Pikmin takes place on a strange planet (which I think is Earth, because it looks like Earth from space, and there's oxygen there, and sometimes you'll find junk like rusty cans and cardboard boxes) where Captain Olimar, the main character in Pikmin other than the Pikmin themselves, crash lands after his rocket ship, Dolphin, gets hit with a meteorite.
There are three kinds of Pikmin you can find throughout the game. Red Pikmin have large noses and are good attackers. They are also resistant to fire. Yellow Pikmin have large ears and can be thrown higher than the other colored Pikmin. They can hold Bomb Rocks. Blue Pikmin have something similar to a mouth and they can go in water without trouble of drowning.
The point of the game Pikmin is that you must use the Pikmin to help you recover the 30 lost spaceship parts of the Dolphin which fell off when it was falling towards the planet, and you must do this in less than 30 days. Oxygen is poisonous to Captain Olimar, and his Life-Support Sytem will only work for 30 days.
On to the Review! I will be scoring on a scale of 1-30, the number of spaceship parts you must recover to fly back home to planet Hocotate! Did I mention that Captain Olimar is the size of a quarter? And the Pikmin are even smaller! Enough blabbering, to the Review!
Story: 15
It's not that the story is bad, but it lacks detail. It just shows Captain Olimar blast in from outta nowhere and get hit by a meteorite. His ship than falls to the "strange planet" and uh... the game starts from there. Yeah...
Graphics: 27
Woooo! The graphics are awesome! Everything looks so realistic, the shadows effects seem to real, and I absolutely love the "Turning into Evening" effects. The enemies in the game are also breath-taking at first sight, but you have to attack them lest they attack you, so don't stop to take in the sights when baddies are present. I would have given this a perfect score if the screen wouldn't fairly turn fuzzy when you zoom out.
Gameplay: 29
Yes, it actually deserves that score. This is one of the most in-depth games out there. It's that good! You can beat up enemies and take their carcusses to the Pikmin's Onion to make more Pikmin seeds, which sprout and you pluck them and... Ta-da! You have more Pikmin! You also use your Pikmin to carry stuff, build bridges, knock down walls, and beat the heck out things. You'll love it, trust me. And if you don't, you need mental help.
Controls: 30
The game controls are perfect. You can learn these controls in a heart beat. I've never experienced a time where I had trouble with the controls. A: Attack or toss Pikmin. B: Call back Pikmin using whistle, the longer you hold down B, the wider the whistle call goes. Y: Brings up the computer screen. X: Dismisses Pikmin in your group, this also is neat because it will also sort all the different colored Pikmin into neat little groups. C-Stick: Controls Pikmin when in your group, it also makes this strange trumpet music. R: Change zoom. L: Change view angle. Control Stick: To control Olimar, obviously.
Fun Factor!: 30
Another perfect score. Yes... If there was one word to describe Pikmin, it would be... FUNNERIFIC!!! Too bad there's no such word, but it describes Pikmin perfectly. Controlling little plant creatures to do your every whim, running around killing baddies and making more little plant creatures, and at the same time, looking for missing spaceship parts! What's not to love?!
Sound: 24
The sounds is pretty good, the sound the Pikmin make when you pluck them out of the ground is adorable! And the sound of Pikmin beating on enemies is pretty good too. I'm quite fond of the sound the Blue Pikmin make when they go into water. Everything else is great too!
Characters: 13
Eep. Only Captain Olimar and the Pikmin? It would have been nice if you could see Captain Olimar's family when you beat the game and got back home to planet Hocotate.
Music: 20
Good, but nothing to write home about. I'm quite fond of the Forest of Hope music though.
Ending: 27
Yay! This is one of those games with the good ending sequences! There are three endings, Bad, Neutral, and Good. To get the bad ending, don't get all of the parts you need to fly the ship right. To get the Neutral ending, get all of the required ship parts to fly the ship right. And, to get the Good ending, you must get ALL 30 ship parts.
Overall: 29
This is one of the greatest games of
all time! You need this game in your collection sooner or later, or at
least rent it! Either way, play Pikmin! NOW!!!