Terrorarium

Think of this one as an off-brand Pikmin game. Terrorarium was clearly inspired by the adventures of Nintendo's tiny Captain Olimar, a crash-prone astronaut who enlists the help of local sentient plants to clear obstacles and battle enemies. Several identical mechanics -- such as using a whistle to summon followers and throwing them at obstacles -- are brought to bear in Terrorarium, along with the concept of followers with different abilities. Terrorarium is a bit saucier, though, thanks to its portrait of a ruthless, uncaring alien granny gardener. The ability to create and share your own levels is also novel, though this part of the Terrorarium experience feels only half-finished, since there aren't really goals or even any sort of formal guidance in how to start building (thankfully, it's not that hard to figure out through trial and error).

While levels in Pikmin games tend to be lengthy and comprise multiple puzzles and enemy encounters that build off of each other, Terrorarium's levels are generally much shorter and less complex. That makes it easy to work through several in a single play session. Unfortunately, Terrorarium's developers haven't been able to replicate the impressive artificial intelligence of Nintendo's Pikmin. Moogus are constantly getting stuck on obstacles or wandering into dangerous areas. And if you lose too many to complete key objectives, it's game over. The only way to reliably keep them safe is to constantly jam on the whistle button so that they can't meander too far off. It's an inelegant and annoying solution, but it usually works. Terrorarium lacks the polish and personality of the Pikmin games, but fans of Nintendo's series who've been waiting years for a new entry might be able to satisfy their itch for bossing around wee creatures with this unabashed clone.