Pikmin
was plucked from the mind of Shigeru Miyamoto as he indulged in some gardening
one weekend, leading him to think up the spaceman Captain Olimar whose spaceship,
Dolphin, is hit by a stray meteor and is forced to crash-land in a mysterious forest
which he names the 'Forest of Hope' once he's worked out what he needs to do.
You have 30 days to find the 30 items required to repair your ship, so it's
a good idea to find one item per day (eg. the ship's engine on day one), but
you need to be quick because after the first day, which gives you some extra
time to acclimatise to your surroundings, each day will only last around
15 minutes of game time.
But what of the little creatures who you come across and have to plant before
plucking them out? Olimar calls them Pikmin and you can have up to
100 following you around at any one time, but they all have different attributes,
such that red ones can withstand extreme temperatures, blue can swim and
yellow can be thrown great heights. Mix them up and the wrong ones won't survive
the wrong environment.
Also, you must avoid Pikmin-hungry beasts which hang about to eat your new-found
friends and must be dealt with swiftly. Kicking some of them from behind can
work a treat.
I'd seen the game being played on TV several times and it looks just as
colourful and fluid at home as you roam around your new home for the next month,
trying to make sense of it all. Watch as you walk back and forth and the Pikmin
follow you, swarming around in a similar fashion. Now marvel at the mixture
of colours and the way in which everything blends together seamlessly.
Sonically, things are fine but not quite as impressive. Sound FX and the
constant theme tune go on in the background, but do go on a little too long.
Something else I noticed when I saw this on TV, I didn't think I'd get into it half as much as I
did, but once you begin and get into it, the ease in which the gameplay can be
picked up is suprising and you get help along the way as text appears to
describe certain events the first time you come across them.
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Also, you must avoid Pikmin-hungry beasts which hang about to eat your new-found
friends and must be dealt with swiftly. Kicking some of them from behind can
work a treat.
Sonically, things are fine but not quite as impressive. Sound FX and the
constant theme tune go on in the background, but do go on a little too long.
