Real Talk By: KJ

It’s the game Wii U owners have waited for. After a few delays, has Nintendo delivered the goods? The three Main Characters ( Alph, Charlie, and Brittany), are space scavengers who have crash-landed on an “Alien” Planet. With limited resources, the crew must pull together items within the levels to survive. While some objects will provide the squad with more intel, the most valuable grabs would be the produce. Collecting fruit keeps everyone alive for a day, it’s all harvested, and must be continuously collected for your campaign to continue. Juice is made, which is then squeezed into vials. So it’s not about making it to a certain day with ship parts, there’s more going on.

The Space explorers won’t make it on their own. They will use the Pikmin to bring everything found to the spaceship. If you’re a new player, the game will make sure you understand how to play. Tutorial items can be found throughout, and the beginning missions are all designed to bring in the newbies (like it or not). Veteran players will yell “Yes I know!” at their screens in the first few levels. The Red, Blue, and Yellow Creatures are here to help as always. Red is still the go-to group of Pikmin if you’re in a fight, and they keep their fire resistance. The Blue type is the only one you can take underwater, and the yellow type is shock resistant.

Understanding the right group of Pikmin to use for each level is a major part of the strategy. This reigns true even more so when you unlock the new ones. Theres a Winged type. These pink creatures can follow from above, hovering over water, this way players wont have to worry about them drowning. They’ll Grab hard to reach items, and take out winged enemies. Rock types can break shells around structures and even enemies, leaving them open for other plant-types to swarm. Seeing the little guys fighting is really cool, especially when you have a diverse group. Keep in mind you can only have 100 out at a time. When Pikmin drown, or die in general, the noises they make are brutal, so don’t do it. Gamers will really have to think about which creatures they will use as the difficulty ramps up.

Bringing three main characters into the game wasn’t just for storytelling. Having three characters at your disposal and not just captain Olimar or Louie, opens up a lot more opportunities. Yes you’re still regulated to a time limit, wherein you have to gather resources before the day is through. Still, The way this title its structured, players can get a lot more completed this way. Send a certain group of Pikmin with one, another group with the other. Have the third person standing guard making sure everyone gets back safely. The game gives plenty of options when completing tasks. The story will offer a few surprises along the way, and should take most 12 hours to complete. Visuals are spectacular. The textures in the game are most certainly detailed. No cost was spared in the design. It looks great regardless of the time of day, or climate your playing in. Great lighting effects all around. We couldn’t help but think what The Big N has in store for the next Zelda title.

navigating these lush environments is made easier with the Gamepad. Touch the screen, it pauses the game. Now you can see the entire level, and search for uncharted territory. Send each character to different spots on the map to collect survival items. While the controls on the pad will do just fine, and remote play is a plus, we recommend using the Nunchuck-Remote combo. On the pad aiming and throwing Pikmin can feel off at times. This can become a major problem in a boss fight, when precision is needed. The bosses have some truly unique designs. Fighting a Spider-like creature is usually boring for me in most games. Not here. I loved seeing a massive swarm of Pikmin all scale the creatures legs, and attack anywhere they could. That goes for enemies of all shapes and sizes combat is just cool. Wish the control options were a little tighter, then I would be fully immersed.

As expected the multiplayer modes are lots of fun. But no online. It’s 2013 Nintendo! Well, aside from that sad fact, players can team up in mission mode. Here you will gather stuff and wipe out enemies fast as you can before the time runs out. Our favorite mode is the Bingo battle. Players will compete to gather resources. Everything collected lands on the Bingo board. A fun race to victory. It’s way more fun than it sounds, so call up a friend. Overall Pikmin 3 is a fantastic looking game, that will put your brain to use. It might not be as difficult as the past two outings, but there’s still plenty here to take in. Something owners of the console would be proud to own. Finally, we can hear the gears turning, the Wii U is back! More games please.

Pikmin 3 Gets

Out of Five

What’s Legit?

+Graphics

+New Pikmin fit right in

+Bingo Battle

What’s Perpetrating?

-No Online Play

-Some control issues

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