Splatoon |
8/10
James Davie |
DEV: Nintendo
PUB: Nintendo
RELEASE DATE: 29/05/2015
FORMAT: WiiU
Skittles, Sunset Overdrive, Rubik's Cubes, flowers, rainbows. What do all these have in common you ask? They're all the fruit pastels of life. No it's not because they are chewy or saturated in glucose, rather they're all vibrant and colourful, full of levity and whimsy, the stuff hippies love with their flowery wagons and quirky personae. You know who else loves the liquorice of life? Children of course. This is why Nintendo's Splatoon was designed, to appeal to kids and the young at heart, compensating through the rejuvenation of the third person shooter, replacing MKs, AKs and TK's with paint rollers, brushes and squids. The Wii U is about to be covered in the florescent goo of innovation and imagination because Splatoon is a rollicking good time.
Starting off in a hub area known as Inkopolis, you are introduced to two female newscasters called Callie and Marie. Together both of them give regular updates about new and existing content, but the regularity is overbearing. As personalities the two of them feed off each other nicely with snarky comments, and they both look like they've entered Dracula's Gothic domain to plunder his liquor cabinet. They remind us to stay fresh, although they both look like they need a shower and some perfume. There's no option to fully skip their news feeds, so you'll have to sit there and endure them until you're given control, but the updates are an admirable touch, softly reminding you of Tomodachi Life's news broadcasts and cloying for the nonchalant randomness they exerted.
When the game lets you free to explore the hub world, you'll be inquisitively visiting shops to see what they offer, although most of the clothes, guns and gear are gated off until you level up in multiplayer. The incentive to crack on with multiplayer to earn these rewards is satisfying, allowing you a sense of accomplishment, unlocking items that progressively feel more powerful, tying in with increased levelling as you'd expect, but more modes and a higher level cap would've helped make the most of the equipment.
Multiplayer after all is Splatoon's major attraction. There is one ranked and one non-ranked game mode, which isn't much at all, but what you'll find is an engrossing and appealing alternative to standardised multiplayer shooters. Turf Wars has you covering as much of the map as possible in your team's colour before the three minute timer expires. Every blot of paint ramps up the personal score multiplier used to level up. A simple yet endlessly addicting headliner, Turf Wars is all about messiness, using your selected weapon and power up to tarmac the surfaces in goop.
PUB: Nintendo
RELEASE DATE: 29/05/2015
FORMAT: WiiU
Skittles, Sunset Overdrive, Rubik's Cubes, flowers, rainbows. What do all these have in common you ask? They're all the fruit pastels of life. No it's not because they are chewy or saturated in glucose, rather they're all vibrant and colourful, full of levity and whimsy, the stuff hippies love with their flowery wagons and quirky personae. You know who else loves the liquorice of life? Children of course. This is why Nintendo's Splatoon was designed, to appeal to kids and the young at heart, compensating through the rejuvenation of the third person shooter, replacing MKs, AKs and TK's with paint rollers, brushes and squids. The Wii U is about to be covered in the florescent goo of innovation and imagination because Splatoon is a rollicking good time.
Starting off in a hub area known as Inkopolis, you are introduced to two female newscasters called Callie and Marie. Together both of them give regular updates about new and existing content, but the regularity is overbearing. As personalities the two of them feed off each other nicely with snarky comments, and they both look like they've entered Dracula's Gothic domain to plunder his liquor cabinet. They remind us to stay fresh, although they both look like they need a shower and some perfume. There's no option to fully skip their news feeds, so you'll have to sit there and endure them until you're given control, but the updates are an admirable touch, softly reminding you of Tomodachi Life's news broadcasts and cloying for the nonchalant randomness they exerted.
When the game lets you free to explore the hub world, you'll be inquisitively visiting shops to see what they offer, although most of the clothes, guns and gear are gated off until you level up in multiplayer. The incentive to crack on with multiplayer to earn these rewards is satisfying, allowing you a sense of accomplishment, unlocking items that progressively feel more powerful, tying in with increased levelling as you'd expect, but more modes and a higher level cap would've helped make the most of the equipment.
Multiplayer after all is Splatoon's major attraction. There is one ranked and one non-ranked game mode, which isn't much at all, but what you'll find is an engrossing and appealing alternative to standardised multiplayer shooters. Turf Wars has you covering as much of the map as possible in your team's colour before the three minute timer expires. Every blot of paint ramps up the personal score multiplier used to level up. A simple yet endlessly addicting headliner, Turf Wars is all about messiness, using your selected weapon and power up to tarmac the surfaces in goop.
The ranked battle is dubbed Splat Zones. Here, you and your team aim to take charge of zones on a map and protect for as long as possible before being thwarted by the opposition. The mode replaces traditional levelling with a grade system. Ranked battles are harder to win, encouraging actual teamwork between individuals, rather than the free-for-all mayhem of Turf Wars.
Weaponry starts out with basic single-shot pistols, which see a few evolutions the more you level up. More advanced tools like the splat-roller and the paint brush enables you to cover more ground and adhere to the arty-craftsy presentation. The former is easily the best tool for the job, and suits the mode perfectly. Rolling over enemy colours feels satisfying as your score meter rallies upwards but it's annoying that other inkables aren't as powerful. The sniper variant is great for catching toons unaware at high ground, potentially making for great skirmishes of marksmanship. The other weapons feel punchy and responsive, even if their use may be more limited than the arsenal already mentioned.
Another excellent feather in this mode's pained cap is the finely tuned balance. The match-ups are always unpredictable, and the pendulum can swing either way. Sometimes you'll feel outnumbered, the enemy swashing their colours over yours, constantly barraging and invading your territory, and splatting you again and again. But you always get the chance to splat-back, just as you think you'll lose, you may end up winning. More crucially, it doesn't matter where you decide to unload ink, as it all tallies up in the end; you'll always feel like you're helping your team even if you're not being the most active participant.
Morphing from kid to squid is a smoother and more fluid alternative to running. Here, you'll become more agile, able to avoid the opposition's pasting, crucially allowing you to soak up ink by swimming in it for a refill. The squid also gifts you with a special ability, such as a rocket you can fire, using the gamepad to select where it'll crash and explode. Squids dynamically ramp up the intensity and speed of each bout and the abilities are balanced, making for a rousing shooter that keeps things light but accessible and brilliant.
Weaponry starts out with basic single-shot pistols, which see a few evolutions the more you level up. More advanced tools like the splat-roller and the paint brush enables you to cover more ground and adhere to the arty-craftsy presentation. The former is easily the best tool for the job, and suits the mode perfectly. Rolling over enemy colours feels satisfying as your score meter rallies upwards but it's annoying that other inkables aren't as powerful. The sniper variant is great for catching toons unaware at high ground, potentially making for great skirmishes of marksmanship. The other weapons feel punchy and responsive, even if their use may be more limited than the arsenal already mentioned.
Another excellent feather in this mode's pained cap is the finely tuned balance. The match-ups are always unpredictable, and the pendulum can swing either way. Sometimes you'll feel outnumbered, the enemy swashing their colours over yours, constantly barraging and invading your territory, and splatting you again and again. But you always get the chance to splat-back, just as you think you'll lose, you may end up winning. More crucially, it doesn't matter where you decide to unload ink, as it all tallies up in the end; you'll always feel like you're helping your team even if you're not being the most active participant.
Morphing from kid to squid is a smoother and more fluid alternative to running. Here, you'll become more agile, able to avoid the opposition's pasting, crucially allowing you to soak up ink by swimming in it for a refill. The squid also gifts you with a special ability, such as a rocket you can fire, using the gamepad to select where it'll crash and explode. Squids dynamically ramp up the intensity and speed of each bout and the abilities are balanced, making for a rousing shooter that keeps things light but accessible and brilliant.
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Single player serves as a side dish, an entrée to the multiplayer's main course. Visiting the troubled Octo Valley, you are on a 27 level quest to collect Zapfish and save them from the nefarious hands of the Octarians, a renegade crack squad of splatters, serving as the evil crew in the campaign. You navigate Octo Valley by climbing and clambering to reach platforms whereby you can access circular drains to suck yourself into to begin each level. The Gamepad can be used to reach specific areas of the map, which will save you the frustration of finding the right level you want to complete. Trailing drains of ink are accessible in each area, networked to help you reach certain spots within the zone you're exploring.
Throughout the levels you'll be contending with clown-like purple goo spitting baddies, obese birds, pesky worms, agile Octarians and invincible metal ink vacuuming critters, aiming to make life difficult by consuming the ink you've carefully splatted to reach otherwise unreachable surfaces, but precise splatting is the answer to most of the problems you happen across. The environments also need to be contended with as bending and rotating platforms along with invisible ramps and floors you'll need to splat in order to visualise the ground beneath you. You'll come up against a handful of bosses, whose secret tentacles need to combust for you to obtain the final zapfish in the area. Boss fights are reminiscent of Zelda and are impressive to look at and fun to fight. The only challenging boss is the final one, but together they do embellish Splatoon with even more juicy creativeness due to how big and menacing they are.
Ok its confession time, the single player adventure may make you want a drink. All the colours and the repeated utterence of SPLAT will just curl your thirst for a summer beverage. The same can be true of the multiplayer, but that's enough of going off on a tangent. The campaign and its stages aren't story driven and you'll be done in a few hours, but it can hardly be labelled as an accessory to the multiplayer. If anything it makes your prowess at multiplayer more refined, with many opportunities for you to make daring dives and more splats. Like the game as a whole, the single player is just a pleasure to play, even if it is light and not very long at all.
The Wii U has built up a steady supply of quality games in recent years. The typical staples of Zelda, Mario and Donkey Kong have had their iterations this Nintendo generation. But every now and then there are a few games that don't star the big Nintendo icons, that propel themselves into the pantheon of big names. Sure the Octarians, kids and squids aren't a single character with suave and attitude, but it has enough splattitude (sorry) for its characters to pop up in the next instalment of Smash Bros or Mario Kart. There's a lot of charm in Splatoon, and great love and care has gone into crafting the painterly exuberance of its world. Don't let the few hours of single player and content limited multiplayer get in the way- this is the most creative Nintendo game not to star its usual cast of anthropomorphic or bubbly characters. Now splats what you call epic.
Throughout the levels you'll be contending with clown-like purple goo spitting baddies, obese birds, pesky worms, agile Octarians and invincible metal ink vacuuming critters, aiming to make life difficult by consuming the ink you've carefully splatted to reach otherwise unreachable surfaces, but precise splatting is the answer to most of the problems you happen across. The environments also need to be contended with as bending and rotating platforms along with invisible ramps and floors you'll need to splat in order to visualise the ground beneath you. You'll come up against a handful of bosses, whose secret tentacles need to combust for you to obtain the final zapfish in the area. Boss fights are reminiscent of Zelda and are impressive to look at and fun to fight. The only challenging boss is the final one, but together they do embellish Splatoon with even more juicy creativeness due to how big and menacing they are.
Ok its confession time, the single player adventure may make you want a drink. All the colours and the repeated utterence of SPLAT will just curl your thirst for a summer beverage. The same can be true of the multiplayer, but that's enough of going off on a tangent. The campaign and its stages aren't story driven and you'll be done in a few hours, but it can hardly be labelled as an accessory to the multiplayer. If anything it makes your prowess at multiplayer more refined, with many opportunities for you to make daring dives and more splats. Like the game as a whole, the single player is just a pleasure to play, even if it is light and not very long at all.
The Wii U has built up a steady supply of quality games in recent years. The typical staples of Zelda, Mario and Donkey Kong have had their iterations this Nintendo generation. But every now and then there are a few games that don't star the big Nintendo icons, that propel themselves into the pantheon of big names. Sure the Octarians, kids and squids aren't a single character with suave and attitude, but it has enough splattitude (sorry) for its characters to pop up in the next instalment of Smash Bros or Mario Kart. There's a lot of charm in Splatoon, and great love and care has gone into crafting the painterly exuberance of its world. Don't let the few hours of single player and content limited multiplayer get in the way- this is the most creative Nintendo game not to star its usual cast of anthropomorphic or bubbly characters. Now splats what you call epic.
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+Excellent and addictive multiplayer offerings.
+Single player is inventive and isn't just a side attraction. +SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLATTING! -Anaemic amount of content. -Little replay value. -Some weapons are way more powerful than others. |
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