Splatoon Reviews
Splatoon is an inventive new IP, hampered by a lack of content and almost desperate need to appeal to kids despite having enough depth for all but the most hardened players.
I dove into Splatoon with high expectations and high hopes for the new Nintendo IP. But now, after playing over a hundred matches, I am torn between its pros and cons. For its merit, it has that simple, pure, fun factor that keeps me coming back, even after memorizing every nuance of each board. Yet with a sparse selection of maps, a single match type for each mode, and what feels like a dousing of turpentine on character customization and choice, in the end Splatoon feels like purchasing an expensive gallon of paint, only to crack open the lid and find just a quart of paint within. Nintendo promises to fill that can at no extra charge, but unfortunately that means day one purchasers will go home and start painting, only to feel like the job is half finished.
Pure, joyous, unbridled fun. Nintendo's Splatoon is missing content, but what's here will keep you coming back again and again. "Just ONE more match!"
Sure, you won't find yourself blasting off headshots or shouting obscenities into headsets while playing Splatoon, but that's oddly refreshing and everything else is so rich and fun that you might not even notice.
Splatoon is vibrant, fun, and shaping up to be an enjoyable shooter the Wii U sorely need with all of its updates.
Great style, refreshing gameplay, and lots of small, frequent updates, even if Nintendo's still squashing communication and hasn't learned everything about options and standard practices that make other online games successful.
Fun and colourful shooter but needs more content
I really like playing Splatoon online, and I'd love to give this game a higher score but I can't factor out the game's blemishes in its current form. You can't even perform basic actions like acquiring new weapons or outfits for your Inkling without being forced to go online, which is inconvenient if ever the servers are down. I really would have admired more modes for offline play, and I'm disappointed by a lack of content in the base game, but I am optimistic about future updates adding new content. But when Splatoon shines, it's a fantastic game. It's fun, it's competitive and above all, it's fresh.
Is it perfect? Not quite, but none of the flaws matter when you're 15 matches in and the promise of doing something productive with your night is all but forgotten.
Splatoon is all about staying fresh, and despite its lack of content somehow manages to remain just as appealing after twenty hours as it was in its first. Its core gameplay is so unwaveringly solid that it's bound to only become better as more maps, weapons and modes are released in the months after launch, but even now Splatoon might just be Wii U's long-awaited killer app.
Splatoon isn't perfect, but despite the faults it's a wonderful game, both online and offline. There's some fantastic ideas here that can be built upon, but as it stands right now, it's already superb. A little rough around the edges, but in the heat of the moment during a good multiplayer match, it's a whale of a time.
Splatoon is not trying to corral unearned cool points with obscenity. Splatoon does not push us to accept its weirdness. Splatoon merely opens its suction-cupped palms to the sky and says, "Here," and we graciously accept, parched by the years of dusty, war-torn, bone-dry purveyors of damage masquerading as games. Each waterfall was in fact an oasis. Instead, Splatoon showers us with a heavy goop that feels amniotic. We emerge, new and refreshed. We are all squids now.
"Splatoon" is everything you could want out of a new Nintendo IP. It somehow manages to be both cute and cool. It freshens a well-traveled genre with a neat game mechanic. The only thing holding it back could be Nintendo: the Wii U Gamepad's battery life is weak, the online battle modes are presently limited by a rotation system that takes choice away from players and the overall amount of content is lacking outside of the weapons and gear customization. If the company supports "Splatoon" as they say they will, though, we could very well be talking about these Inklings for a long, long time.
In a sea of rock-solid single-player Nintendo experiences Splatoon is a standout as being an utterly sublime multiplayer endeavour. Everything is knitted beautifully and seamlessly together to create what is quite simply some of the most fun you can have online.
Overall, I think Splatoon is a much needed shot in the arm or tentacle for a genre that could really use some new blood. With its fresh core mechanic, a solid campaign and an addicting and buttery online mode, Splatoon delivers a new and wonderful experience while adding Nintendo's trademark gameplay to the shooting formula. I give two thumbs — and nearly eight tentacles — up.
Splatoon is a vibrant, colourful and innovative competitive multiplayer shooter that's beautiful, addictive and undoubtedly fun - but a lack of maps and modes could hurts its lasting appeal.
Splatoon is a unique new shooter from Nintendo that throws away any sense of violence and replaces it with colorful fun.
The virtue of shooters is a simple set of parameters creating interesting decisions, and the game's greatness is how it expands that matrix.
A strong emphasis on its online mechanics means that most of Splatoon is to be experienced on a multiplayer basis, which would be at a higher level if all future options and contents were already available. Given the importance of cooperative online play and team work, it's also difficult to understand why there's no voice chat but despite this shortcoming, Splatoon has all conditions to become a must have classic, once all the contents are made available.
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