Pikmin 3 – review

Transfer your ageing Wii content across to a Wii U and, instead of a utilitarian loading bar, you'll see a gaggle of Pikmin carry the saves, download games and other digital flotsam from one machine to the other. It's the sort of generosity of imagination that still sets Nintendo apart from its console rivals. But in Pikmin 3 the colourful, ant-like helpers carry a far greater weight on their shoulders: that of the hopes of
Nintendo's ailing new console. Pikmin 3 is the first big-hitting, first-party title since the Wii U's launch and the creatures are, perhaps, a curious choice for the task. They may have originated from the mind of the company's most celebrated designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, but there are no Mario-esque star performers amongst their vivid herds. Likewise, this is a ragged sort of strategy game, with little of the straightforward, mainstream refinement of the company's better-known series.

You play as members of a group of intergalactic explorers, scattered across an alien planet as a result of their spaceship's crash landing. Your overarching task is to regroup, forage for sustenance-giving fruit and gather together the various pieces of space junk needed to flee the planet. The indigenous Pikmin aid you in these quests as you fling them towards obstacles or enemies, which, in sufficient numbers, they will vanquish. On your side of the symbiotic bargain you must protect them during the day and ensure you marshal every last creature back into the spaceship before sundown. Fail to do so and any Pikmin left behind are devoured by the night time predators in a harrowing cut-scene that belies the game's otherwise sugary presentation.
The game's structure is surprisingly loose. During daylight hours you explore at your own pace, collect fruit, unearth long lost human technologies from the soil and quest deeper into unknown territory. Your goals are not set to any particular schedule other than the natural time limit imposed by your food resources. Your team consumes one bottle of fruit juice per day. When this runs out it's game over, so your progress must stay at least one step ahead of your consumption