Playing Pikmin 4 just left me wanting to explore more of it | Hands-on preview
It is strange to think that Pikmin 4 is the first new title for the series in an entire decade. It is actually even more odd that I can remember reviewing the first Pikmin title back in the mists of time – something that made me feel my age quite significantly when sampling the giddy delights of the forthcoming sequel. But I was also heartened by the fact that Nintendo has absolutely gone to town to make sure that this is perhaps the ultimate version of the game to date. It is like the company acknowledged the slow sales of Pikmin 3 (despite the deluxe Switch edition), and decided to create something huge, loveable, and easy to pick up, with a learning curve that dials down some of the plate spinning anxiety while also being much more accessible to newcomers.
I was let loose in the opening section of the game, which is also going to represent pretty much what Nintendo will serve up in the forthcoming, highly generous playable demo. Unlike previous games, Olimar is not the main protagonist this go-around. In fact, on the finished game, you get to design your very own elfish avatar, and step into the guise of Rescue Corps newest recruit. Captain Olimar himself, then, has ended up crashing on a mysterious Earth-like world. In a failed effort to recover the series mainstay, the Corps have ended up crashing their rescue craft. Pikmin 4 tells the story of how, along with your ultra-cute bipedal dog-like pal and a bunch of willing anthropomorphic beansprouts, you are tasked with finding the Captain and retrieving your fellow rescue comrades.
Straight away you sense the warm Nintendo magic, helped nicely by the familiar cute sound effects and the typically lush Honey I Shrunk The Kids-like visuals. The camera angle is slightly nearer the deck here, which works rather nicely and brings things closer to a third-person feel. You are drip-fed the various mechanics of the strategic puzzling, resource gathering gameplay at a rate that is pitched just about right to appeal to all levels of experience. This time your aiming reticule doesn’t just act as a means of flinging the titular alien plants, you can also switch to control Rescue Pup Oatchi – who has plenty of puzzle-cracking abilities to make your missions easier.
Like with the titular Pikmin, you can instruct him to attack enemies and retrieve resources, but he also has a chargeable dash that can smash through certain breakable obstacles, and you can ride on his back and use his leaping ability to scale new heights around the mysterious world. He can also track things by following a scent, and detect treasures using his expert olfactory skills.
Oatchi is adorable, fun to use, and adds so much to the game, including the ability to eventually level up his stats and abilities and teach him new tricks. He is easy to become attached to and I felt a genuine sense of peril when I inadvertently allowed my pupper to be both set ablaze and frozen all during the same gameplay session. There are also new varieties of Pikmin entering the fray to fall in love with/feel guilty about when they die. Ice Pikmin have a variety of uses including being able to solidify blocks of jelly for Oatchi to smash, and turning water hazards into a traversable lake of ice.
There is a ticking time limit as day turns into night, which lends a nice structure to the main gameplay loop, and there are promised new-to-series night time shenanigans with the introduction of another hitherto unseen version of Pikmin – the Glow variety – who look pleasingly luminescent and serve to distract the more aggressive night-time enemies that you may encounter. As well as the overground, there are subterranean dungeon areas where the passage of time is slowed down to 1/6 of its normal speed for your exploratory pleasure.
The word “Dondori” is used frequently in Pikmin 4. It is a term pertaining to carrying out a variety of tasks with the utmost efficiency and economy, for the best overall results. It sums up the organisational skills needed to pull off being an ace Pikmin player, and is also used to name the excellent looking split screen battle mode which we didn’t get to play but saw in the tantalising trailer and presentation.
The time I spent with the game did not even touch the sides of what is eventually promised for Pikmin 4. The trailer reveals a plethora of diverse areas, enemies, treasures, and puzzles, which I left the preview aching to explore more of. It is a game that any newcomer could enjoy whether or not they have played the preceding games, and looks like a sure fire Switch hit when it drops in July. In the meantime, all three prior Olimar adventures are available on the eShop now, so there has never been a better time to practice herding some adorable space veggies around.
Pikmin 4 is coming to Nintendo Switch on July 21st.
