Preview | Pikmin 2

The basic concept of Pikmin is a strange one. You are a spaceman, called Captain Olimar, you are given various missions and to help you there are various different coloured Pikmin ready to obey. The fact is this sounds pretty dull, and with little room for scope and creativity, but this is Nintendo we are talking about here. The first title was full of colour, vibrancy, clever little ideas and that word of all words; fun.

This time round things have been changed around a bit, with some of the problems in the original ironed out. If one criticism could be made of the first title it was the length. It could be completed in quite a short amount of time and there was very little to come back to. This time around we have a much bigger game with some more modes to enjoy. First up is the addition of a sidekick for Olimar, this new addition to the cast can only be controlled alternately from Olimar himself, but his inclusion is integral to the game. There is a lot more to do this time, and without an extra set of hands you would simply not be able to keep up with the amount of Pikmin you need to cater for, the items you need to collect and the puzzles you have to solve. To make the game a tad harder to complete the environments have been vastly enlarged. More than sixty different types of enemy await, with each one requiring you to use a different strategy to defeat them.

The three main types of Pikmin you control remain from the first game, with the illusive and new purple plant man still very much unexplained. Controlling the blue Pikmin allows you to cross water, with red not bein harmed by fire and the yellow type being able to carry bombs for you. This time round you will have to exploit the individual abilities of each of the Pikmin in order to help you much more. There will be more moments when you have to stop and think about what you’re doing in order to avoid being harmed and thankfully you will have the time as the time you spend playing the game is limitless for this version.

The final new additions to the title can be found in the more than welcome form of a multiplayer cooperative mode. Perhaps the most exciting of ideas out of the lot this will no doubt widen the appeal of the game. With various different challenges to complete on your own or in a group, along with the main game itself Nintendo have really tackled the problems with the first game and added even more to this title. We will have more soon.