Pikmin 3 teaches time management and natures cruelty

Welcome to the jungle

Weve known about Pikmin 3 for so long that its surprising wed yet to play the campaign in one of our handful of demos. That recently changed when we got to experience the first 90 minutes of Pikmin 3s story this week, and we were pulled in immediately. The RTS-style combat was still engrossing, but what really pulled us in was the games ability to add multitasking to the cutest National Geographic documentary ever.

You control three different astronauts--Alph, Brittany, and Captain Charliethat left the malnourished planet of Koppai in search of food. After crash-landing on a mysterious planet they not only find giant fruit, but also an army of vegetable men we know as Pikmin. Slowly we relearned the general rules of controlling our growing army of Pikmin, but there were now tons of smart shortcuts to the controls, not least of which is the ability to swap between the three leads whenever you feel like it. Soon it becomes second nature to have Brittany build a bridge, while Alph smashes a wall, and Charlie searches for fruit. Pikmin 3 still has the time limit as previous games, but now you can get so much done at once.

Just as integral as the time management is Pikmin 3s cute approach to violence. Pikmin and their enemies are as cutesy as you expect from Nintendo, but their battles can be just as deadly and cruel as anything seen in a nature documentary. Pikmin work together to overwhelm their prey, and after killing a large enemy, the primary colored men consume the corpse to create more Pikmin. Nintendo got even more hardcore with the combat options in Pikmin 3. For example, you can have the Pikmin specifically target an enemys eyes for extra damage. What other adorable horrors await in this kid-friendly title?

You can look for the review soon, but for now we can at least verify that Pikmin 3 gets off to a strong start.

Read on to check out all the new screens for the game

All the Pikmin live in the same pod this time, making it easier to track them.

This snowy environment shows off the variety of settings early.

That looks omnious, but there's probably no huge enemy in there, right?

See? The Pikmin are attacking the creature's eyes!

Sometimes you have to toss your fellow astronauts along with the Pikmin.

If you don't have yellow Pikmin, watch out for electric attacks.

The GamePad can be used as the controller, but we liked it better as the map.

The GamePad can also be used as a camera to take photos of your HD environment.

Some of the animals in this game are surprisingly gross.

We most enjoyed photographing Pikmin at work.

At least the tutorial screens are cute.