Pikmin

Pikmin is set to be another masterpiece at the hands of Shigeru Miyamoto. It looks to focus on gameplay that will help you master teamwork and organization skills. With countless movies and reviews scoring the game a perfect '100%' around the world this looks like an impossible title to overlook.

You will take the form of an alien spaceman, Captain Olimar. Who is unlucky enough to fly straight into a meteor (thick little fellow, me thinks) and crashing his spaceship into a strange little planet inhabited by the Pikmin. Captain Olimar strikes another great obstacle when his ship breaks into thirty parts and he realizes that the planet is filled with toxic gases, letting him live for an exact thirty days (sources have reported that in the actual game days last for fifteen minutes.) Captain Olimar finds the Pikmin and he uses them to find his spaceship parts before his thirty days are up.

The Pikmin look to be classified into three different races. Blue, yellow and red (*WOW* so original!) These races look to be able to do different things. For example blue (the most logical colour) may be able to swim while the reds may just float to the bottom and die. This forces the organization skills because accidentally letting a few Pikmin have a fate of death may prove costly when you need more numbers fighting monsters or destroying barriers.

Now then, from what I have seen from screenshots and movies you will have to use your Pikmin to destroy various enemy's. These include birds and beetles (probably some other foe I have not recognized yet as well.) You may now be thinking "Oh Wow! Beetles now that will be hard won't it!" but the truth is it will be. You are not the size of a normal human, more like two hundredth the size! This will mean that you will have to use hundreds of Pikmin to destroy those various enemy's.

Graphics:
From all sources the graphics look perfect. The Pikmin's detail looks amazingly. They look extremely well rendered and nice and smooth with no jaggies to be seen anywhere. The environment looks also well detailed and smooth. Every screen is extremely hi-res and extremely sharp.

Sound:
From what I have heard the sound is also impressive. You will be able to hear each individual Pikmin and then have room to hear the varied sound of the planet. The music has been said to be outstanding. From the sounds of things there will be nothing to criticize about the game's in-game sound.

Framerate:
Again, I have to rely on other sources who have actually played the game the framerate works extremely well and shows the true power of the GameCube. Given the amount of things happening on the screen at the same time and the amount of pixels used for the landscape it is truely amazing that this game will keep a good steady pace.

Gameplay:
Well this game is meant to have its strongest point in the gameplay and from reviews written it shows that it achieves that and more. The game is said to be extremely addictive and that is what we want. One problem I may have with it is the lastability. Although it is addictive the game will only last for about seven and a half hours. This may play a small part in the fact that there is no multiplayer.

Overall:
Well this looks like another masterpiece from Miyamoto which promises to be extremely fun. Nothing seems to be wrong with it and it should definitely be on your short list of game.

Anticipation Score: 99%

The Boz Master
16/5/02