Pikmin 3's story mode from the very start of the game for 90-minutes.

So I thought I'd put together a quick preview talking about my impressions of the game thus

far.

But before we start, please keep in mind that I don't have video and screenshots of everything

I saw, so the footage may not always match up perfect.

So Pikmin 3 begins with a fully-narrated opening that explains that the Planet of Koppai is

running dangerously low on food. But fortunately, one of the probes that they the planet's inhabitants

sent out, called SPAROs, discovered a distant plant that proved to be quite...fruitful.

Literally.

The game then picks up following a small crew consisting of Alph, Brittany, and Charilie,

who've been sent to that same planet to retrieve fruit seeds and bring them back home to to

grow food.

But of course, something goes horribly wrong, and the spaceship crash lands, ejecting its

three occupants, with each one landing in entirely different areas of this mysterious

planet--a planet, that's of course, filled with Pikmin..

And those Pikmin are of course the key to playing the game, as you probably very well

know. Like in past games, you can still control up to 100 of them at a time, and you'll use

them for almost everything, whether it's battling enemies or retrieving the fruit your home

planet so desperately needs.

But that fruit serves a more immediate need too, as your team actually uses it for food

too at the end of each day. Which means that there is an overall time-limit like Pikmin

1, except this time, you can keep adding to it by finding more fruit.

It seems to be a pretty clever mechanic that'll force you to budget your time accordingly,

without being quite as stress-inducing as the strickt 30-day time limit in the first

Pikmin game.

Though if you mess up, you can simply retry from any day that you've already played

And speaking of days, the first one acts as a tutorial of sorts to get you used to the

gameplay. And you'll actually first take control of the crew's Captain Charilie, who's crash-landed

in an area laced with snow.

But you only control him for a brief segment until he stumbles across some Yellow Pikmin

who help him reach a nearby cave for shelter.

At which point, the game switches focus to Alph, which is where the game really begins.

Now he's landed in a decidedly more pleasant area, known as Tropical Wilds. And it's not

long before he stumbles across the Red Pikmin, their Onion home, as well as a handy iPad-like

device known as the Koppad, which is accessed via the GamePad.

Okay, so that's a lot to take in, but the game actually does a great job easing you

into it.

And part of that is thanks to the new data entries you find scattered around the environment

that were left behind by none other than Captain Olimer from the previous games, who's apparently

been around these parts before.

Now these data entries are basically tips or short tutorials that are automatically

downloaded to your Koppad, where they can be easily perused at any time by using the

GamePad.

In fact, the Koppad plays a pretty big role in the game, providing quick access to all

kinds of useful information, such as a map that displays the location of all of your

Pikmin that you can scroll with your finger, or various information sub-screens such as

one that gives the status of your Pikmin, such as how many are actively working versus

sitting there doing nothing, as well as information on all the fruit you've found so far and how

much food each one provides

One of its cooler abilities is to being able to tap a location on the map and send any

of your characters and their Pikmin to that spot automatically--yep, they'll just straight

up walk their themselves, allowing you to use the other characters for more important

matters in the meantime.

Now even though Pikmin 3 isn't the first game in the series to allow access to multiple

playable characters, it is the first to really make use of it. For instance, once we regrouped

with Brittany on Day 2 in another region called Garden of Hope, we immediately had to throw

her up to a ledge, along with some Pikmin, so she could then toss those Pikmin to a higher

ledge to grab a lemon located above.

And it seems situations like this will pop up throughout the game, such as when we had

to throw a small crew across a river to create a bridge that the rest of our group could

use to cross.

Now that bridge actually lead us to the boss fight with a giant centipede. But he's protected

by a hard shell--and this is where the new Rock Pikmin come into play. Their rough exteriors

are the only things able to break through the shell, exposing its soft-interior, which

you'll then want to throw Red Pikmin at since their attaks are stronger.

Now managing your Pikmin types could be a little tricky in past games, but it's been

vastly improved in Pikmin 3. Like before, you can still switch between Pikmin types

with a press of a button, but mercifully, that type will stay selected, even if you

touch a Pikmin of a different color, unlike past games.

Which is a huge improvement, especially during hectic boss battles

Even the act of pulling your Pikmin from their Onion home has been simplified. You see, Instead

of there being an onion for each Pikmi-type, you now pull them all fromt he same onion,

which simplifies things greatly

And what's really cool about this is that, by holding the "Z button" on the nunchuck,

you can actually pull out equal numbers of each Pikmin-type without having to do manually

it one-by-one. It's a great addition that really streamlines things.

The controls, too, have seen some similarly smart additions--especially when using the

Wii Remote and Nunchuck, which allows you to move around and aim Pikmin independently

of one another using the pointer. It feels faster and tighter than past Pikmin games,

while also greatly expanding the range of your whstle to summon Pikmin back. more easily

In addition, you can quickly dispatch an entire group of Pikmin to an objective by locking

onto the desired target and shaking the Nunchuck, causing them all to move there at once.

Now you can play using just the Gamepad too, but it handles more like the GameCube ones,

locking your movement to the cursor. While it might be a little easier to handle for

newcomers, it also means you can't aim fast or with as much dexterity--for instance, it's

impossible to run away from an enemy while throwing Pikmin at them.

But on the upside, it does give you full camera control with the right-control stick, which

is missing if using just the Wii Remote and Nunchuck.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the GamePad's motion-controls from last year's E3 that did

allow you to move the cursor independently of your character are completely gone--but

honestly, it's not a big loss

Although you can still move the Gamepad around to aim in the game's new first-person camera

mode, that allows you to snap pictures at any time and share them to Miiverse.

It seems like this has the potential to be a really cool feature, especially since you

can snap some really beautiful shots.

And let me tell you, this is a really great looking game. From how the water reactions

while walking through it to the eerily-realistic sheen on a Bulborbs eyes, the game is simply

beautiful.

Really, there's not a single moment of my 90-minutes with game that I didn't enjoy.

Nearly every aspect has been improved in some way--the controls feel great, the Pikmin are

smarter in that they no longer get hung up on objects when following you around, and

the controls work magnificently so far.

In short, I'm more stoked than ever to play more. And luckily we won't have long to wait

as it comes out in the US on Aug 4th.

Thanks for watching and make sure to keep an eye on GameXplain.com for more on Pikmin

3 and other things gaming too