Pikmin 4 review – a gardener’s fever dream

Nintendo Switch; Nintendo
Nintendo's outwardly bucolic strategy sequel may just as well be titled Parental Anxiety: The Video Game

As I survey the garden from my miniature spaceship - watching a team of minions breaking down a brick wall over there, another transporting treasure (a discarded rubber duck) back to base, and a third lot building a clay bridge - I feel a sense of peace and mastery, but also nagging annoyance. In real life I am the sort of person who forgets meetings and appointments even when they happen at the same time every week, can't multitask, and I am continually, unpleasantly surprised by how few hours I have at my disposal and how much there always is to cram into them. Why can't I manage myself half as well as I manage this virtual garden? Perhaps what I need is an army of tiny plant people as personal assistants.

Pikmin are cheerful, obedient creatures, colourful sprouts with eyes, some with noses and little boulder bodies. Each breed of them is suited to different tasks, such as digging, swimming or walking across hot lava on their tiny feet. You, a tiny spaceman, are part of a research and rescue crew that has crash-landed on a suspiciously Earth-like planet, and the Pikmin take a shine to you, allowing you to command them with your whistle in battles against garden beasties and an endless search for treasures. The descriptions of these finds are a highlight: in the minds of these tiny alien researchers, that toy duck becomes a Stately Rubber Cutie, a tennis ball a Sphere of Fuzzy Feelings. Do spend some time in the treasure catalogue - it is guaranteed to make you smile.