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Pikmin 2 Preview for GameCube
Posted on Friday, January 16, 2004 @ 01:56:37 am E.S.TThere's no telling what can come out of Shigeru Miyamoto's head. Whether it's a plumber jumping on enemies and traveling through pipes, or a hero traveling through dungeons and vanquishing evil, Miyamoto always can pull it off. One may wonder, where does he get his ideas? Well, we're not quite sure about where the idea for Mario or Zelda came from, but we do know where he came up with one of his ideas. One day while gardening, Mr. Miyamoto came up with an odd idea; create a game in which you assume the role of a spaceman that travels with a pack of plant-like space creatures.
In December 2001, this became a reality when Pikmin was released for GameCube. Pikmin is an incredibly innovative game. It is a combination of an adventure and a real time strategy game, but whatever it is, it's fun, and it kept gamers begging for more. Well, the begging has paid off because Pikmin 2 is coming this year.
Olimar is ready for more action.
In this adventure, Olimar has finally made it off the Pikmin planet and piloted back home in his spaceship. However, he is startled to find out that the company he works for has gone bankrupt. Sadly enough, the only way Olimar can get his company back on its feet is to go back to the planet and collect any random item that he can find that his company migth be able to sell. Lucky for him though, he's got a partner this time; a fatter spaceman named Loojie. things. This means that you have the ability to switch characters, just like in Resident Evil 0, with a tap of the Y button.
Like the previous game, you have a time limit each day, but this time you have an infinite amount of days so you don't have to worry about rushing to complete your goal. This means that exploration will play a larger role in the game. Another addition that supports that statement is the addition of underground caves. When entering one of these caves, time stops, so you don?t have to worry about your clock, and you have plenty of time to check everything out. And just like in The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords on Game Boy Advance, no caves will be the same thanks to the power of random generation.
Another addition to the game that differs from the original is the addition of new pikmin. Joining the red, yellow, and blue pikmin are now purple and white ones. The purple pikmin in Pikmin 2 are fat, strong creatures capable of dishing out powerful attacks. Don't get confused though, these guys are the opposite of the purple pikmin in the first game. In the original, if a pikmin was poisoned it would become purple and try to kill you, but now they help you. Also, the new white Pikmin are not to be confused with pikmin that Olimar tells to remain stationary. These pikmin are always white, whether they?re following you or staying stationary. These guys are small, yet speedy critters who can inflict rapid attacks on enemies.
With five kinds of pikmin, all having different techniques, won?t it be a tad hard to control all five groups? This is solved by now making it so you can choose a type of pikmin by holding down A and choosing the type of pikmin you wish to use with the D pad. This is a great way to save time because you don't need to spend time splitting the pikmin into groups and then commanding the group you wish to use. One final addition that makes this game different than the original, are berries. Scattered throughout the lands you will find berries that your pikmin can carry back to your ship. After bringing back enough, you will recieve a gaseous attack that can be used against foes. One type of gas turns the enemy you use it against into a stone, leaving it defensless to attack. Different gases have different results so you?ll want to play around to see what you get.
Here we see a nice variety of Pikmin.
However, one of the most interesting additions of all is a new multiplayer mode. This is a two-player, split-screen version of Challenge Mode from the original game. One player controls Olimar while the other controls Loojie. Both players control an army of pikmin. The players travel through the area defeating enemies and collecting items. Within this, there will be one specific item that when found, will open up a sub-level in the area. Then the player must defeat enemies and collect items in this level. After clearing all of the stages, the player with the most pikmin is declared the winner. The game will also feature a cooperative mode in which the players team up to complete a level.
Pikmin 2 will add a new level of innovatation not seen in the original game. Many problems that gamers had with the original seem to have been addressed and fixed in this game. However, gamers will have to wait a while to get thier hands on this. The game is not scheduled to be released until Fall this year, so gamers still have some time to brush up on thier Pikmin skills.
Preview By: MarioPrime - 6725 Reads
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