Pikmin 2

THE BAD:
-mutiplayer is the same thing collect marbles and not that fun
-only four areas

SUMMARY:
The small but helpful pikmin are back in Pikmin 2. The game still has really great graphics, you can see everything perfectly. Now, instead of crashing on the planet, your company has finacial problems, so you go back to the planet with Louie, and collect treasure for pikos (I think that is what it's called). The same but still addictive, gameplay is in the game. Teamwork is still the most important thing in the game. You will need teamwork to kill enemies, carry stuff, and pretty much everything in the game. The pikoiedia(or whatever again) shows the enemies you have killed, and the light effect makes the creatured look better and the game beautiful. The most frustrating part of the game is the water, just water. It looks harmless to you. But your pikmin pretty much die if they fall in water though they can survive they are most likely dead. But don't let that get in the way of your fun. The game got multiplayer, but it's the same mode all the time. Collect the marbles.......boring, and thats right that is the only mode. Overall, this game is fun and should keep you busy.

THE BAD:
1 There is now only 3 more types, instead of more. I think the idea of having more types would be good.
2 only 4 areas. I think it's kind of annoying to only have 4...

SUMMARY:
This game's rich graphics make it great for camera angles. It's areas pull together to make a planet. The game before it was very popular, so it gave good support for this game. The new enemies made this game better.
What I think:
Camera:3.5 Not the greatest, but pretty good. Makes it easier to see floating enemies.
Enemies:4.5(This does not include bosses) Most of them are easy, making the game boring. But still, easy to defeat monsters make the game easier.
Bosses:5.0! Amazing. Some easy. Some hard. Bit mostly hard. Once you defeat the easy bosses and the hard, you feel proud. Once I beat the game I did. You should try to get this game at least.
Overview:4.8 Great! A lot of enemies to fight, a lot of allies to find, and a boatload of fun waiting for you. Join the party and buy the game.

THE BAD:
Could be a little longer.

Feels too much like an expansion pack.

SUMMARY:
The adorable tiny plant dudes are back in a brand new game. But is it just as good as the original?

The first thing you’ll notice about Pikmin 2 is how similar it is to the original game. This just proves how perfect they got it right the first time.

The original Pikmin game was an absolute gem of design and execution. A truly innovative and rewarding experience that completely breaks from the mold of the real time strategy genre.

Pikmin 2 follows closely in its predecessor’s footprints by bringing you back to the mysterious planet that Olimar found himself on in the original. Only this time, your purpose is all business.

Shortly after escaping the planet in the original Pikmin, Olimar returns to his home planet to find his boss, and a new employee waiting for him. His boss has plunged the company into an impossible amount of debt. Within minutes of landing, your prized ship, The SS Dolphin, is towed away. Sort of a slap in the face after you spent all of the time in the first game just repairing it.

Your boss fits you with the only remaining ship (a junker), and sends you and your fellow employee, Louie, back to the mysterious planet to collect random junk, which in this game is considered as treasure. Each bit of junk found on the planet seems to have excellent value, and is just what you need to pull yourself out of the enormous debt set upon you.

You’re soon re-united with the red Pikmin after you land. And thus begins your new adventure to retrieve enough treasure to get yourself out of debt.

One of the best changes from the original game is that the 30 day time limit is gone. You’re free to stay on the planet for as long as you wish. However, the game isn’t as long as the original, making the removal of the time limit completely irrelevant. You’re likely to finish it in less than 30 days without any guides or outside help. Unlike the original game, where it was most likely that you would need to play a second time to collect all of the parts in 30 days.

Core gameplay involves controlling large groups of tiny plant-animals called, as you guessed it, Pikmin. The game plays similar to your standard RTS game as you have many little units to do your bidding, however this is where the comparisons cease. Pikmin redefines the genre by placing you down into the action. Instead of being “god” and handing out controls to your troops from an easy over-head perspective, you’re placed right next to your units. However calling Pikmin “units” is very patronizing. Pikmin are much more than generic infantry, tanks, or war machines. The Pikmin have their own personality and you really start to feel for them. When Pikmin die, you’ll be sad.

Pikmin are rather brainless on their own so they rely entirely on you to issue them orders. Which is very important since the world is filled with countless Pikmin-killing dangers. Wildlife and natural obstacles are completely deadly for our little friends. Some of them are even dangerous to you!

Since you’re actually in the game, you have to worry about not only your Pikmin, but yourself as well. Your suit has a damage meter. When the meter is completely depleted, you fall unconscious. This is completely different from simply watching the action and ordering your troops accordingly. When the heat turns up, you’ll be frantically running around with the analog stick while adjusting the camera with R, L, and Z, and moving your Pikmin around with the C-Stick. This adds to the excitement immensely and is cause of many tense moments that will have you gripping your controller and hoping for the best.

Another change from the original is now you have two characters instead of one. You can only control one at a time, but it allows you to switch quickly to different areas of the map if you left the other character somewhere with another group of Pikmin. Like say if you set a group of Pikmin to build a bridge, you can leave the second character there and then run off with another group of Pikmin and do other things. When the bridge is finished, you can switch to the other character and take control of those Pikmin and run do things with them, instead of having to run all the way back with the first character.

Pikmin cannot be directly controlled. Pikmin at your current command will follow you around and can be moved with the C-Stick. If you push Pikmin into an interactive object with the C-Stick, the Pikmin will react to it. Like say if you move a Pikmin into an enemy, the Pikmin will begin attacking the enemy. Pikmin won’t make any decisions on their own as long as they are in your squad. When you dismiss them from your control, they will stand patiently and wait for you to come back and call them into your squad again. Dismissed Pikmin will also take actions into their own hands. If a dismissed Pikmin is near an enemy, the Pikmin will attack the enemy on its own.

The whole idea is devilishly simple but ingeniously deep. There are many many subtle gameplay mechanics that you must master to be successful in the game. Complex Pikmin management is difficult to pick up on, but is an essential element to the gameplay. However despite the game’s complexities, the learning curve is rather small. It won’t be long before you’re dispatching dangerous wild life, collecting treasures, and gathering countless resources to gain grow even more Pikmin.

Adding to the depth is the addition of different types of Pikmin. There are 5 different breeds of Pikmin in the game, adding to the original 3 in the first game. Different situations call for different Pikmin. The red Pikmin are resistant to fire, while the blue ones are resistant to water. Yellow Pikmin can survive electric shocks, white Pikmin can survive poison, and the purple Pikmin are super strong. Determining what Pikmin you’ll need on the fly adds to the strategy of the game.

The environments you’ll be trekking through are breathtakingly gorgeous and convincingly alive. The subtle environment effects like the looming and dancing shadows of overhead trees, the softly falling petals of flowers, the shifting and waving foliage, and the stunning water effects create a captivating world that other games don’t even come close to depicting. It’s fair to say that you’ll spend some of your time just running around to look at the scenery.

While the first game hinted that the mysterious planet was indeed Earth, it didn’t come right out and say it. However Pikmin 2 makes it blatantly obvious right from the start that you’re on the planet of humans. If the view of the continents of the west hemisphere in the beginning of the game doesn’t say it enough to convince you, the first “treasure” you collect is a Duracell battery. Some people gripe that the massive amount of worldly merchandise you find in the game is the result of consumer whoring by Nintendo, but I find it to be just that extra amount of realism added to the game to make it more convincing. You’ll be finding all sorts of things, from 7UP bottle caps to Chap Stick, to Duct Tape, to Mario Crayons. You never know just what you’ll find next.

The first Pikmin game had you scouring the surface looking for the pieces of your ship. The environments were set up to be completely challenging and straightforward while giving you the clever illusion of freedom. Pikmin 2 plays out somewhat similarly, in that there are surface environments with various treasures placed in challenging locations. However, the majority of Pikmin 2’s gameplay comes from exploring multi-level “caves” that are strewn with enemies, obstacles, and treasures. Each of the caves is randomly generated and will be completely different each time you visit them. While this is a nice feature to extend replayability, it just detracts from the overall experience. The first Pikmin really put you into the world and made you feel like you were the character. Pikmin 2 makes you feel like you’re playing a video game and racking up points towards your final score. It doesn’t feel like you’re really accomplishing anything.


Let’s simplify.

Gameplay: 5. Pikmin 2 is nothing less than excellent. Its gameplay is completely innovative and different from anything else on the market (except from the original game). Deep enough for the hardest core strategy gamer, yet simple and easy enough to control for the casual gamer, and whimsical enough for adventure gamer. It’s hard to classify Pikmin in any of the existing game genres. It contains elements of adventure, strategy, and exploration, using only the best of each world.

Control: 5. While control over the camera is admirable, it’s just not as controllable as it could be. Marching your Pikmin around would be so much easier with a true controllable camera. Speaking of your Pikmin, the C-Stick system is brilliant, but has very very minor problems that conflict with control of your character and the camera. There isn’t too much to complain about here!

Story: 3. While the actual story isn’t very involving, developed, or interesting, the “Piklopedia” element of the game is very interesting. Each of the creatures you encounter will be logged in the Piklopedia. Once you see a creature, you can go into the Piklopedia and read Olimar’s scientific notes on it. You can also view the creature in its natural environment as if it were in a large containment tank. You control a small camera as you rotate around the creature and zoom. You can even throw “pikpik” carrots at the creatures and watch their reactions.

Graphics: 5. Visually, this game is explosive. The amount of care put into the detail of the environments shows that someone tried really hard to make this game absolutely beautiful. Even with all of the visual bliss on the screen at all times, the game never suffers from annoying slowdowns. You can have 100 Pikmin in your squad, and they are always fantastically rendered at all times with full animations. Not that you would notice any jerky animations anyway, considering just how much there is to look at.

Sound: 5. Environmental effects, wildlife noises, and the fantastic and fitting music combine to form a delicacy to your ear. If you’re playing the game while using a full surround sound system, the sound is excellent. However even if you’re just using your TV’s speakers, the game still sounds great. The only complaint in the sound department comes from the treasure detector. It constantly beeps and bips at high pitches, which pierces the ears like a javelin. You’ll be collecting all of the treasures in an area just to shut the damn thing up and enjoy the silence.

Lifespan: 4. There's a lot to do and see, and there's plenty of reason to go back and do it again. Even after you finish the story, you can continue playing and find even more new content.

FunFactor: 5. There is simply not much to complain about. Pikmin 2 is a marvel of design and is damn near perfect. It’s both a game that you can play for hours and hours, and a game that you can pick up, play a little bit, then come back and play again later.



Pikmin 2 is the magnificent amalgamation of many different game worlds. Beautiful, clever, cute, funny, and intelligent, Pikmin 2 is like that perfect girl or guy that you’ve always been looking for.

While it is a great game on its own, it fails to live up to the delicious experience of the original game. Pikmin 2 ends up feeling more like an expansion pack rather a brand new game. If you haven’t played Pikmin, go pick it up. If you have played it, Pikmin 2 will offer even more of what you love.

If they could just implement a good story element, the game would be epic. Until then, Pikmin 2 earns a 4.6 out of 5. Do yourself a favor and play both games.

THE BAD:
Can't think of anything bad about it at the moment.

SUMMARY:
Following the first game, Olimar returns to his home planet, Hocotate, after recieving aid in repairing his ship from the cute little Pikmin. He comes home to hear that the company he works for now is in debt because a ravenous space bunny ate the golden pikpik carrots that Olimar's asistant Louie was delivering! Now Olimar and Louie must return to the Pikmin planet to collect enough treasure to pay of the debt of a whopping 10,000 pokos! Collect loads of treasure, defeat over 30 new enemies, and explore the vast landscape of the wonderous Pikmin planet! This game is definitely a must-have!

THE BAD:
Though not really bad, this game can get a little...nerve racking. Though not as bad as the first one, you still have day time limits. And the soundtrack is a little weak, but still a good game!

SUMMARY:
You can look up enemies you've encountered on the Pikliopedia, or look up treasures you've collected on there too! Plus, play Co-Op wih two players, or battle each other on a pikmin vs. pikmin brawl! Plus, two new types of pikmin, and some new powers for the original ones! Plus, some cooler bosses and the new underground mode! With 4 unique and large levels, this game will keep you searching for treasures all over the globe! To snow covered fields, to water drenched areas, this game will keep you on your toes!

THE BAD:
.split screen in multi player
.2 new types of pikmin have no onions

SUMMARY:
okay to start it of if you have played pikmin 1 and you liked it you will absolutly LOVE this game one of the new features is you control 2 captains Olimar and Louie also the 2 new types of pikmin purple and white
purple have the strength of 10 pikmin while the white are impervious to piosen and are extremely fast.there are a variety of new levels and dungeons that have many levels(sublevels)to gather treasure for your company on hotocate that has suffered bankrupcy and has a debt of 10,000 pokos its is up to olimar and louie to get all the treasure to save the company.
Alltogether this game gets 2 thumbs up from me