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excellent game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 14
Date: December 05, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Charming is probably the best word to describe Pikmin, and not just because of the doe eyed title critters. The gameplay, a puzzle based real time strategy hybrid of sorts, is as unique as it is captivating with great controls outside of a small probble. Anyone can pick up Pikmin right away, but with time you realize just how many different ways you could play through it. It's one of those games i often paused and just sat with, considering m next move. You really want to be careful because cute little items, or the tiny trumpet that sounds as they march, quickly trick you into loving the lil [critters]. So much viciously tearing it apart from all sides like a pack of crazed hyena, becomes a strangely proud moment. The nice variety of bad guys has a weakness to dis that, like Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin ends right as it's find all 30 pieces, plus there are tons of reasons for replay. But just as the complexity of the puzzles is reaching that sweet spot, where you see all the possibilities and the true beauty of this game, it's over. A few more areas like the last level could have made this great game much better.

Cute and clever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: June 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

My two kids, ages 8 and 11 were hooked the moment the wrapper was off the case!

The game looked deceptively simple...but as I sat down and watched my kids trying to get the various Pikmin around (red, blue, yellow, each group with specific functions), I realised that there was a fair bit of game management and some brainwork involved (my kids insist that strategy is involved too). The game pace is kept at a decent level, driven by the urgency that all 30 spaceship parts have to be recovered within a 30 days period. And, having characters that are really cute only makes the overall game all the more appealing.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the graphics e.g. the realism of the water in the ponds for instance. It is definitely a great improvement over the graphics of previous Nintendo games such as Mario Party, Pokemon Stadium, Hey You, Pikachu! or Donkey Kong.

Of course, this game was meant to complement and showcase the Gamecube console. Given the features and gameplay, this game does an admirable job of that, and it's worth the buy if you are fan of Nintendo's popular games such as Pokemon or Mario Bros.

EXELENT GAME!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: June 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

First off I'd like to say to anyone that says only violent M rated games are cool, then you're wrong in every possible way and you've fallen victim to the epidemic of violence and will most likely end up in some musty old jail cell for the rest of your natural lives (and if it's REALLy bad, maybe you'll be in jail for the rest of your unnatural life). Now about the game. This game is the most amazing game I've ever played. Ever. There is no game that can beat the absolute exellence this game exudes (but Earthbound for SNES comes pretty close). Anyway, heres the deal:

Environments

This is the best part about the whole game. You have everything in the environments you could ever want. When you begin a day, there's even the morning fog that gradually fades away as the day progresses! The water is extremely real as are the plants. In short, the environments are better than any known to man.

Enemies

Extremely clever and sometimes hard to beat. There is no one way to beat every creature, because every one of them requires a different method. Finally, no two creatures share the same attack patterns, making the game very diverse and strong.

Allies

The Pikmin themselves are the greatest thing about the game. Each "species" of pikmin has a different special ability. The blue are amphibious, so you can use them to take on challenges in water. The red are impervious to fire, meaning that going through a fire gyser for them is no problem. The yellow (which happen to be my personal favorite) can take on the dangerous responsibility of handling rock grenades and also can be throw the highest.

Difficulty

Another great aspect of the game. The difficulty is nice and hard, but not IMPOSSIBLE. One of the frustrating things about Metroid Prime is that the levels get to be impossible unless you look up a strategy guide on the web or BUY one at the store. With pikmin, you just need a good strategy and you can beat the game yourself.

Controls

Very simple. Took me a minute or two to get used to them and then I was on to the game. Not much to say about it, though.

Overall

Pikmin is one of the greatest games ever invented. If you see it at the store, get it. It's worth every cent and it will definately not disappiont you, you have my guarantee.

What is Piknim really????

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 23 / 42
Date: November 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

What is Piknim really? What is it all about? How do you play Piknim anyway? These are some questions you may have about this system seller. Piknim is pretty much lemmings but with better graphics, a 3-d playing field and a lot more complex i recomend this game to 8 to 126 8 being the youngest because there is some strategy involved and would be best injoyed if you are old enough to understand it. 126 being the highest because thats the longest anyone human has ever lived. If you've played lemmings you don't need to read the rest of this review if you haven't you still don't have to read the rest of this review but if you really must go ahead. In Lemmings you have a certain number of lemmings they will keep walking if you encounter an obsticle such as a lava pit you must send a couple of your lemmings to build a bridge before the rest of your lemmings catch up and run right off the edge into the lava. Piknim is said to be much like this except piknim has a plot you are a stranded space man you collect your piknim and they help you on your task of finding the missing parts to your ship. While piknim may seem like a childish game at first this definitaly a great game especialy for a game that is rushed to get out so there are games for the new game cube. Hope you liked my Review please vote five stars for my review and piknim.

Great cooperative-style gameplay for all

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: August 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Puzzle games exercise your mind without splattering blood all over the screen. Pikmin is a great game that emphasizes cooperation over gore!

The concept and plot are fun and child-suitable. A space explorer, Olimar, has crash-landed on a planet. He only has 30 days of "air" to fix his spaceship, and he's missing 30 parts. Luckily, he doesn't have to find them alone. He has up to 100 little flower-like Pikmin to help him out!

They're cute and cuddly, and different pikmin have different skills. Some swim. Some are resistant to fire. Each one alone isn't very strong, so sometimes you need multiple of them to do something. The game becomes a logic puzzle - how do you get to a spaceship part if it's guarded by a series of obstacles? It's very rewarding when you figure each puzzle out.

The time limit is both good and bad. On the good side, it keeps the game challenging and means that the overall game is relatively short to play. On the down side, if you have trouble with something (or if a younger child is playing) it can get very frustrating. So the game might be far too short for you (compared to something like Final Fantasy X that you play for months) or it might be impossible because of the time limit.

Still, practice makes perfect, and most players will be sure to enjoy this one's puzzles as a fun challenge!

One of Miyamoto's few missteps

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: September 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Normally, any game made by Shigeru Miyamoto would get five stars from me. Pikmin is an exception, because Miyamoto broke one of his own rules of thumb when he designed it. That rule is: Let the player play at their own pace.

Pikmin's core gameplay itself has the makings of a perfect game: Grow and harvest criminally cute little colorful carrot people and then use them to complete various tasks and chores in order to recover enough pieces of your damaged spacecraft until you can leave the planet you're stranded on. The Pikmin come in three colors and each color has its own strengths and weaknesses. You must order your Pikmin to knock down walls, build bridges, defeat enemies, carry parts back to the ship, and grow more Pikmin. Quite a bit of strategy is necessary, or you'll fail. You have to set Pikmin to a task and leave them to do it while you direct more Pikmin to do something else. This in itself could have been gaming nirvana. But then Miyamoto decided to take it a step further: You have only 30 days to complete the mission.

While it's not all that difficult to finish the game before time's up, it does add an unwelcome sense of pressure and stress to what otherwise could have been a delightful and even relaxing game to play. The playfulness and sheer whimsy of this game is overshadowed by a dark cloud of impending doom. When you could have been happily cheering your Pikmin on as they do your bidding, you may instead find yourself cursing at them. "Faster, you little morons! Faster! No, not that way you idiots! THAT way! Damn you! Damn you all to Hell!"

It was the time limit that prevented me from finishing Pikmin back when it was released. I've completed it recently, because I want to play Pikmin 2 (which has no time limit, thank God) with a clear conscience. One of my solutions to facing the 30 day challenge was to get into the habit of "scouting." You can only save your progress at the end of each day. At the begining of each new day, the first thing I would do is explore the level (alone, without any Pikmin tagging along) to look for ship pieces, take note of obstacles, enemies, and the general lay of the land. Once I'd formulated a plan to get that piece back to the ship, I'd reset the Gamecube and reload my save file so I could have the entire day to achieve my goal. On the best days, I was able to retrieve a whopping TWO ship pieces. In my opinion, Pikmin should have let you take as many days as you needed to complete the game, and they could have offered a "Challenge Mode" with a time limit to satisfy the more hardcore gamers out there. As it stands, I now admit that this -is- a fun and addictive game. However, it could have been so much better and I would have finished it when I originally bought it instead of years later. I'm grading it on a curve, a curve set by Miyamoto himself with games like Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Legend of Zelda- Link to the Past, Super Mario 64, and LoZ- Ocarina of Time.

PLEASE don't get this superb game get confused with Pokemon.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: November 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I went to my friends house to play his imported GC and had heard he received Pikmin. I thought it was just a different version of those games Pokemon. How wrong I was. I played the game to be accompanied by little creatures that look like carrots who would help me find the missing pieces of my ship. The graphics are amazing, as is the AI of the game. I would reccommend this to anyone. Just don' let it fall between the cracks.

One of Nintendo's Best (for Gamecube now)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: April 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Okay... Pikmin was one of most fun games i've ever played for the gamecube yet. Good graphics, good reactions for the enemies like shaking off your pikmin, killing your pikmin, etc. Overall its a really good game. I, myself, liked the music in a way. But i must say, Nintendo can get more for less.

Pros:
-Good graphics
-Good Gameplay
-Reactions for enemies are (sort of) realistic
-Good to play when you want to kill time (dont know if this is really a 'pro' or not... heh)

Cons:
-Days go by too fast
-First timers, It may seem too hard to find ship parts or gather pikmin, kill enemies, etc. in a short ammount of time
-Repeats same 'sayings' once in a while when playing which will get annoying
-Have to watch the same 'cut scene' whenever its sundown

Bottom Line:
Game is really fun to play. May be some 'bad' things in the game itself but otherwise, get this game.

It's an Alien World

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: August 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I personnally loved Pikmin. The lighting in the game was great. It wasn't too bright, or too dark. The graphics stood apart from the other Game Cube games to me. It was 3-D and had fairly large courses. Ultimatly, the best part of the game was dicovering a new "spiecies" of Pikmin, and then making millions of them to tag along. Overall, this game is five stars all the way. So if you have a Game Cube, (which I'm sure you do because you looked up Pikmin, which is only for Nintendo Game Cube) buy this game as soon as possible!

A list of pros and cons for what is overall a great game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: January 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Pikmin is the reason I got a GameCube. Although I think this is a great game, it's not exactly what I was expecting. I do think that this is an excellent example of what can be done with a modern gaming console and I hope that future games will use this as a starting point for new ideas. Which isn't to say Pikmin is 100% original...if you've played Lemmings (especially Lemmings 3D), you've played a predecessor to Pikmin.

The things I like about the game:

Great graphics. Although the grass is obviously a flat texture map, there are enough objects thrown in (plants, rocks, water, etc.) and terrain bumps to give the environment depth.

The animation of the characters is varied. The Pikmin stretch, yawn, lay down, sit, and often run off on their own with things they are interested in. The opponents each have distinctive personality traits, and while their actions may not be as varied as the Pikmin, they have enough to make them fun to watch.

The sound quality is excellent and the audio cues are useful in keeping track of what the Pikmin are up to.

The play mechanics can be easily mastered.

There appears to be at least one secret, perhaps leading up to a hidden level or abilities - on the "Forest Navel" level there is a bottle containing a small green gem in the middle of the large pond. The open tip of the bottle (which easily accepts the cursor, by the way, almost as if the cursor is drawn to it), points towards a geyser at the tip of a heart-shaped cliff. Near this geyser is a green flower that is black in the center. Although the geyser (once activated by the Pikmin) throws you in the precise direction of the bottle, it doesn't throw you quite far enough to get inside. One wonders if there isn't some way to make the yellow Pikmin use the geyser, or for Olimar to inherit the Pikmin's ability to toss high in the air.

Overall, the game succeeds in following the story line and delivers an environment in which you feel cooperative with the Pikmin, although you are actually in total control over them.

The things I felt could use some improvement:

There are only five levels, and two of those have a small playing area. The first and last levels are very small. The first area is basically your training ground, and is a good environment for sprouting Pikmin, so it's understandable that it would be small. The other levels (aside from the last) are are a decent size, though by no means large. You'll definitely be wanting more...probably 8 or more would fit most gamer's expectations.

The final level (final boss aside) is what the first level should have been like. The puzzles on this level are not very difficult, though they do represent the most challenging in the game. I was expecting more puzzles, and far more challenging than any that are presented. This being a Nintendo game, I also expected there to be more secrets.

The music is very repetitive after a while. Luckily, it's on a separate sound channel and can be turned down or off using the option settings.

Sometimes setting the camera angle is tricky. It may be tempting to walk around with the left shoulder button held down to simulate a chase mode, but the camera only fully positions itself once the button has been released and pressed again.

I think the most room for improvement lies in the number of levels. I don't know how much data is required to store a level, but given the complex and detailed structure of the levels it's likely that many vectors and vertices are required. It may be that even 1.4GB worth of storage just isn't enough. I would welcome a Pikmin expansion pack!

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