can just stop time to look around for even longer.

The gameplay is still top-notch, and it looks better than ever; I just wish Nintendo trusted people to be more competent at the game.

Pikmin 3 is pretty great. Wonderful even. What the Wii U needs right now.

Sadly there was a grand total of 1 person on my friends list playing it last night. Fantastic game indeed, but it doesn't even seem to be catching on among game-starved Wii U owners, let alone non-converts.

To be fair nintendo don't seem to have done any marketing for it at all. Which they really should, this is my favourite home console game of the year so far.

I've been hammering it, gutted to feel I'm already near the end. It's really, really good fun.

I was going to pick it up in town at the weekend but there were no copies in Game, Argos, Tesco, Morrisons or Sainsburys. Either everyone has rushed out and bought it or none of my local shops got many if any copies in.

I'm sure that the latter is true. A sorry state of affairs.

Edit: Still, number 2 in the UK charts behind Xbox 360 Minecraft. Better than I was expecting!

Very well deserved.

This beautiful game has just been updated to version 2.0 which features the option of full GamePad stylus controls.