The skinny:
First off, relegate the 45-page instruction manual to drink coaster duty and stick with the built-in tutorial. What seems outrageously complex on paper—propagating, herding and commanding sentient little plant-men called Pikmin—is actually easier than intimidating the elderly once you start playing. The controls make a lot of sense even if the story line (which revolves around collecting enough "treasure" to bail out your indebted interstellar freight company) seems like something Hunter S. Thompson would have found scrawled on his bathroom mirror after a mescaline binge.

If you liked this game, you'd like:
Pikmin, Viewtiful Joe, researching how to start your own cult

Hours to complete:
The game is completely open-ended. The goal is to collect 10,000 credits' worth of treasure (bottle caps, orange rinds, batteries, etc.), but there is no time limit, and some levels randomly generate new maps. A new head-to-head mode even lets you pit your Pikmin management skills against a friend, nemesis or hostage.

Tantalizing tidbits:
Flat-out weird does not begin to describe this highly addictive title. You become so attached to your herds that it kind of hurts when you lose a Pikmin or two to drowning or carnivorous giant beetles. It's like losing a child. A fat, little purple child with a flower budding out of his forehead. Assign mini-hordes of Pikmin to tasks like taking treasure back to your ship or knocking down walls. The little ones prove that, like prison riots and monster truck rallies, there is insurmountable strength in numbers.

Buy, rent or run away screaming?
It's worth buying a GameCube just to play it.