Pikmin 2 – Review

Our little astronomer with the fishbowl on his head is back. Captain Olimar is reporting for a reunion with the multi vegetable friends and is ready for some new adventures. Well, he better should be as his task is going to be tough. A Dutch phrase is “vele handen maken licht werk’ which means that many small hands will make the work light and easier. Together with the help of the Pikmin and another employee called Louie, you’re able to accept and complete a new mission.

Story:
It all starts in the original Pikmin 1. While on vacation through the galaxies Captain Olimar’s ship was hit by a meteor. It veered of course and Captain Olimar blacked out and crashed on Planet Pikmin. Thirty parts of his ship were spread around the planet and he had only thirty days to find all of them because of the poisonous oxygen on the planet. He looked around where he crashed and noticed an object which resembled a Hocotatian Onion. He walked up to it and it and then pop, the onion shot out of the ground and released a single seed. It sprouted and Captain Olimar plucked it. It was a creature which resembled a pikpik carrot from his home Planet. Thus he found Pikmin. Eventually with the Pikmin help he recovered all thirty parts and flew away. But in his absence Hocotate Freight ran into financial difficulties. An employee called Louie met a ravenous space bunny which ate his entire load of golden pikpik carrots. The president of Hocotate Freight had to take a loan to pay for the loss and decided to sell corporate assets to repay the loan. He even sold Olimar’s ship but it wasn’t enough. Olimar shows the president a bottle cap which is worth 100 pokos. But the loan still is 10000 pokos! The president sends Captain Olimar together with Louie back to the pikmin planet, where the bottle cap was found, to gather more treasures to pay off the loan.

GamePlay
Pikmin is a funny kind of strategy game where you control Captain Olimar or Louie on their way to find as many objects as possible. On their quest they get help from their beloved Pikmin friends which are very helpful. Pikmin can be controlled by Olimar or Louie to brake down walls, cross water, returning worthy items to the ship or even to produce new Pikmins! But be careful as mean creatures are on your way which eat Pikmins or attack your health. You can either send Olimar or Louie to the battlefront to defeat the creatures or you shoot some Pikmins at them which will finish them as well! When the creatures have been defeated, the Pikmin take them to the ship and a small amount of pokos will de deducted from your loan or new Pikmins can be produced.

Both Olimar and and Louise can be controlled by the gamer and both can lead different teams. For example Olimar’s Pikmins can carry a huge golden ring ($$$) while Louie’s Pikmins are breaking down a wall. The multiplayer option comes into play when another gamer joins you and takes over one of the characters. Be team-mates or challenge each other in the Challenge Multiplayer mode, playable for 2 players.

Pikmins, Pikmins, Everywhere
Multiple kinds of Pikmins are available to help you out. Maybe you remember the red, blue and yellow Pikmins from the previous game. But new ones have been added, purple and albino Pikmins. Every colour stands for a capability and please choose wise which Pikmin you assign for a job. The red Pikmins are the first creatures you encounter and they aren’t afraid of fire and are very good fighters. The blue Pikmins love water and won’t drown while collecting a treasure in the water. The yellow fellows can jump very high and because of their high static electricity, they can break down electric fences. The new purple Pikmin is burly or fat, and weighs 10 times a “normal” Pikmin and has the strength of 10 Pikmins! Last but not least, the albino Pikmins which are small and poisonous. Their red eyes can be useful to sense treasures in the ground. If you assign the wrong Pikmin to the wrong job it’s game over for that Pikmin as it goes its way up to Pikmin heaven. For example if you assign a red Pikmin to tear down an electric fence, it will get barbecued. Oh dear.

Treasures and Timing
If you’re really serious and want to pay of that ridiculous high loan you need to explore lots of different environments such as the Valley of Repose, Awakening Wood and the Perplexing Pool. Treasures can be found on and below the ground and keep an eye on strange holes as these will lead you to secret passages below the ground. If you have found a treasure, assign a number of Pikmin to carry it to your ship. In the beginning of the game it is quite easy to find the treasures but later on it will get more difficult. But by then you’ll understand the power of each colored Pikmin and how to use them wisely to gather all of the (hidden) treasures and to get rich and take of with the ship to a place as lovely as Hawai. Sorry can’t do, first have to pay of that loan before going on vacation. But no hurry in Pikmin 2. Ok, days go by but there’s no time limit anymore (compared to the original Pikmin which had to be completed in 30 days). So you can easily explore each environment closely and a long as you want or need.

Babbling and other sounds
What are they talking about, I cannot understand a word of the Pikmin language. Typical Nintendo language I would call it. The “language” has been translated and can be read on screen. Similar to Animal Crossing, Paper Mario, Zelda and so on. And while we are comparing the sounds, they are quite similar to the above stated games. For example if you pluck a new pikmin out of the ground, it sounds the same as grabbing weed in Animal Crossing. Also background tunes are familiar if you concentrate on them, as they aren’t very overwhelming in the game.

The female Gaming Angle
If you’re familiar with my reviews, you should know that I always want a multi-character option in a game (male ~ female character). Pikmin 2 could have this option, but unfortunately it hasn’t. It would have been cool if Louie’s character would be exchangeable to a character the gamer prefers, in my case a female character of course. Besides a female grub (enemy) you won’t find any other female characters in the game.

Conclusion:
Pikmin 2 is a funny, simple and satisfying game where you conduct the many different kind of Pikmins which are going to help you reach your goal: getting rid of the loan and happily live ever after, enjoying some lovely gaming memories. The game is all about searching for items, solving puzzles, exploring different kinds of environments, attacking enemies and having fun without the factor time stress and the many Pikmins of course. I loved throwing them around and wondering afterwards were I left them. I loved to see them in action or running after me. It’s fun! Okay, it’s not the longest gameplay game (in hours to complete), but I assure you that almost every minute is worth playing and enjoyable. A game with a happy vibe.

Review by Wencke
Thumb Bandits European Correspondent & manager of GGU.

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