Quick Look: Pikmin 3

Man, I love you guys but this is one of the worst QLs I've seen. Not only did Alex play the game poorly, none of the guys seemed enthusiastic about the game and they did a poor job explaining the basic game functions besides saying, "this looks like a hi-def pikmin game."

For some reason I laugh every time Drew says "OH JEEZ." Something about the cadence gets me every time.

Come to think of it, OH JEEZ and GOD DAMMIT are like the catchphrases of Giantbomb.

I've always wondered how these games went. Looks like fun!

I don't think I have ever posted anything negative on Giant Bomb before, but I have to say this might be the most frustrating Quick Look to watch I have seen.

Alright, I'm onboard. I've been kinda curious about this for some time without being sure if there was enough to it for it to be interesting, but seeing a bit of extended gameplay footage was enough to make me want to play it.

When? I dunno. Not now but sometime.

@thatoneguy64: If you look at the shape of first area Alex traveled to, it's clearly Australia. It's just mashed up against some other continents.

@chipotle: Yeah, apparently I was wrong about it being a different planet from the first two games. I could have sworn that was confirmed a while ago, but apparently PNF-404 is the same planet as Pikmin 1 and 2.

...I really love this game guys. I really love this game.

EDIT: Also, holy shit, as someone playing this game with a Wii remote/nunchuk, seeing this played with just the gamepad looks super frustrating.

Never played a Pikmin game, but they seem fun enough. However, I'm not willing to buy a Wii U to play it, and that's Nintendo's problem right now--not enough games worth buying the system for. If people love Nintendo, they should stick with the DS, which has a lot of quality games.

Uhh why does the "Garden of Hope" look like Australia?

Pikmin just seems like such a stressful game :/

Brad has an exceedingly rare condition called Lemon/Lime Dyslexia, and it's not cool to joke about.

I've never played Pikmin, but it looks like I've been missing out. This looks gorgeous and really fun. Also oddly disturbing by Ninty standards.

....I kinda wanna...Wii U to play this on but I refuse! But this does look like fun

I wasn't expecting Alex's shocking Pikmin atheism. Now everything I know is in question!!

Fuck playing this with a wiimote. Gamecube controller was where it was at, Gamepad's Pro Controller's where it is at now.

Also, C-stick's gone. Replaced with a z-target esque thing and a rush command.

Fuuuuuuck wiimotes

@fram said:

Drew's "OH JEEZ" reminds me of Quantum Leap.

@mosaicm80 said:

Yeah, Overlord came out 5 or 6 years after Pikmin, and is very much based on the same concept.

And yeah, Pikmin has always sort of had pathing issues, though it has gotten better. Pikmin basically don't get stuck while carrying things back to the ship (in the Quick Look, they got stuck for gameplay reasons; Alex hadn't yet cleared a path for objects to be carried back to the ship). They don't get stuck while carrying stuff because there are basically giant-ass invisible default pathways Pikmin take whenever they carry stuff, and said pathways are always miles away from any edges or corners.

However, Pikmin do occasionally get stuck while directly following you; if you cut a corner or edge close with your leader, some amount of Pikmin may get stuck on a root or rock or whatever.

Best part of the QL

I love this game so damn much. The best thing to come out of Nintendo in years. But my ears twitch every time I hear Pikmin referred to as "Pikmins"

Yeah. The Pikmin are on a planet Earth where the humans are gone. It would be really messed up if they came across a human skeleton.

The presentation and graphics are brilliant in this one.

Shame about the Wii U; this looks like fun.

I couldn't watch the whole this so I don't know if maybe you figured it out but you can target an enemy with ZL.

As someone that has never played Pikmin before I gotta say this just looks straight up confusing.

So from the comments, the only way to play this game is to use a Wii remote and nunchuck. Controllers that don't come with the system.

No wonder this console is struggling.

Yeah, I forget how good @alex is on camera, he will be missed when he leaves again for NY!

Man, I wish that this game wasn't held back to be released on the Wii U instead of the Wii.

What a beautiful game.

Makes me want to go buy a WiiU right now - I'm not going to but it makes me want to.

I love this game so much. Completed twice. And anyone that says the wiimote is "the way to play" has not played the mission mode very much. Without the pad absolutely handy within seconds you will not be fast enough with your multitasking.

If you think it's not precise enough, you haven't figured out the lock on and how ludicrously generous it is, or how it lets you cycle between subtargets on bosses.

Okay now I want Pikmin. I thought the QL was entertaining.

The pad is very much 'absolutely handy within seconds' when resting in my lap

Saw people talking about what the best way to control this game was, the answer is ALL OF THE CONTROLLERS.
Playing this with the Wiimote and the Wii U controller on a stand in front of me. Works really well.

You know you can still use the GamePad's map and features absolutely fine (and you're even supposed to!) when using the Wiimote right? That's precisely why it's THE way to play.

Oh no! it's a Pikmin massacre out there!

I would play this game, but I don't want a Wii U.

Never played Pikmin before - but it looks really awful to control based on Alex's aiming in that boss fight.

Is it really that sporadic, or does Alex just suck at Pikmin?

This convinced me to buy Pikmin 2 on the Wii.

I find it strange that after almost ten years, Nintendo would bring back a beloved franchise and not include the main character.

@def: Haha good luck have fun with the back-and-forth. If you think that mess of wires, hands and attention makes you more efficient you're out of your wits. Pikmin 3 on a tight time limit isn't about precision throws per minute, it's about decisions per minute.

Anyway, go platinum the mission mode, where you order dudes around as much as Pikmin.

I've found the game to be absolutely fine to play on the Gamepad - that said, not tried it with a Wiimote by way of comparison.

Wonderful charming game.

What mess? I take my index finger and put it on the screen which is in my lap or right beside me and then that's it. How is it worse than taking my whole hand off the GamePad to interact with the screen?

I had issues watching it as well.

Ugh. That camera control looks like a nightmare.

I've been playing Pikman 3 and it controls a lot better with the nun chuck and wiimote.

Never played Pikmin but again like Animal Crossing I can see why people would like this. However, controlling it looks quite difficult.

Alex just sucks at Pikmin. He didn't know that you could control the camera's rotation with the right stick or lock-onto an enemy with ZL. Also you can play with the wiimote+nunchuck for better aiming.

@thatoneguy64 said:

@kevin_cogneto said:

Unless Duracell has expanded its business significantly, I can say with a high degree of certainty that Pikmin takes place on Earth.

Yeah, Pikmin 1 and 2 clearly do, but Pikmin 3 takes place on an entirely different planet from those games.

Edit: Scratch that. Did some searching on the Pikmin wiki, apparently PNF-404 is the same planet as the first two games. Odd. I could have sworn it was confirmed to be a different planet entirely.

Spoiler: Pikman takes place in the Jet Force Gemini universe.

goddamn alex, you are made brad seem like a pro gamer

This is how you get Pikmin to move in the East Bay.

Those graphics look amazing!

Well Pikmin still looks as frustrating as always.