First you choose ahead of time what your loadout will be, and proceed to begin painting. Weapons range from paint-related versions of various guns, to a paint roller and a paintbrush. The weapons tend to have massive pros and cons. The sniper rifle leaves you open to surprise attacks but lets you hit targets (and paint floors) very far away, while my current favorite, the paintbrush, allows you to spread paint super quickly.
Even though the game doesn't toss out random items (a la Smash Bros) or provide help for losing teams/players (a la Mario Kart), it still feels like anything can happen. I've seen massive victories where one team leaves the other in the dust, and really tight matches with thin margins. I've seen many many come-from-behind victories where a losing team caught up. And I suspect this isn't just because the game places players on random teams with every match. You never know what will happen, and I mean it.
Splatoon clearly has Western inspiration. It has leveling up, weapons that can be earned when you're a high-enough level, and perks. These all add depth and strategy to the gameplay. I also like how you can dress up your character. The game's cartoon graphics make your outfit far more noticeable and attention-grabbing than in other games.
Between matches, you get to walk around a very small, yet insanely detailed city based on the real life Shibuya. Nintendo must have considered just how often players would see this city, because they loaded it up with tons of subtle details you can see and hear, from trains going by to planes flying overhead to butterflies flying around a garden, to a large TV right above a studio featuring two TV hosts that you can look at through the window. The sound design there is also great, with various shops playing music from their local speakers, and other miscellaneous city noises that I can't quite pinpoint. For a place that's so tiny, it's amazing just to soak in the atmosphere. You can tell this game is made by the Animal Crossing team.
The game also has a single-player campaign. It really only gets good near the end, IMO, when the difficulty goes up and the level design gets much more creative. The final boss is excellent. Overall, though, it's only okay.
Still, fantastic game, for its online multiplayer.
To shooters what Mario Kart is to racers
First you choose ahead of time what your loadout will be, and proceed to begin painting. Weapons range from paint-related versions of various guns, to a paint roller and a paintbrush. The weapons tend to have massive pros and cons. The sniper rifle leaves you open to surprise attacks but lets you hit targets (and paint floors) very far away, while my current favorite, the paintbrush, allows you to spread paint super quickly.
Even though the game doesn't toss out random items (a la Smash Bros) or provide help for losing teams/players (a la Mario Kart), it still feels like anything can happen. I've seen massive victories where one team leaves the other in the dust, and really tight matches with thin margins. I've seen many many come-from-behind victories where a losing team caught up. And I suspect this isn't just because the game places players on random teams with every match. You never know what will happen, and I mean it.
Splatoon clearly has Western inspiration. It has leveling up, weapons that can be earned when you're a high-enough level, and perks. These all add depth and strategy to the gameplay. I also like how you can dress up your character. The game's cartoon graphics make your outfit far more noticeable and attention-grabbing than in other games.
Between matches, you get to walk around a very small, yet insanely detailed city based on the real life Shibuya. Nintendo must have considered just how often players would see this city, because they loaded it up with tons of subtle details you can see and hear, from trains going by to planes flying overhead to butterflies flying around a garden, to a large TV right above a studio featuring two TV hosts that you can look at through the window. The sound design there is also great, with various shops playing music from their local speakers, and other miscellaneous city noises that I can't quite pinpoint. For a place that's so tiny, it's amazing just to soak in the atmosphere. You can tell this game is made by the Animal Crossing team.
The game also has a single-player campaign. It really only gets good near the end, IMO, when the difficulty goes up and the level design gets much more creative. The final boss is excellent. Overall, though, it's only okay.
Still, fantastic game, for its online multiplayer.