Does Pikmin 4 maintain the wonder and beauty of its predecessors?
Amy Flower
STACK Senior Editor
It’s been just shy of ten years since Pikmin 3 graced the Nintendo Wii U, so a new sequel was ripe for the creation. Pikmin 4 adds some new bits, bobs, and pups, and brings more accessibility to its delightful real-time strategy mixture.
With its abundant greenery, ample curious creatures, babble language, and more colour than Pantone have made swatches for, first encountering Pikmin 4 could leave you convinced that you’ve stumbled onto the set of wild kids' show In the Night Garden. But actually, as many will know, it’s another bountiful brain blurt from Nintendo’s genius legend Mr Miyamoto.
You control a design-it-to-your-liking rookie space explorer, who is the last hope to rescue a crew that was sent on another rescue mission to save the original Pikmin guy, Captain Olimar. A substantial oops involves a crash on a planet where, fortuitously, everybody whom you’re searching for also came a cropper. How serendipitous! Another bonus is a new character – a curious, two-legged, schnoz-free rescue pup named Oatchi, who takes an instant shine to you and will come in very handy on your forthcoming adventures, be it using his Pikmin-like abilities, or as transport. At times he’s also handy for accessing the otherwise inaccessible, and as you proceed further into the game you get to train him to perform additional helpful tasks.
Rather diminutive in stature yourself, you soon discover the titular native Pikmin, which are brightly-coloured, fiercely loyal wee seedling beings that live to serve – and are the staunchest definers of the word “teamwork” that we’ve ever encountered. They all have various skills, like fire resistance, electrical capacitance, not drowning when wet, and sheer rock hardness. There’s also a cool new one which can freeze water (and enemies), which is very handy for making otherwise inaccessible places accessible for, as your intrepid explorer soon realises, they can use these submissive little cuties to harvest fruit, construct bridges, banish baddies, and a lot more – just fling them at a target and marvel at their industriousness.
As you explore, both overground and through a series of underground caverns, in search of the crew and other advancements, you’ll juggle assorted puzzles and tasks. There’s a rub to the strategy though, as you need to get everything on your to-do list accomplished during the day. Don’t tuck your Pikmin comfily home in their onion by nightfall and carnage ensues – truly, heartbreakingly so, as they’re gobbled by nocturnal predators. Pout.
That being said, there’s a new addition in the form of minigame-like night expeditions, whereby you can laugh in the face of danger (actually, it can be kind of stressful) as you defend glowy outposts from a range of dastardly nocturnal creatures with your cool Glow Pikmin, while gathering Glow Sap, a balm for curing any of your crew’s woes.
The other massive new addition to the wonderful world of Pikmin is cooperative play. One player controls the main character, while the other is tasked as helper, able to use various items and hurl rocks, for example, but not a player in its own right. There’s also two-player fun to be had in Dodori Battle, which is essentially a collect-’em-up competition that can also be played against a CPU-controlled adversary.
Also, if you happen to make a massive blunder, there’s always the game’s rewind function ready and willing to take you back and give you another chance. While you may be too stubborn to use it - or maybe that's just us - sometimes it may just be too tempting to ignore, especially after a big Pikmin wipeout.
One of the numerous beauties of Pikmin 4 is that it gently leads you through everything new that you encounter – and there’s a lot of discovery the further that you venture into the game. Your trusty tablet serves as a repository for all of the learned knowledge, and if things happen to get a bit too much then it can always be called up in a flash for consultation.
Pikmin 4 is easily the prettiest, most accessible turn-based strategy game that we’ve encountered – only stealing that mantle from its gorgeous predecessor, Pikmin 3. It’s not a hyperspeedy action fest, but its generally chilled pace makes for a refreshing change while still, at times, offering not insignificant challenge. Whether you’re a seasoned Pikmin veteran, or you’re new to its wonders, Pikmin 4 strikes a delicate balance to appeal to all.
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