Pikmin 3

[JaySevenZero]

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Pikmin 3 for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.

[seansthomas]

I'm not sure why it took me so long to ever play a Pikmin game. I'd always heard good things but had never been able to muster the enthusiasm to try the series out. Maybe it was the fear of it being a heavily strategic RTS title or perhaps just Nintendo technicolor burn out...

It was even more ridiculous given that for many years, the only modern console I owned was a Wii U. And there was hardly a wealth of games to play! Anyhow, when it hit the Selects range I decided to pick it up and what a breath of fresh air it was.

It took me a while to fall in love with it however.

I didn't really understand the opening hours and the mechanic of getting everyone safely back to your ship. I may have even had to restart the game entirely after losing almost every Pikmin after one too many overly ambitious forays away from home.

But once it clicked, it really clicked. And for a style of game I really don't gel with normally, I heartily fell for it's charms.

Collecting all that glossy, gorgeous, hard to reach HD fruit is bloody moreish. I didn't take on the final boss until I'd gathered all 66 pieces in fact. There are some devious ways to get those last few morsels that really required multitasking and using your whole squad cleverly. One of those classic Nintendo games where you could complete it in 3 days, but to get the most out of it you need to put a few weeks in.

I so enjoyed being able to play with the nunchuk and remote again too, with the gamepad used really well to orchestrate your team from afar. I'm always a fan of unusual but optimal control schemes and this for me is by far the best way I have found to play this series, even compared to the simpler inputs of Pikmin 4.

I really liked the characters, vibrant level design, the way the gamepad HUD was illustrated in the squad's language and just about all the bosses (though the endlessly chasing gold blob came close to being a bit tiresome).

And it's a cracking score too. The theme when you're in outer space never got old.

One of the Wii Us great games. Can't recommend it enough.

[Rhaegyr]

Possibly the most gorgeous looking fruit in any game.

[Rural Juror]

Three word review:
Epic, Minimally Marginal

[Mr Ixolite]

PIKMIN 3 Deluxe was my first foray into the world of Pikmin, which I picked up due to mild curiosity at what a supposed “Nintendo Real Time Strategy Game” was like. The early goings felt charming but simple, as I mainly tried to manage a desire to keep every Pikmin alive with a base strategy of siccing every Pikmin I had on an enemy. As the game progressed I’m sad to say I had to harden my heart towards my Pikmin subjects, as I would lose entire platoons due to errant triggering of bombs, or carelessly whistling while the wrong color Pikmin were close to a body of water. In terms of strategy I became slightly more considerate of my Pikmin throws, but the game was still straightforward enough that I managed to comfortably acquire a gargantuan juice buffer with little difficulty before concluding the surprisingly brief campaign.

At that point though I was hooked, and I immediately went back to scour the stages for every piece of tantalizing fruit, lovingly rendered to appear more magnificent than any other loot in gaming. And after that I drove straight into the side missions, as I finally understood the games true appeal as an Multitasking Efficiency Simulator. As an overthinking father of two children I’m intensely familiar with the sort of baseline satisfaction that comes from sussing out the optimum order of doing dishes, cooking, preparing lunches and other chores, and managing the deployment of the three diminutive captains very much tapped into that.
Even with a gargantuan juice buffer and limitless days rendering it pointless, the experience of managing to get a giant banana dragged home to base seconds before a day ends was unexpectedly exhilarating
The highest praise I can give Pikmin 3 is that it has definitely whet my appetite for more plant-plucking adventures. Someone needs to keep that dastardly Louie in line.