Pikmin 4 hits 88 on Metacritic

Pikmin 4 is finally arriving on the Nintendo Switch family of systems on Friday and there is currently a playable demo on the Nintendo eShop if you want a taster of what is to come. Today, the reviews have been published online and the latest Pikmin adventure has achieved a very respectable 88/100 on Metacritic with 65 reviews published (as of 3.26pm UK time) We unfortunately missed the review code deadline, so expect our review to be available post launch. Anyway, without further ado, here is a hand picked selection of Pikmin 4 reviews:

“The Pikmin games are typically hit-or-miss for me. I enjoy them and admire how they work, but the anxiety and stress tied to their guidelines often left me coming away from each play session rather stressed. Pikmin 4 is different. It’s an entry packed with quality-of-life changes, great set pieces, and a staggering amount of gameplay. It’s the sort of game when just when you think it might be over, it surprises you with even more to do.”

“Pikmin 4 is an extraordinary experience. It’s the coziest installment in the series, especially since some of the new features eliminate the deadline pressure and other stressors from past installments. That said, it is still a thought-provoking entry that will require you to put thought into proceeding through areas and picking the proper Pikmin to solve problems. It’s a wonderful game about thinking things through and strategically managing resources, and the addition of Oatchi helps a player enjoy everything instead of stressing about so many tasks.”

Siliconera 10/10

“The star of the show, however, is Oatchi. He doesn’t particularly look like a dog, but he acts like one, excitedly greeting you every morning for your daily adventure, defending you from danger, and helping your Pikmin carry objects they can’t quite handle alone. In a game about managing a large group of helpful creatures, Oatchi is your fantastic assistant manager that does all the heavy lifting. His greatest strength, however, is carrying you and all your Pikmin with the press of a button. As visually interesting as it has always been to corral dozens of Pikmin and throw them at your problems, it always leads to annoying issues of them falling off bridges or getting caught on corners. Gathering all your Pikmin on Oatchi’s back eliminates this issue and makes everything so much more manageable, which lets you focus on the fun.”

“When it comes to iterating on the standard Pikmin gameplay established by the first release, Pikmin 4 is the smoothest, best-controlling, best-looking version, and all the additions are worthwhile and fun to play. The variety of tasks, which you can tackle in the order of your choice, prevents you from doing the same thing for too long, and I enjoyed saving other survivors and expanding my home base roster. Pikmin may never rise to the top of the Nintendo heap, and it’s probably unfair to expect it ever could, but the latest Pikmin is the best effort yet.”

Game Informer 9/10

“The game is easy but it’s also charming and fascinating, with a rare example of Nintendo attempting photorealistic graphics. They look very nice too, especially one map where the tide comes in halfway through the day. And while indie title Tinykin beat it to the punch, this is the first Pikmin game to feature a house interior, that you explore from your Smurf-sized perspective.”

“The only aspect of the game that doesn’t work so well with the new, more mellow attitude is the caves, reintroduced from Pikmin 2. These are multi-level dungeons where you can’t grow new pikmin. But they’re so easy, with no real time limit, that they really do seem pointlessly trivial.”

“We’re not sure how many hardcore Pikmin fans there are in the world, but some people are bound to complain that the series has been dumbed down. But that’s not how it comes across. You might instead say that it’s been repositioned, and since the original formula has been treading water for so long a more varied and accessible sequel is entirely welcome.We doubt it’s suddenly going to catapult the franchise into best-seller territory, but it’s still not quite like any other video game around, and all the changes and improvements to Pikmin 4 are certain to grow its audience far beyond the original games.”

Metro 8/10

“One of the most prominent apps on my phone is a simple to-do list app. I have a handful of recurring tasks every month or year, along with whatever I jot down as a reminder. It took me more than 20 hours with Pikmin 4 before I identified that the sensation it evoked was the same as that of completing my to-do list. Pikmin 4 is a game, sure, but it’s also a sort of low-impact activity that gives you the same satisfaction of checking off a list of small, relatively simple tasks. That makes it pleasant to play, but that quality also makes it feel discordant when it briefly adds elements that provide a mild but noticeable degree of pressure–elements that make it more traditionally “game-like.” On the whole, I think I prefer Pikmin the activity to Pikmin the game.”

“For the times that you absolutely can’t avoid losing Pikmin, there is now a new Rewind Time feature. Previous Pikmin games have offered a do-over at the end of the day, but Pikmin 4 expands the concept by regularly saving. You can’t manually save during a day, and it’s easy to see how that would be too exploitable, but the auto-saves typically happen every 2-5 minutes, so you never lose too much progress. For those who are very protective of their Pikmin, it’s a huge convenience feature to just rewind a few minutes and try an encounter again if you ran into trouble in the interim.”

“That story, like most of Pikmin 4, is gentle and unobtrusive. It’s all just very agreeable and sweet, and there’s a certain gratification that comes from directing your little army of plant-people to gather treasures like fruits and Game Boy Advance cartridges. The more Pikmin 4 leans into fashioning itself after a more traditional game, with competition and fail-states, the more prone it is to getting in its own way. Sometimes, it’s enough to simply have a relaxing activity.”

GameSpot 7/10