7.8/10 – 11 hours to finish main objective
Review as written on 8/30/2023
A strong sequel with improvements that make Pikmin more fun, but still annoying on occasion.
The existence of Pikmin speaks to Nintendo’s unmatched creativity when creating new series out of thin air. Pikmin appeared one day on the Gamecube with insane charm and genius design to get the player invested in the gameplay, and the world never looked back. The first entry is a serious game design feat, but was unpolished due to the AI of the Pikmin being extremely lacking, making the gameplay too stressful. Plus, the game was over in a few hours without including Pikmin stupidity induced resets.
Pikmin 2, as a good sequel should, takes the base game and gives it a sweet baby bath in polish then jacks it up in scale, creating a much more engaging and fulfilling adventure. It’s bigger in every way: new Pikmin, two playable captains in LOOEE and OLIMAH, more objects to find on two different explorable environments on 4 different corners of the planet. You get the idea; there is a lot more to discover this time around, and I really had a blast.
Having two captains help divvy up tasks beautifully, there is so much potential for multitasking and keeping track of your Pikmin, meshing well with my hyperproductive, overanalyzing brain. The new Purple and White Pikmin are both adorable and extremely useful, opening up new paths and offering new ways to deal with enemies, via poison and weighing them down. Pikmin 2 also takes an open-ended spin on the Pikmin formula, a contrast from the 30 in game day timer in the previous entry. Days still have a set length, but you can use as many as you like to build Pikmin numbers, explore, and find treasures. Finding said treasures is a ton of fun as it was with ship parts in 1, needing to cleverly defeat tough enemies and solve puzzles to reach them. The treasures you find are human made objects, varying from mundane everyday objects to fun little Nintendo cameos, such as Game and Watches, Famicom floppy discs, and Mario Paint…paint. Many of these are within underground caves, where the day timer is paused and you have full freedom to spelunk to your heart’s content. It was a blast for most of the runtime. The postgame is also quite sweet, playing as Olimar and Louie’s boss while we look for the latter stinky fool who was left behind after the required amount of treasures are found.
I say “blast for most of the runtime” due to the caves’ potential to be frustratingly laid out. They are randomly generated from a set of predetermined layouts with enemies, hazards, and treasures being placed in specific places. Sometimes, enemies with the potential to wipe out your whole party are spawned 2 inches from your landing spot, and since Pikmin are not immediately readied upon landing, they can die before you even blink. It’s also annoying how easy it is to lose Pikmin over the sides of walls in the caves, sending them to the endless void. Enemies can shake off droves of attacking Pikmin into the abyss before your whistle reaches them, and lack of any aim assist can lead you to throw your Pikmin into the abyss unknowingly (dandori issue 🤓). Late game caves are also riddled with stupid bomb rocks, sprouting under treasures, annoyingly placed enemies, or just out of thin air. It wouldn’t be a problem if the Pikmin were still so unresponsive (though improved from the first game). Having to reset obsessively due to the frequent unfair extinction of your Pikmin in caves shouldn’t be necessary; it’s not a feature. Thank god the game autosaves after each cave floor is completed.
(salty) Addendum 9/24/23: The Submerged Castle cave is an absolute joke. Pikmin 4 is my last hope for a truly great Pikmin game.
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