Pikmin 3 (Hands-On) (Wii U) Preview

At the E3 conference, Miyamoto-san discussed how there will be four leaders to control, along with extensive GamePad support for ease of managing Pikmin leaders dotted all around the forest-based environments, plus two new varieties of the little critters to utilise in the most productive of ways. For the purposes of the actual E3 demo shown in the UK, however, the GamePad was not supported (despite being available for use at the US event), only the black ‘Rock Pikmin’ were available for use, only Captain Olimar could be controlled, and timer restrictions had been enforced on the two stages shown off. Considering this is set to be a ‘launch window’ Wii U release, Nintendo was definitely keeping its cards close, which could suggest that Shigeru Miyamoto and the team still have plans to tweak the game further until the last possible minute.

Pikmin and its sequel always had exceptional presentation values, and nothing has changed in this third iteration, with there being a delightful soundtrack accompanied by ambient forest-life sound effects, and even more polished visuals than before thanks to the added horsepower and HD capabilities of the Wii U hardware.

The first of the two demos on show was ‘Gather the Fruit,’ where a seven minute time limit was given for the little spaceman, Olimar, to order the Pikmin to grab as many delicious pieces of fruit as possible around the map area. Aiming the Wii Remote pointer at the screen and moving the controller about adjusted the position of the on-screen reticule and a simple tap of ‘A’ either blew a whistle to gather Pikmin within a certain radius, or launch them towards whatever needed to be attacked, collected, or demolished. Every item of fruit requires a set amount of the standard Red Pikmin to carry back to Olimar’s spacecraft in return for coins, and the same goes for enemies that need to be despatched and also transported back afterwards. This is where the tactical element really hits home, since there are only around ten critters at your disposal to start with and various pieces of fruit littering the area that take two or three Pikmin each; what to go for first, as the timer quickly counts down?

The controls also allowed for a quick pan of the whole map, and the centring of the camera that normally automatically moved around as Olimar et al trundled around their surroundings. The controls worked extremely smoothly and intuitively throughout, giving the player immediate authority over the whole troupe, quickly enabling the acquisition of strawberries, grapefruit and health-refilling nectar, as well as breaking down soft barriers to access secret items and new areas, gain access to more Pikmin, and dispose of the pesky monsters roaming the general vicinity. In terms of enemies, there were familiar faces, but in addition there was a crazily fast hard-shelled insect and a floating jelly, almost Metroid-esque, being that upon being defeating unleashed the Rock Pikmin, little black, block-shaped garden folk that use brute force to devastate brick walls and crystallised structures, as well as inflict more damage upon foes.

There came an important juncture mid-way through the level where time could be taken to construct a shortcut back to the landing ship; would it be quicker to build the bridge or keep trekking back each time to fetch Pikmin once they had finished delivering goods? It was here that special crystal-covered bugs were found, as well as a disastrous few flame-enveloped ones that could burn both Red and Black Pikmin in seconds. How could they be dealt with? Clearly the final game will give access to the water-based Blue Pikmin, but for the demo here it was a case of dodge and grab the fruit high atop the nearby ledge and just hope the monsters did not catch wind of what was going on. Everything worked as well as it did in both GameCube iterations, as well as the revamped New Play Control! versions on Wii, but whether or not MotionPlus made any difference was debatable. Miyamoto-san may have stated it added much to the experience, but it was not noticeable during the play-test.

After successfully beating the fruit gathering mode, the second element was a Boss Battle, pitting Red and Black Pikmin against a scorpion-like beast with dangerous pincers and a crystal shield encasing its soft innards. The key tactics that had to be employed here was to make use of only the Rock Pikmin to start with, since the standard flower ones never even made a dent on the armour. Smashing away repeatedly meant that panel by panel the Armoured Mawdad’s defences were slowly stripped away using a whole host of patience and careful Pikmin lobbing. The temptation was to grab all the Pikmin from around the enclosed arena, but in doing so it slowed the destruction process down due to the inadequacy of the red ones. Biding your time was imperative whilst playing against the Mawdad, with it shuffling in different directions in the arena, then scurrying up the walls akin to a boss from The Legend of Zelda, before slamming back down to the ground. After removing as much of its outer shell as possible, then it was the right time to enlist the support of the remaining Pikmin to drag its health down swiftly and claim victory.

Pikmin 3 may appear too similar to its previous two counterparts for the liking of many, but only the tiniest of snippets was shown off, and it has already been revealed that plenty of new elements are being included. With only two games released over a period of eleven years, it is high time the third comes out to satiate the appetite of gamers around the world. With both selling around the half million mark in Japan alone, and the Wii re-releases bagging a further 200,000 each, expectations are high for this third game. Undoubtedly, Miyamoto-san and the team will deliver.
- Adam Riley, Operations Director.

Extra Thoughts

Pikmin has always been a delight to play, with its pleasant and soothing world putting players into a very relaxing place amongst nature from a miniscule-like perspective. Nintendo’s demonstration of Pikmin 3 delivered exactly what fans would expect of the series. The control scheme used in the Wii’s New Play Control! versions of the two GameCube entries naturally made its way over to the third game, so it was easy to get right in there and run around with the army of little plant men. The spruced up graphics were instantly noticeable, where high definition added a lot more atmosphere to the outdoor scenery, with neat touches like foreground blurring and glistening body armour of enemies extending the range of effects.

The demo felt very “same old Pikmin,” with the aim to pick up fruit and defeated enemies using the creatures themselves and bring them back to the ship to create more helper buddies being the order of the day. The introduction of the new, black ‘Rock Pikmin’ was really about the only fresh idea present in the demo, which was quite unfortunate. It felt good launching these tough nut guys into foes and walls to smash them up, but it would have been great to try out the flying Pikmin we already know will be in the final game, or at least get some hands-on time with the co-operative features. As it stood, the demo was a familiar experience, emphasising the re-use of simple Wii Remote and Nunchuk controls, but also highlighted just how good the game will look. There will no doubt be plenty of new ideas revealed eventually, but to really only sample one new type of Pikmin was simply not enough to gauge how different Pikmin 3 will be to the previous entries.
- Aaron Elias, Previews Editor.