As someone who started playing the Pikmin series this year, I can't fully appreciate what this game means to so many people. I wasn't there for the release of Pikmin 3 and the decade-long wait for this game to finally, finally come out. But I think I can come close. Because I did play the first three games this year, and loved them all, and I was eager to finally play Pikmin 4.
And it's... kind of mind blowing. The sheer perfection of this game is... unreal. Pikmin 3 was already a near-perfect masterpiece. And unfortunately, there are some steps backwards taken with this one. The artstyle is a little less appealing, the campaign is less replayable, the story is weaker, the soundtrack might be the weakest in the series. But it all comes down to the most important and most fundamental aspect of a game like this: the gameplay and level design. And that -- that is at its peak for this series.
The levels in this game are breathtakingly gorgeous. The game is a little more cartoon-y than its predecessors, but its environments are so much more interesting and alive than anything to come before it. There really aren't more memorable vistas than the giant park bench in Sun-Speckled Terrace, or the grill in Giant's Hearth, or, like, the entirety of Hero's Hideaway? Seriously, how COOL is it that you can go inside a house in this game? It feels so weird and unique for the series but also for video games in general. It raises so many questions, gets your brain thinking about what exactly happened to the humans, to the people. And the environments are just so beautiful. So much love was poured into each one. And of course, thanks to Oatchi, they're able to be so much more vertical and traversal-based than before. AND, because of the new free camera, they're able to be completely open environments too. It's really incredible going from the restricted areas of 3 to this. The campaign is less tight in terms of progression, and the game is a lot easier thanks in part to this, but it's still a great change to the formula.
Caves are back, too. They're probably the weakest aspect of the game, but they're still a ton of fun. I wish they had some more challenge, but the fact that they were actually designed and aren't procedurally generated like 2's caves makes them a massive step up.
The best addition to the gameplay has to be the Dandori modes. I mean, they were in 3. But integrating them into the main campaign is just genius. Dandori Battles especially are incredibly improved and streamlined from the kinda hectic Bingo Battles in 3, and while we don't have any incredible Challenge stages like Fortress of Festivity yet, most of those were DLC and what we have now are really fun and tightly designed, albeit a little on the easier end.
I'm pretty mixed on Night Expeditions, but they're still pretty fun. Idk, I like them. Don't have much else to say other than I wish they were harder. That's an issue with the whole game -- this is by far the easiest Pikmin game, even more than 3. I hope they add a hard mode, but oh well. It's not a huge problem.
The weakest aspect of the gameplay is probably the new auto-lock feature. I don't want to talk too much about this because my opinion is kind of controversial, but I personally really like it. Most of the time. When it gets in the way, it's extremely frustrating, and it absolutely should be a toggled mechanic. But when it does work, which is the vast majority of the time, it feels so fast and fluid to throw Pikmin. It's great. But it should be optional for sure.
Honestly, I couldn't have asked for more in a Pikmin game. This is everything I wanted from 4 and more. Pikmin 4 is one of the most enjoyable, fun, creative, and artistic games I've ever played, with nearly 40 hours of content on my first playthrough and, as is tradition, an endlessly replayable campaign that I'm sure I'll be back through in due time. I'll end this with the same call to action as my Pikmin 3 review:
Play this game.
And it's... kind of mind blowing. The sheer perfection of this game is... unreal. Pikmin 3 was already a near-perfect masterpiece. And unfortunately, there are some steps backwards taken with this one. The artstyle is a little less appealing, the campaign is less replayable, the story is weaker, the soundtrack might be the weakest in the series. But it all comes down to the most important and most fundamental aspect of a game like this: the gameplay and level design. And that -- that is at its peak for this series.
The levels in this game are breathtakingly gorgeous. The game is a little more cartoon-y than its predecessors, but its environments are so much more interesting and alive than anything to come before it. There really aren't more memorable vistas than the giant park bench in Sun-Speckled Terrace, or the grill in Giant's Hearth, or, like, the entirety of Hero's Hideaway? Seriously, how COOL is it that you can go inside a house in this game? It feels so weird and unique for the series but also for video games in general. It raises so many questions, gets your brain thinking about what exactly happened to the humans, to the people. And the environments are just so beautiful. So much love was poured into each one. And of course, thanks to Oatchi, they're able to be so much more vertical and traversal-based than before. AND, because of the new free camera, they're able to be completely open environments too. It's really incredible going from the restricted areas of 3 to this. The campaign is less tight in terms of progression, and the game is a lot easier thanks in part to this, but it's still a great change to the formula.
Caves are back, too. They're probably the weakest aspect of the game, but they're still a ton of fun. I wish they had some more challenge, but the fact that they were actually designed and aren't procedurally generated like 2's caves makes them a massive step up.
The best addition to the gameplay has to be the Dandori modes. I mean, they were in 3. But integrating them into the main campaign is just genius. Dandori Battles especially are incredibly improved and streamlined from the kinda hectic Bingo Battles in 3, and while we don't have any incredible Challenge stages like Fortress of Festivity yet, most of those were DLC and what we have now are really fun and tightly designed, albeit a little on the easier end.
I'm pretty mixed on Night Expeditions, but they're still pretty fun. Idk, I like them. Don't have much else to say other than I wish they were harder. That's an issue with the whole game -- this is by far the easiest Pikmin game, even more than 3. I hope they add a hard mode, but oh well. It's not a huge problem.
The weakest aspect of the gameplay is probably the new auto-lock feature. I don't want to talk too much about this because my opinion is kind of controversial, but I personally really like it. Most of the time. When it gets in the way, it's extremely frustrating, and it absolutely should be a toggled mechanic. But when it does work, which is the vast majority of the time, it feels so fast and fluid to throw Pikmin. It's great. But it should be optional for sure.
Honestly, I couldn't have asked for more in a Pikmin game. This is everything I wanted from 4 and more. Pikmin 4 is one of the most enjoyable, fun, creative, and artistic games I've ever played, with nearly 40 hours of content on my first playthrough and, as is tradition, an endlessly replayable campaign that I'm sure I'll be back through in due time. I'll end this with the same call to action as my Pikmin 3 review:
Play this game.