Overall the best pikmin game IMO, although it is incredibly easy. This game plays like an optimized pikmin 1, where the main fun of the gameplay is seeing how fast you can beat it. 3 captains lets you play much more efficiently compared to 1 with just Olimar, although it may make the gameplay feel more mechanical than 1 where you're struggling for survival.

The day limit returning in this game is a cool idea but anyone who's even relatively competent will never see it get close to running out. The new pikmin types are really cool, although blues are essentially useless in this game and yellows are on life support.

Bingo battle is the best sidemode in any pikmin game by a wide margin. Mission mode can be fun if you're into that, but I never liked it that much personally.

Overall just has the most fun gameplay with the best functioning mechanics and controls. The areas are all fun to explore and giving each area 1 big boss to do is unique to this game (2's bosses function much differently to these, with not every cave having them and not having any time restriction). If enemies just had higher pikmin kill caps then the game would actually be difficult to, but as of now it's the easiest game in the series by far.

Enquanto o 4 parece um 2 aprimorado, esse aqui me lembra bastante o primeiro jogo, com o sistema de dias limite retornando, exploração puramente diária e temporizada sempre e tudo mais. Esse jogo é muito lindo, todo o cenário, as musiquinhas, o design dos personagens, tudo é muito lindo mesmo sem considerar que o jogo já tem alguns anos nas costas. O fato dos tesouros serem sempre frutas é uma parada legal, acho que repetem um pouco demais, mas pelo jogo não ser muito longo num geral não chega a ficar repetitivo de verdade. O jogo em geral não é muito difícil, tanto a exploração em geral quanto os chefes, mas tudo bem a graça desses jogos pra mim nunca foi a dificuldade intrínseca da coisa. Confesso que tendo jogado o 4 antes as vezes eu senti falta de certas mecânicas de qualidade de vida e da I.A. aprimorada dos pikmins lá. No geral é um ótimo jogo e pikmin é bom pra caralho mesmo.

I loved it
Played on Wii u and I’m so glad I did
The control scheme of having the Wii controller, nunchuck and game pad was perfect
Legitimately one of the best game pad utilisations I’ve seen
It was all just so natural and fed into the hectic planning that you have to do in the game

Pikmin 1 didn't quite scratch my Pikmin itch as much as I wanted it to, so I sat down and played through Pikmin 3 between last night and today. The only thing I knew about this game going in is that I remembered hearing it was a little short. Compared to the dungeon crawling epic that is Pikmin 2, then yes, I suppose that's true, but I think this game was just as long as it needed to be. I collected all the fruit and it took me 36 days and about 18-ish real time hours.

This game controls totally left-handed with the Wii U tablet and with the right hand manning the stylus. Granted, plaything through the whole thing in one sitting did a bit of a number on my wrist, but I'm just gonna hope that feels better by morning XP. I'm not sure I like it better than the Gamecube controls, but I like it better than the Wiimote+numchuk controls. The only thing you can't do is direct your hoard in a direction like you can with the C-stick in the Gamecube games. Although you DO have a dodge roll you can get and activate with left and right on the D-pad which is pretty freaking sweet. Using the stylus to aim isn't an exact science, at least if you wanna play with the TV + tablet instead of just the tablet, but you get used to it pretty quick.

The graphics are BEAUTIFUL. This is one of my favorite looking games of last (this?) generation. All of the landscapes are beautifully detailed with tons of graphical detail and vibrant colors. The monsters look fantastic, and the really big ones are always a joy to even see just because of how oddball they are and fluidly they move. The level design is proper quality as well, as it always encourages you to inspect all of your surroundings to find dat fruit. Three main party members as well as a "Go To" feature on your map allows for some serious multi-tasking if you're up for it, and there are some decidedly more fiendishly hidden fruit that will require tactical use of all three members each wielding Pikmin of their own.

The combat is Pikmin as usual, more or less, but the world bosses are GREAT. One of my favorite parts of the game. This is the best the Pikmin themselves have ever been balanced, in my opinion. The two new types, rock and flying, replace the old types of purple and white, and have fantastic utility to both of them in that the flying can handle flying enemies easier, and rocks don't cling to things but do damage on impact as well as breaking enemy carapaces. Add in the exploration utility of things like the normal 3 (and yellows which are good at digging now and not nearly as useless as they used to be), and this is definitely one of the best designed games in the series.

Verdict: Highly recommended. A lot of care and detail went into this game, and it shows. It's a great adventure you can get through in a day or two, but it's a damn fun and memorable one. Definitely worth a try if you liked either of the other games even a little :)