REVIEW

Splatoon Review

by Sam Foxall, June 1st, 2015

The Testfires have ceased and the doors have opened. It’s time to see if Nintendo’s first attempt at a competitive online shooter has been a kraken success or an inkredible failure.

From the very first time you boot up Splatoon, the game wants you to know that this is an online shooter. Every session of Splatoon starts with a news report, detailing what the current map rotation is before giving you control of your character. This little news report happens every single time you boot up the game, even if the maps haven’t changed since you last logged on. I understand that Nintendo want to drive home that Splatoon is an ever-changing, fluid game, much like the ink you shoot but after the 4th time you have sat through the same unskippable cutscene, it just becomes an irritant. This unfortunately marks a trend running through Splatoon’s design, of Nintendo trying to add little touches which should make the experience more unique, but just come off as short-sighted and annoying.

Splatoon is built around this central plaza where your Inkling can shop, talk with other Inklings and order new gear before jumping into either the online mode or the single player Octo Valley area. The plaza is constantly filling with new Inklings, often from games you have just played or from your friends’ list. This does make the area feel bustling, as that really good Roller user starts hanging out by the weapons shop while your friend is hanging out near a back alley. By interacting with the Inklings in the lobby, you can see their Miiverse posts (which I will talk more about later) as well as inspect the gear that they are wearing. This is a great little idea, allowing players to deck out their character with a sweet looking hat they saw in a previous match, or in a new pair of shoes which have some decent upgrades attached to them. However, this idea is handicapped by the fact you can only order up to 3 pieces of equipment and it takes at least one real time day for one equipment piece to be able to purchase from the local street sea urchin, Spyke. Also, these ordered gear pieces go for extortionate amounts of cash, making the effort seem fruitless when you see that same T shirt in the shop for half the price later on.

The shops themselves are filled with interesting characters, be it the tempura prawn Crusty Sean who runs the shoe shop or the nerdy cuttlefish Sheldon who owns the armoury. While they offer some witty banter now and then, you can’t really interact with these characters besides buying items off them. It would have been cool if they could have given you little challenges to complete to gain extra equipment or coupons to get a free gear piece but they are just shopkeepers. The aforementioned Spyke who can source black market gear can also reroll your equipment upgrades for the low price of a sea snail but due to the fact no online battle events have gone live yet, no-one has been able to try out this service.

You’ll have to strike the balance between looking stylish and being battle ready.

This is an unfortunate reality of playing Splatoon, so much content seems gated off for no real reason, besides to artificially lengthen the game’s competitive life span or to get players to check back again later for new stuff. If the current map rotation is bad, you can just come back in 6 hours and play the new ones. If you want to play ranked matches, you’ll just have to wait until enough people get to level 10. If you want to be able to play on more than 5 maps and actually start private lobbies with friends, you’ll have to wait till August when these features are actually implemented. In any other context, a shooter would be flayed alive for only offering 5 maps on launch and one online mode but it seems that because it is Nintendo, people have been giving it a pass. I could be kind and say that because it is Nintendo’s first shooter, it is fair that they want to make sure things work properly so slowly rolling out content ensures that we don’t get a launch akin to Battlefield 4’s.

If I’m being honest though, if a free to play shooter launched with only 1 game mode and 5 maps, I’d be appalled but Splatoon is a full retail release. In no way, even on a first attempt at a shooter, is this lack of content acceptable when you are charging £40. I don’t care if you are providing free DLC to set this lack of maps and modes, we still have to wait 2 and a bit months for the full game. That just says to me that Splatoon was pushed out the door to meet an early summer deadline and that they weren’t really ready with all the content. Nintendo have basically released an Early Access game but marketed it as if it were fully complete.

Let’s talk gameplay, because Splatoon is great fun. While the online suite is the main draw, Splatoon’s single player is well done, if very short. The mode tasks you to save the Great Zapfish, a giant electric eel which powers Inkopolis, from the hands of the Octarians who are, you guessed it, a bunch of evil octopus people. You must splat your way through about 25 levels in order to get the Great Zapfish back and save Inkopolis. Just from the summary, this story mode is completely silly and more of an opportunity to introduce you to the core shooting and traversal mechanics of Splatoon before taking the fight to the online mode. This mode reminds me a hell of a lot of Super Mario Galaxy, with each of the levels having a self-contained gimmick which is introduced in a very Mario-esque way. You first experience the level’s gimmick in a safe zone, then you have to deal with a few enemies before the gimmick is turned on its head for the final gauntlet. These gimmicks range from sponges which swell up with ink to act as platforms which you can jump on and hide in, to ink ziplines which allow you to cross wide gaps at high speed whilst in squid form.

The levels take no more than 5 minutes to complete and besides the collectible scroll which is hidden away in every stage, they are completely linear challenges. The overall campaign will take you no more than 4 hours and that is including collecting all the scrolls. Nevertheless, they are a great way to learn the basics of kid and squid form, along with getting a grip with how ink-based traversal works. You also have the occasional boss battle to defeat, which like the levels, are no challenge at all but are great fun to fight. Some levels even have you exploring some of the maps you will fight through online which is a clever way to get you used to the areas before you connect to the Internet. Some enemy attacks in single player also mirror certain special weapons which you will have to contend with online, so the campaign does an admirable job at preparing you for the multi-coloured battlegrounds of Splatoon’s online mode. However, many of the cool gimmicks like the ink sponges don’t translate to the multiplayer, which is a great shame as they are great features to play around with and would have added extra spice to the already unique maps present in Splatoon. Also, you only get to use the standard paint gun in single player unless you plopped down extra cash for the special Splatoon amiibos, so you get no real chance to practice your Roller skills before hitting the arena. Having said this, the Roller and Charger missions are apparently awful according to friends of mine who were able to track down Splatoon amiibos so it is no great loss if you don’t have them.

I love the Rollers. It’s so much fun to bulldoze through enemy paint.

So, you’ve completed Octo Valley, (which also unlocks special weapon blueprints and some decent starting gear) and you are ready to hit the online mode. What can you expect of Splatoon’s competitive suite? Well, at time of writing and based on my earlier rant, not much at all. You only have access to the Turf War game type and the 5 launch maps. The good thing is, that at least this mode is very enjoyable and 4 out of the 5 maps are crackers. Turf War involves players covering as much of the map in their ink colour as possible within 3 minutes. Playing this mode results in unlearning many things from other shooters, as you must prioritize map control and co-ordination over running in, all guns blazing to get the most kills. You will soon learn that covering your whole spawn with ink is better than running into the fray straight away, and you will curse those who only focus on peppering the enemy with paint. Due to the short 3 minute timer, there is never time to let up your onslaught of colour, with comebacks being very possible in the last few seconds of a round. Get used to winning or losing a match by .01% of ink.

The weapon selection fits the mode well, with each weapon archetype both fitting and subverting many typical shooter tropes. Chargers act as Splatoon’s equivalent of sniper rifles, but can also completely dominate maps due to the large ink trails they leave. Rollers fit the position of both shotguns and melee weapons, being the best way to cut a path into enemy territory but can also be terrible at dealing with close range enemies. Shooters act as the versatile gap filler, with weapons like the Aerosprayer acting like submachine guns while the Blaster is your equivalent to a grenade launcher. Each weapon also comes with a set sub weapon and a special weapon, which fit certain player styles. For example, the heavy damage .96 Gal has an Ink Sprinkler, which helps account for its low fire rate and spreads ink in a small circular area and its special Echolocator aids teammates by spotting enemy Inklings, even when they are submerged in their paint.

While you have these diverse weapon sets, you cannot switch them between maps which is a right pain, making you unable to really prepare for the next map. This is further impacted by the fact you cannot vote for a select map out of the 2 map rotation, meaning you can continually get the same map during a session. While you do get the option to play a little Squip Jump minigame between rounds, I’d much prefer to have the option to change my loadout without quitting out of the lobby I’m in. The lack of voicechat is not a big deal to be honest, and it is actually pleasant to play a shooter without someone screaming obscenities down your earhole. Plus, the brevity of the rounds mean that unless you are in a party of friends, the likelihood of good co-ordination is very low.

Be ready for a lot of Squidward and Zoidberg graffiti.

The current map selection is pretty good, with Saltspray Rig being the standout best map out of the 5. The long catwalks are great for Roller users, while the stacked crates at the top half of the rig are ideal spots for Chargers to dominate the flow of the game. The maps all fit the urban technicolour feel of Splatoon, with maps being peppered with bits of graffiti and product placement for in game pieces of clothing. The graffiti is an especially ingenious touch, being generated from the artwork of Miiverse users and seamlessly integrated into the game world. It is such a minor touch but adds so much to the game’s overall aesthetic. All the clothing found in game looks incredibly stylish, fitting together to create Inklings who looked very well dressed. One of my favourite combos has my Inkling looking like a fashionable motorway resurfacer. The music also fits the very Japanese, urban atmosphere, being predominately electronic music filled with Vocaloid inspired chirps and tweets. There is even one track which seems like electronica mixed with screamo which makes for an interesting listening experience whilst you are trying to paint a skatepark bright blue.

While I thoroughly enjoy the core shooting of Splatoon and it is all pretty well balanced and designed, there is simply not enough here at launch to be worth a purchase right now. What’s here is incredibly polished and unique, but it does not warrant you putting down £40, especially if you are looking for a shooter to last you a long time. Nintendo’s attempt to make it a game with long term support has ultimately kneecapped it in the short term, offering you a game with little starting content and reason to return until the August content drop. Moreover, Nintendo’s inexperience with the genre has also caused Splatoon to be very unintuitive to anyone who has played a lot of shooters. This is definitely a review I will return to once the August content drop has been released and Nintendo have actually put the content that should have been there at launch in, but at the moment, Splatoon is great fun for a weekend but does not have enough to really keep you playing again and again.