Pikmin 4 no spoilers review

Nintendo returned with more tiny adventures in Pikmin 4, so our review should give you a good idea about whether or not it’s worth getting for Christmas, or any other time of the year for that matter. It continues the salvage operation antics from the previous games with aplomb and adds in a few cool new mechanics, which builds up the layers of activity to give more ways to play.

Pikmin 4 may not be a giant leap forward for the franchise, but it provides more than enough to keeps fans of the series happy. While you really don’t need to have played any of the previous games to be able to jump into the action, there are a couple of things that might leave you a little nonplussed, especially with the latter sections of the story.

This will be a spoiler free review, so we won’t be going into any of the detail about the story, but if you do want to find out more about what goes down at the end of Pikmin 4 we’ve got you covered. You can read more about the final boss fight with the link below, which should give you enough background to piece it all together without having to play the previous Pikmin games.

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Pikmin 4 final boss fight

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Pikmin 4 graphics review

As with the Deluxe version of the previous game, Pikmin 4 is a good looking title with some of the best fruit graphics you’ll see in a computer game. In general, it’s pretty cute visually, but there’s a good amount of creativity behind the various enemies that you’ll come across.

The detail on the Pikmin, rescue party and castaways is pretty basic, but this is part of the cartoon art style for the game. However, it would be good to see this getting more attention next time around. It’s not to say that they look exactly the same as in previous games, but there hasn’t been much in the way of development since the very first adventure.

It’s a similar story for the Pikmin 4 bosses, which we’ll cover in more detail in the gameplay section below. They don’t quite have the same impact without the dramatic cinematic introduction that they had in Pikmin 3 Deluxe.

That’s not to say that they don’t look good, it’s just that the cinematic intro made them feel more momentous. It would be a similar situation if you took away the intros for The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdon bosses, or any game for that matter, so it makes no sense in Pikmin 4.

The good news is that there’s a bit more gravitas o the final boss fight, so it’s not all light introductions. It makes for a big battle to close out the game in typical Pikmin left-field fashion. It’s not at all what we expected, but it’s a very memorable design with great animation and some clever touches.

Pikmin 4 gameplay review

If you’re a fan of the previous games in the series then you’re bound to love Pikmin 4’s gameplay. It’s got everything the previous totles had and a whole lot more. The enemies are solid, the puzzles are challenging at times and there’s a lot that you can do.

Oatchi is a great addition and you’re bound to spend a lot of time on the Rescue Corps dog’s back for the majority of the game. The skills he can learn will keep you in the hunt for castaways and Night Missions to cure them and the lab upgrades will give you another good reason to collect all that raw material hidden around the environments.

The new Pikmin are pretty cool with Ice Onion dwellers being our favorite thanks to their ability to freeze enemies, which gives you perfect opportunities to finish them off. The Purple Pikmin are pretty clever too with their heavy capabilities coming in handy as you get into the latter stages of the Pikmin 4 story.

There aren’t that many areas to explore, but what you get are big and crammed to the rafters with things to do. The addition of the caverns brings even more challenges to complete and the variation makes up for the lack of big environmental differences between the areas.

The caverns also contain the Pikmin 4 bosses, so if you’re wondering where they all are, they’re hidden on the final sublevels of cavers. As mentioned above, it would have been cool to get big-impact bosses for each of the areas, like in Pikmin 3, but at least there are still some chunky beasts for you to fight.

Throw in the Dandori Battles and Night Mode expeditions and you’ve got plenty to keep you busy. It will take you a while to 100% each the areas, making it a bigger game than it might appear if you just focus on the main story progression.

Pikmin 4 story review

The story for all of the games in the series are pretty similar with some kind of crash landing resulting in the exploration of a planet and that’s pretty much the case for Pikmin 4. It’s fun and light with call-backs to previous story elements that are pretty funny.

Sadly, it doesn’t do much to expand the lore of the series or explain all of the strange goings on, so we migt need to wait for the next game to find out what’s behind it all. However, it’s also possible that it will just always be an enigma in terms of why the ships always crash or why certain creatures behave the way they do.

As with a lot of Nintendo series, there isn’t much in the way of substance to the story, so don’t expect much in the way of Shakespearian drama. Although, in all fairness, there’s usually more beneath the surface, which we saw with the Super Mario Bros. Movie. We’re not expecting a Pikmin movie any time soon, but you never know.

Pikmin 4 music and sound review

The music and sound in Pikmin 4 makes for the perfect accompaniment to the game as you explore its various locations and battle it out with the enemies that stand in your way. It may not be as memorable as other Nintendo Switch games, but it will help to keep you moving in the right direction as you try to work out how to progress through the areas, defeat the bosses or complete the Dandori challenges.

We’re convinced that it would be more of an immersive experience if there was actual speaking dialogue instead of the blum bar burrs that you get in the background of the text on the screen. Both The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom elevated the series with some amazing voice acting and that could have been the case with Pikmin 4 too.

Pikmin 4 no spoilers review: 84%

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