Splatoon

I gotta say that when I first saw footage of Splatoon last E3 I thought to myself; "Yeah that looks pretty dumb..." But now that I've finally got my hands on it and have been playing it for some time now I am thoroughly eating my words. This game is incredibly original and addictive! The ink mechanics feel great and allow for strategic movement around each of the game's 6 different maps [note: I'd originally written this review last year, weeks after the game's launch, so of course tons of maps have been added since then absolutely free, some pretty dope maps I might add!]. The weapons in the game are wildly creative, with my personal favourite being the "Krak-On Splat Roller", and large paint roller that allows you to become a freaking Kraken once you've covered enough territory. Speaking of which, I love the game's emphasises on controlling territory as opposed to killing each other, it makes for a really unique take on this over crowded shooter genre, and it actually encourages teamwork unlike the many shooters out there that reward individual feats like kill streaks.

Being that this is a very team based game the lack of voice chat was a turn off at first but soon after; I realised that it wasn't really a big deal. This game's objectives are pretty easy to grasp and it's not very hard to gain basic strategies that work universally. If your team is condensed in one area of the map you should probably venture off and take a different section of the map. If no one is defending your base then make a point to go back and fend off intruders. It's not rocket science!!! And the spastic nature of this game allows for last minute victories, so even if your team in behaving totally incompetent in the first three quarters of the match you can still pull a victory out of your a** somehow!... It happens!..... The one big problem that messes up many matches in Splatoon is if people drop out mid-match and leave a team totally handicapped, now that's no fun! >:( My favourite mode in Splatoon's multiplayer is the standard turf war, [but I also had some fun with the "tower defence" and "capture the flag" modes that were added a few months after launch]. Not being able to switch load-outs between matches didn't bother me much because jumping back into online matches from the overworld was pretty quick and easy for the most part.

The game's single player "story mode" is surprisingly deep! The different single player missions are brief yet they feature fantastic plat-forming action and creative boss battles. I'm also in love with the game's sense of style; from the bright and colourful art style to the hilarious NPCs/Shopkeepers, and to the games emphasis on fashion; all of this makes the game world feel very alive and vibrant. My biggest complaint with the game is the lack of maps, modes, and content within the game's multiplayer [immediately after launch that is. Again Nintendo added a ton of content post launch fixing a lot of this]. I hate having to play the same maps OVER & OVER again to the point where the game begins to lose it's sense of surprise. I also wish the maps were a bit more creative and interactive as well, they certainly don't elicit as much creativity as the rest of the game does. Overall though; this game is super fun and addictive, a must have for the WiiU! :3

Many were doubtful that Nintendo could deliver a console-selling game for the Wii U after launch that was a new IP, and a shooter no less. I was among those. I thought that Splatoon would surely be fun, but not become the massive game that it did. To be frank, the Wii U isn’t doing great in terms of an expanding library of games. Yoshi’s Woolly World was a great platformer, but nothing new and Super Mario Maker’s fun lies greatly in one’s enjoyment of content creation, something that may require a massive player-base to be sustainable. Now, in comes Splatoon with bright colours flyin’ everywhere, rollers and guns going every which way, and just offering a bright, fun, and, most of all, new experience for Nintendo fans. Wii U fans are still waiting for their console to have the library they know it deserves, but Splatoon definitely is a big part of this category.

The soundtrack itself is easily the catchiest I've heard in years. The shooting mechanics feel just right, the graphics are so wonderful, and I can't praise this game enough for everything it does right. Now, there are some quips here and there: I'd like to have match rotations include more than 2 maps, and I think there could be some more online support of interactions to do outside of posting on walls. Really though, these are all things I'm expecting in the sequel, because I do expect a sequel.

For the most part, I'm very much a person who's focused on single-player campaigns for shooters, whether they be first-person or third-person. Well, at least when there is a campaign available, since I definitely enjoy playing games like Team Fortress 2 or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (when I feel like installing them and playing them, that is). So when I finally decided to play Splatoon, this would normally be something that I'd pick up for a few sessions, play through the campaign, and then set down possibly forever. Nothing more.

...except that didn't happen. Really, I was sold on this before it launched because I played the Global Testfire out of curiosity beforehand and got surprisingly hooked on that. And for a long while I pretty much ignored the campaign completely. Not intentionally, mind you, since I did plan on giving it a shot, it's just that these short 3-minute bursts of shooting ink everywhere is just so fun. And other elements of it like the vibrant world and the amazingly fun and catchy soundtrack* certainly help with it's appeal for me.

The thing about the campaign is that it, while pretty short, is surprisingly a great time as well! While it's still very much a third-person shooter, the level designs and various extra mechanics present turn it into a borderline-platformer that's just a lot of fun.