Nintendo’s New Splatoon Video Game Review

Nintendo’s “Splatoon” is a third-person shooter, with a strong focus on multiplayer gameplay, but it’s very colorful and cartoon-like. Users can play with paint guns and bombs to take down enemies, who disappear and re-spawn back into the game. The gyroscopic controls of the gamepad can potentially frustrate players, but they can be turned off. Players can challenge others online, but there’s no online communication available.

 

“Splatoon” lets you use paint as a weapon in solo or team-based matches. You get to choose what kind of “Inkling” you want to be, along with which weapon you will yield. You’re tasked with painting a level your particular color, as well as popping balloons, targeting enemy “Inklings”, painting walls and choosing the right time and place to change from humanoid to squid form, which temporarily makes you vulnerable as you submerge yourself in ink to suck up more ammunition. You can take on the game’s artificial intelligence (A.I.) in a solo campaign, playing against someone beside you on the same TV, or fighting online against other humans in up to four-on-four battles. Though not mandatory, the game also supports Nintendo’s amiibo characters – physical action-figure-like toys that add new gear, challenges, and abilities to your character (Inkling Boy, Inkling Girl and Inkling Squid) when placed on the Wii U GamePad.

 

“Splatoon” isn’t only the first new franchise from Nintendo in a long while, it’s also really, really fun. It might not be perfect, but it’s a blast to play, especially with friends beside you or online, and it’s a “must-have” title for Nintendo Wii U owners with a need for combat. The controls take a bit of getting used to, especially on the Wii U GamePad, but before you know it you’ll be running around creatively designed levels with a lot of verticality, as you and your teammates tackle enemy “Inklings” using all sorts of paint-spraying weapons, such as machine guns, bombs, turrets, and more. You’ll need to pop balloons when they show up, find new places to hide or to use as a vantage point to peg off enemies, and ensure you’re covering as much of the world in your dedicated color, all while the other guys are doing the same.

 

 

 

GAME DETAILS

 

Platform: Nintendo Wii UPrice: $59.99 USD

Developer: Nintendo of America

Release date: May 29, 2015

Genre: Action/Adventure

ESRB rating: E10+ for Cartoon Violence