Splatoon is one of Nintendo’s biggest experiments in years: it represents a moment where Nintendo sort of almost actually paid attention to what the rest of the world had been doing for the last decade or two, then decided to put their own stamp on it.
I think that’s a great thing.
And I like it. A lot. I like it I think, because I also love Mario Sunshine, which operated on a similar basis: spraying walls and floors with something that then has an impact on your ability to move through that environment is rewarding as all hell. Place that concept into a competitive third-person shooter and you have a recipe for glorious chaos.
Another thing I love about Splatoon: the character designs. It manages to feel gloriously current whilst still retaining its Nintendo-ness: that in itself is quite the oxymoron, but Nintendo really has managed to craft a quirky middle-ground between the cutting-edge and the traditional.
That filters through to the mechanics themselves, which are essentially a neat twist on the type of games we’ve been playing for years. That’s what Splatoon is in a single phrase: a neat twist.
How are you finding Splatoon so far? Let us know in the comments.
Comments
18 responses to “Community Review: Splatoon”
You’re a kid now, you’re a squid now,
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Best steam style review ever.
Pretty much all games should be reviewed with this as a basis. “Witcher 3 is great and all, but you’re neither a kid nor a squid.”
Haven’t picked it up yet, my internet is a bit shit to be honest. Just waiting for the NBN. The fibre went past some time ago, just waiting for the hookup.
I’ve been watching some YouTube gamers play it. It looks interesting and everyone says it is fun. I might pick it up this weekend or sooner.
It’s flipping amazing. And addictive, in the best way
The Japanese players got their own regional matchmakibg on the weekend!
I went from only seeing Japanese names since release to not seeing any all weekend. Now I’m playing loads of Europeans, so the lag’s still crap, but at least I understand the names.
The splat zone game mode is lots of fun, but it’s pointless as a ranked mode. The teams are too unpredictable to actually have meaningful rankings. When the party system is added things will make much more sense, but it’s pointless as of now.
The ink brush is stupid fun. The speed is intoxicating, and I play it even if I know I could be doing better with a regular gun. :p
Being able to read hiragana and katakana finally came in useful playing Splatoon!
Wait, so they’re matching us with Europeans now? The ping from here to Europe is a lot higher than it is to Japan… so that sucks…
Fantastic. The movement mechanics make it fun to just move around, they really nailed it. Wasn’t convinced with the motion controls at first but they’re second nature now. Can’t go back to the sticks.
Can’t wait for a sequel that expands on the solid base they’ve created.
I like swimming through the ink and claiming I am a dolphin. I just wish that we could actually pick the colour we want. Still, I like the fact that in rounds, people who were your enemies can become your teammates in the next one
If you find that you’re playing as the colour you want, there is actually an option called Colour Lock which (I believe) keeps the colours fixed.
Terribly, awfully addictive. Pretty sure I’ve been playing every single day since it came out, if only to buy and level up the new gear that the stores get refreshed with at midnight.
Thankfully not quite putting as much time into it as that first week. Think I’m a little over a hundred hours now.
My WiiU is at my new place (in the process of moving at the moment) and so I’ve only played the tutorial and first 6 levels of the single player at a mate’s.
That being said – the controls are everything I’ve wanted in a shooter since the days of the Sixaxis. Why I haven’t been able to use the sticks as usual and then tilt the control pad for finer aim adjustment before is beyond me. The first game I played which implemented it AT ALL was Killzone: Mercenary on Vita. Splatoon now taking that control scheme and running with it is awesome.
It’s severely impacting my study time this exam season. It’s soooo easy to say “oh why not one more game?” when games are so fast. The mechanics are fun and intuitive, and there’s so many weapons and variations of those weapons that pretty much everyone will find one they enjoy. I personally love the .52 Gal Deco, Kraken Splat Roller and the Splattershot Junior and Pro.
The single player is also a great campaign, and the final boss is freaking awesome.
The only bad thing I have to say about this game is that no local splitscreen is really lame 🙁 It’s a great game to play with friends, but not being able to play on the couch together unless you’re playing 1v1 via tv/gamepad kinda sucks. I want more splitscreen games so I can be social while gaming!
It is waaaaaaay too addictive. Just needs a little more content in terms of maps and modes and we’ll be golden, but I’m extremely happy with what we’ve got anyway.
Played the hell out of it, then realized other players were ridiculously OP.
It’s been collecting dust for the past two weeks.
Absolutely love it! even moreso than I thought I would. The one trigger and one mechanic of being in squid form has so many different types of usage its amazing, you can stealth it you can run away you can ambush. I’m really impressed I enjoy online shooters but this really nailed it for me its that sort of fun with different play styles without having military shit shoved down your throat, paint balling seems a lot more fun to me than going to war.
I bought a WiiU and a monitor to play this. Have been at work past few days but plan to put in some time tonight between streams.