Review: With ‘Pikmin 4,’ Nintendo finally nails the right controls for a strategy game

'Pikmin 4' has plenty of improvements to controls and upgrades to gameplay, including a space dog helper named Oatchi. — Photos: Nintendo/TNS

Whenever anyone says you can’t do a real-time strategy game on consoles, the obvious answer to that is “Pikmin.” Nintendo’s series about Lilliputian spacefarers who crash land on an Earth-like planet has been captivating fans since the GameCube.

The plots are generally the same. Explorers end up as castaways on a mysterious planet dubbed PNF-404, and they have to find a way to return home. That’s easier said than done, though, because the environment is hostile from the fauna all the way to the air, with oxygen levels toxic to the space travelers.