First Contact
Picture it. You've just crash-landed on an alien, inhospitable planet. The remaining members of the intergalactic search and rescue team you are part of - the Rescue Corps - are nowhere to be seen. To make matters worse, you're only an inch or two tall and everything but the soil under your feet towers high above you. But there is hope - you've somehow befriended a local species, the Pikmin. Sprightly and leafy, Pikmin come in different colours and can (rather disarmingly) grow flowers on their heads.
Look past their cute trappings, though, and the most curious thing about the Pikmin is how they respond to your space-whistle. Blow on it and they will rally around you, following you wherever you go like your very own private ant army. In time, you come to learn that tossing them at predators makes them attack, and that throwing them at the plentiful bric-a-brac curiously strewn across the ground causes them to carry them back to base.
If this sounds familiar, you probably already know that plots in the Pikmin series follow, by and large, the same formula. The real meat, of course, is in the gameplay: a light, real-time strategy experience that substitutes HQs for Onions and space marines for the adorable Pikmin.
The question then is: does the fourth installment in the series build on what came before, or is it a watered-down experience. But before we launch into how Pikmin 4 plays and what the new Pikmin are this time around, let's pause for a minute and recap.
Pikmin Series Plot Summary
To put Pikmin 4 into perspective, the next (completely skippable) section takes a quick dive into how we got to the fourth installment in the series.
And so...
Pikmin 1 sees you play Captain Olimar, an intrepid explorer who finds himself marooned on PNF-404, an Earth-like planet. Unfortunately, the S.S. Dolphin you flew in on is in disrepair and you must retrieve the missing parts before your life-support system fails - in 30 in-game days! Endearingly, Captain Olimar keeps a log, adding an entry with each passing day. One day it might be about the anatomy of a particular Pikmin-type, and the next, it could be a homesick letter, where he wistfully wonders if he will ever be re-united with his family on his home planet, Hocotate.
The direct sequel, Pikmin 2, sees Olimar return to PNF-404 with a new oddball shipmate called Louie onboard. The premise for the return is that Olimar is on the hunt for precious booty to help off-set the massive debt that the company he works for - Hocotate Freight - has amassed, and to prevent it from going bankrupt. Unlike Pikmin 1, there's no time-limit this time but the introduction of a new gameplay mechanic, which allows you to switch freely between Olimar and (the rather taciturn) Louie, keeps things fresh. Again, Olimar's daily log entries and object descriptions lend the game a quaint, humorous.
Last but not least, the crew for Pikmin 3 is made up of Alph (engineer) Brittany (botanist) and Charlie (Pilot), all of whom hail from the planet of Koppai. This time, they plan to visit PN-404 on a desperate mission to haul food supplies back to their home-planet, where famine is threatening the very existence of the species. On re-entry to PNF-404, however, something goes terribly wrong and they're each flung to different corners of the map. Reuniting your three captains ups the ante for the series, arguably making for the most tactical of the three Pikmin games to date. The third installment also introduces two new Pikmin types: Rock and Winged Pikmin.
Once More...Into the Fray
Pikmin 4 starts - yep, you guessed it - with yet another crash on PN-404. And after going AWOL in Pikmin 3, Captain Olimar is back on the scene. As the game's prologue unfolds, you learn that the plucky captain has sent out a distress signal and is currently on the lookout for his last missing ship component. Alarmingly though, something seems to be causing all planet-bound traffic to crashland. This includes the Rescue Corps' vessel, the S. S. Shepherd, which was dispatched with the intention of retrieving Olimar. It's your mission, then, as the only member of the Rescue Corps left behind to save the day. Naturally, you crashland on entering PN-404's atmosphere and must venture out on foot unaided.
Luckily, it's not too long before you befriend a winsome, two-legged pooch by the name of Oatchie. Oatchie can be sent specific commands - like rounding up stray Pikmin - or controlled directly. The loyal pup can also carry you and your Pikmin on his back - great for traversing water or simply traveling as a unit. I personally love his charge attack best - hold down the charge button, then release it for a powerful thwack.
The introduction of the two new Pikmin types, meanwhile, feels organic, just as with previous entries. Ice Pikmin can freeze enemies and bodies of water, while Glow Pikmin, which come out only at night, shine in the series' first foray into night-time missions. Tower-defense mini-games in all but name, these nocturnal excursions make for a nice palate cleanser in between missions,even if the Glow Pikmin themselves lack a unique gimmick to make them truly stand out.
Meanwhile, the rest of the roster is a whistle-stop tour of the series so far: Red Pikmin are your garden variety foot soldiers, immune to fire; Blue Pikmin are impervious to water attacks and can swim; Yellow Pikmin can channel electricity, break down electric fences and be flung higher than any of the other Pikmin types; Rock Pikmin can break glass; Purple Pikmin weigh in with the strength of ten regular Pikmin; White Pikmin resist poison attacks; and Winged Pikmin can fly, proving a real threat in the air. The enemies follow suit, eliciting nostalgia from this player with enemies like the Downy Snagret, Mamuta and the Bug-Eyed Crawmad rounding up an eclectic almanac of baddies.
The Unbearable Lightness of Playing
Elsewhere, Pikmin 4 is not without its faults. While it's nice to be able to control a second character through Oatchie, for example, switching is hardly ever encouraged by either the level or mission design. Frustratingly in this regard, switching characters involves pausing all the action and a minimum of two button-presses. It's clunky when compared to previous Pikmin games (especially Pikmin 3, which does everything in a single button press) and breaks up the tempo a little too often for my liking. Light overworld puzzle elements, meanwhile - which worked wonderfully for Pikmin 3 - are also conspicuous by their absence.
And although it's tough to be hard on a game that generously offers 40 to 50 hours of playtime, it would be disingenuous to say that it doesn't suffer from pacing issues along the way. Perhaps stress-inducing for some, the temporal constraints placed on the player in Pikmins 1 and 3 through the introduction of a time-limit lent them a sense of purpose and urgency; a sense of purpose and urgency that is lacking this time around. So, as you collect a GBA Micro from the tall grass of one of the games' maps, or admire the gorgeous animation work on your garden-friends, things can start to feel bloated and distended 20-30 hours in.
The series' staple charm, is here, yes, and in bags, but at times Pikmin 4 feels like the product of a Nintendo that's happy coasting on charm and nostalgia alone. And while the plentiful caves offer up a challenge, they can start to feel repetitious and tedious after a while.
Luckily, the game has its moments - a level set in a vacant house being a particular highlight - and in spite of its longevity, it still manages to not fully overstay its welcome. After all, it's hard to stay angry at a game that calls an apple an 'ant condo'.
Rating: 7/10
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