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Nonny's Nonsensical Notes
My Journal. Usually just my usual Video Game Reviews and what not.
N.V.G.R. #23: Pikmin 3
"What's this? Two reviews in one week? You must be working hard huh?"

Why thank you for asking the readers of my journal, glad you noticed and cared!

I'm not sure how to say this without possibly getting strung up in the middle of town square by Pikmin fans for execution, but I have never played a Pikmin game before 3 so please don't hurt me.

Pikmin never really interested me before aside from Olimar in Brawl, but I guess as things goes these games seek me out (via other friends) and I find myself immersed in another universe I wasn't planning on being a part of. In this game you will not be playing as the previous protagonists Olimar or Louie. Pikmin 3 starts off with a crew of 3 Koppaite explorers Alph, Brittany, and Charlie. These three are on a mission to PNF-404 to collect seeds from fruit to stop an impending famine. Unfortunately upon arrival on the planet, their ship the S.S. Drake malfunctions causing the 3 captains to separate from each other. Starting off as Alph, you'll have to save the other two captains, collect fruit, and find the lost Cosmic-Drive Key to leave PNF-404.

This game brings back the standard fire, electric, and water resistant Red, Yellow, and Blue respective Pikmin as well as introducing two new Pikmin: Rock and Flying Pikmin. Rock Pikmin are incredibly durable, resistant to crushing, stabbing, and slicing attacks, able to break glass, excellent to throw, but incredibly slow. Flying Pikmin are light and able to carry fruit and items faster, but are really weak.

Once Alph saves Brittany, then later Charlie, the gameplay changes because you will gain the ability to control all 3 captains together or separately to multi-task. Certain areas will require the usage of multiple captains to solve puzzles. Other times, splitting up the captains allows you to complete multiple objectives in one day. If there is one game this game will teach you, it is multi-tasking and good management of your soldiers. When managing multiple captains you can auto direct them to their destinations, but they cannot fight without your own inputs. At times this may be a bit hard to juggle, but when time is of the essence, it really does cut down on play time.

According to certain friend of mine, the game is a huge improvement over previous games but I still found somethings a bit frustrating including the somewhat-difficulty aiming where my Pikmin or my captains are to be thrown. Also the sometimes unfortunate landing areas where the Pikmin are flung onto after being thrown off of an enemy, but I suppose that may be more of a flaw on my part over the game itself. Still over all, it took me roughly 45 in-game days to collect all fruit and complete the full storyline without guidance. and about 34 with extreme amounts of planning. All in all, this game clocked in at about 21 hours.

Multiplayer mode is bit of fun with co-op to collect treasure and re-battle bosses, but the true gem in the rough is Bingo Battle. While it may not have the most enticing name, the game itself is a ton of fun since you'll have to learn to manage your troops and deal with hostile Pikmin and equally hostile captains. It takes a certain mastery of all 5 types of Pikmin, but I can guarantee that you will enjoy this mode. I've spent several hours with my friend in this mode and each match was never boring, especially when I won one by knocking out Louie rather than winning by bingo.

Nonny's rating: 9/10. This was a solid game that I enjoyed from beginning to end. Multiplayer is simple but extremely fun. If one thing I can take from this, I can multitask better than before. Pikmin 3 is a great place to jump into the franchise as it was for me.

Nonny's tip: Fruit is important to find. There are enough fruit to make 100 days worth of juice. However you should always make finding fruit a priority, especially after a certain event where the crew loses all juice they have made.





 
 
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