Pikmin 1 without the timelimit

The original Pikmin is quite well known, so arguably I don't have to launch into a lengthy back-story this time. For those who don't know, it is basically Shigsy's take on a real time strategy game. Rather than your commander controlling troops with a mouse by pointing and clicking, your commander actually appears on the battlefield (and can take damage and die). You control him in third person by moving the analogue stick, and can control the troops nearby him by using his whistle on the B button (used for selecting a team or cancelling orders), move his team around with the C-stick (used for controlling formation, and mass bundling enemies), and throw troops (literally) at whatever task you want them to do with the A button. The aim of the game was to build up your supply of troops (the pikmin in this case) by harvesting flowers/dead enemies, conquer the maps by wiping out every enemy or threat that was a problem, and then finally try and find the parts of Olimar's - your commander's - spaceship, so he could escape the planet.
Suffice to say, it's probably one of the best games released near the launch of the system. It's short length meant that, like Luigi's Mansion, it was debatable whether it was worth a full price tag, however when it went on budget label that problem went out of the window - seriously, if you haven't played the first Pikmin you need to, it was such a good game.
But, why am I bringing that up now? Surely you can play the game without playing the first in the series? Well, yes, of course you can. The game re-explains all of the controls, which is slightly annoying because you can't turn that off if you already know. But that's not why I'm bring that up.
After the first day - which basically acts as a tutorial for people who have never played the series before, and as a reminder for everyone else who has not played in a couple of years - in terms of style and play the game continues on pretty much where the last left off. While you are told all of the controls, knowledge of the tactics from the first game can be immediately applied. I'd highly recommend that you play the first game first, simply because they are supposed to be played in that order.

So, anyway, you have played the first game, but what can you expect from this one? When loading up the game, you'll notice a lot of additions/tweaks.
The pikmin's AI is pretty much the same in this game, but there are some welcome changes. Pikmin now actually make some effort to avoid traps or hazards such as water. Previously, members of your team would often just walk in if you weren't very careful with your formation, meaning that a large number of your party was suddenly dead, but in this game they do keep away from it a bit better, whilst still trying to follow you. Another welcome change is that the developers have at least realised this flaw, and have made water and other traps less dangerous. Previously, if your pikmin touched water or another trap they were pretty much dead - there was not much you could do unless you caught them just as they went in and called them back . Now, you have the ability to save any pikmin who is about to die by calling them back with the whistle. In some cases you realise that it wouldn't really be needed if the controls were a bit less fiddly, but it's good that the developers give you a way around the problem now rather than just let it happen, and in other cases it does actually make a difference to the game - alert commanders can save their troops from the various traps if they call them in time, making for less casualties if the player is on the ball.
Another addition is a second commander, which you can switch to and from using the right trigger.. Whilst you can only play as one at a time (where is the co-op mode that was promised..?) it does help that you can have two commanders, covering two areas of the battlefield.

But probably the biggest new addition to the game play are the "caves" - they are called caves, but in all honestly they're really dungeons. I'm amazed no-one has really thought of putting dungeons into a RTS type game before. (Well, arguably Baldurs Gate did, but they were so utterly awful it's hardly worth bringing up.)
Scattered around the levels are entrances to the caves. Inside, time stands still meaning that you can take your time to solve the puzzles however you see fit. Just as in dungeon crawlers like Dark Cloud you also get to save your game every floor, meaning that if you don't like how you've done then you can reload your save and try the floor again. The dungeons aren't randomly generated in this case, however your starting location in each floor is randomly picked.
But, don't read the last paragraph and start thinking that the caves are easy. When you enter, you are leaving your base and any reinforcements behind. You have to get through the whole cave on one team of pikmin, and on one health bar. (Well, two if you count your 2nd commander.) Your only grace (other than reloading your save) are the occasional escape holes, which basically let the player escape from the dungeon without finishing it. (But unlike most dungeon crawlers, you have to start at the beginning of the dungeon again with all the monsters still alive when re-entering. The only weird thing about this is that most of the challenge from the floors comes from collecting everything, not reaching the exit - in fact, if you just run past everything with one of your commanders and go to the next floor, the rest of your team will go with him, wherever they were in the stage. Seeing as you can just run back to where you were, this makes the lack of a floor select a bit curious.
A tough boss usually lurks at the bottom of each cave (thankfully just after a save point). You may be wondering how a boss works in a RTS. Basically, they are just tougher versions of the enemies, with harsher attacks, higher hit points and a trick to beating them. Learning how to keep the pikmin out of danger is just as important as learning how to hurt your opponent. Most attacks can be either avoided or at least do less damage to your troops if you work out how to dodge them, or when to pull your men back.
Your reward for clearing each cave, as well as all of the treasure in it, is usually some kind of power up for your commanders. For example, one boosts their defence, one boosts their whistle range, one adds a powerful third attack to their combo. Some are useful abilities such as a torch for dark places, whilst others are silly things, such as a sleeping bag for taking a nap.

And the final thing that is different is the pace of the game. Unlike the first game, there is no 30 day time limit. Apart from the nagging from Olimar's boss, every evening, there is no hurry to progress, meaning that you can spend time building up your army, or just mucking about and taking things in your stride. Another difference is that to see the ending, you need only collect a set worth of items. (Unlike in the first game when it was a race against time to collect every part. Not all were compulsory, but critically you had no idea which ones were needed. And besides, the ending gained for getting them all was worth trying to see ^_^)
Interestingly, the game "ends" half way through. After the credits roll, you get the option to jump back in and play the remaining half. A very interesting choice, but I think Nintendo chose to do this to keep the scoring system from the previous game - getting to that point will take you roughly the same amount of time as it takes to finish the first game.
As soon as you have found most of the basic abilities, the game becomes very open-ended. You only need really to complete two out of the three levels to get enough money to see the (first) ending, after which clearing the remainder of everything is left for you to do if you want to. Also after clearing the first part, you get a forth area open to explore, which is much tougher than the previous areas. (Oh, yes there are only 4 levels, however that's four areas - each area has a ton to do in it, as well as about 5 dungeons each.)

I have only two problems with the game.
The first is the enemies: they respawn after a period of two days. In the original, once you killed an enemy, so long as you managed to get it back to base and remove the body from the field, then it was dead forever. In Pikmin 2, whether or not you collect the corpse, everything respawns after two days. Having to again clear out areas that you have previously been to, when you want to go back there to collect something else, is a complete pain in the behind considering how short the days are. It forces you to to rush through areas in two days before the enemies come back and the way is cut off, and it means that more time is wasted clearing them out again.
The second (and it's a picky one, I'll admit) is that it I miss is the sense of adventure from the first one, where Olimar was all alone on the planet, completely out of contact with anyone else, and slowly learnt about the pikmin. The story is now no longer narrated by Olimar (although his take on things is available in the extras), but by the computer in the company's spaceship, which just ends up being annoying.

Anyway, a score. I'm not sure how much meaning these numbers at the end of reviews have, seeing as I usually review games that I enjoy and then score them highly. Well, anyway, I enjoyed this, so I'm going to give it 9.5 out of 10.
Why so high? Well, it may not be that grandiose, but it's a very fun game, and there really isn't much I have found that is wrong with it.