Splatoon is to Wii U what Halo was to XBOX*. Splatoon, if you're not aware, is the most spectacular shooter on the market. The core game mechanic revolves around inking. When you're a kid you can shoot ink and throw ink grenades to colorfully coat the level. Even cooler is the ability to go from kid to squid like that of Samus' transformation into a ball. When you're a squid you can glide around submerged in the ink you've laid down (this is much faster than your running speed) while also simultaneously refilling your ink tank. This smooth friction of sliding around in ink up structures greatly reminds me of the skateboarding in the Tony Hawk Pro Skater games. Doing so is such an immensely satisfying new experience that it brings me back to the feeling of jumping around in the courtyard as Mario in Super Mario 64 for the first time.
I think Splatoon is Nintendo's best in multiplayer action. So I'm going to focus on talking about the multiplayer portion of the game.
Two teams go head-to-head, each team gets randomly assigned a color that contrasts with the other team's color. Inking the stage produces a massive visual alteration on the environment. The color of ink has a subdued gleam like freshly applied paint look to it. And all the special weapons have a boldness to them taking the aesthetic mayhem even further.
There are 2 major areas that standout and are unique to the first game that I find mandatory for a gamer to experience:
1. Stages - The stages have more verticality and more complex workings. Saltspray Rig in my opinion was the best early map, particularly for Splat Zones with the mayhem at the highly contested top of the map. Again, I really like how this map has high-up places of the gigantic pileup of storage crates to climb up along with rotating wrecking ball platform. Flounder Heights is my favorite stage and it is humongous. It's so fun to get to the top of the level and there is so much surface area to ink.
Also, the game has better dynamic stage elements like in Mahi-Mahi Resort and Museum d'Alfonsino, which also give you vantage points to perch up on. There is a scenic view to be had on-top of rotating columns and rising stage floors. Mahi-Mahi has a white flooring that really stands out like the cobblestone in Bianco Hills in Super Mario Sunshine [GC], although you'll be admiring this for the short opening minute of battle before its entirely painted over. To look down on and observe the battlefield is pleasant, but it's also great for getting a good look at the whole picture before calling in an Inkstrike!
2. Specials + Wii U Game Pad connectivity and Sprinklers - Finally, a truly awesome use of the Wii U Game Pad. Tapping the map on the controller screen to launch an Inkstrike is an intuitive and irreplaceable experience exclusive to the console. Inkstrikes have enormous screen presence creating a gigantic whirling column of color on detonation. There's a humorous aspect to it too in that your own Inkling busts out a Wii U looking device and looks down at it just as you are doing. Even more amusing is the fact that you can launch this strike on your own location. The other specials have a ton of character as well.
Bubbler, a gleaming translucent spherical bobble shield, protects you from the other team's ink attacks and lets you make an additional bubble upon contact with your teammate(s) making team proximity awareness important; whereas Killer Wail lets you shoot through the whole level in one direction of your choosing making enemy location awareness important. The invincible Kraken special weapon of transformation can be used for means of climbing up steep walls that would be too time consuming to paint rather than for direct combat purposes. Kraken leaves behind a long trail of ink just like Inkzooka, a special weapon that sends a small wall of ink astoundingly fast in a direction. Bomb Rush creates a sort-of grounded firecracker display of color that works great for clearing out area.
There's a lot of effort on placement in this game, of which I'd like to further go on and talk one particular sub weapon: the Sprinkler. This is so clever. You throw an ink-spewing sprinkler that fastens onto wherever it lands. And it can adjoin onto platforms and stage elements in quite a variety of ways from hanging upside down, on the corner of a wall, directly on the ground, etc. (In the sequel its purposefulness is greatly diminished.) Obviously I enjoy throwing these everywhere, especially on the aforementioned biggest stages.
What is nice about the two available invincibility specials is that they provide the player a breather to take amidst the chaos, and the Inkstrike special weapon too needs a certain amount of relaxing distance to use well that big stages provide. Sprinklers also tremendously benefit from stages with more surface area and hard-to-hit high rise locations. All of this contributes to a certain enjoyable tone that is only in this game.
CONCLUSION
Paintball Mode has come a long way with Splatoon. The spaciousness of the world that allows the player to take a breather alongside the bold display of colors erupting from weaponry is truly in a class of its own. The current state of Splatoon [Wii U] in Japan is still quite active. Wii U's online server time table is unknown, so I recommend speedy action on acquisition of a Wii U console and Splatoon game software. Unlike when the game launched you have access to all the weapons and stages now. (Miiverse, SplatFests, and SeaSnail use are all unavailable though.) There's a lot more to the game that I haven't talked about that awaits you.
I think Splatoon is Nintendo's best in multiplayer action. So I'm going to focus on talking about the multiplayer portion of the game.
Two teams go head-to-head, each team gets randomly assigned a color that contrasts with the other team's color. Inking the stage produces a massive visual alteration on the environment. The color of ink has a subdued gleam like freshly applied paint look to it. And all the special weapons have a boldness to them taking the aesthetic mayhem even further.
There are 2 major areas that standout and are unique to the first game that I find mandatory for a gamer to experience:
1. Stages - The stages have more verticality and more complex workings. Saltspray Rig in my opinion was the best early map, particularly for Splat Zones with the mayhem at the highly contested top of the map. Again, I really like how this map has high-up places of the gigantic pileup of storage crates to climb up along with rotating wrecking ball platform. Flounder Heights is my favorite stage and it is humongous. It's so fun to get to the top of the level and there is so much surface area to ink.
Also, the game has better dynamic stage elements like in Mahi-Mahi Resort and Museum d'Alfonsino, which also give you vantage points to perch up on. There is a scenic view to be had on-top of rotating columns and rising stage floors. Mahi-Mahi has a white flooring that really stands out like the cobblestone in Bianco Hills in Super Mario Sunshine [GC], although you'll be admiring this for the short opening minute of battle before its entirely painted over. To look down on and observe the battlefield is pleasant, but it's also great for getting a good look at the whole picture before calling in an Inkstrike!
2. Specials + Wii U Game Pad connectivity and Sprinklers - Finally, a truly awesome use of the Wii U Game Pad. Tapping the map on the controller screen to launch an Inkstrike is an intuitive and irreplaceable experience exclusive to the console. Inkstrikes have enormous screen presence creating a gigantic whirling column of color on detonation. There's a humorous aspect to it too in that your own Inkling busts out a Wii U looking device and looks down at it just as you are doing. Even more amusing is the fact that you can launch this strike on your own location. The other specials have a ton of character as well.
Bubbler, a gleaming translucent spherical bobble shield, protects you from the other team's ink attacks and lets you make an additional bubble upon contact with your teammate(s) making team proximity awareness important; whereas Killer Wail lets you shoot through the whole level in one direction of your choosing making enemy location awareness important. The invincible Kraken special weapon of transformation can be used for means of climbing up steep walls that would be too time consuming to paint rather than for direct combat purposes. Kraken leaves behind a long trail of ink just like Inkzooka, a special weapon that sends a small wall of ink astoundingly fast in a direction. Bomb Rush creates a sort-of grounded firecracker display of color that works great for clearing out area.
There's a lot of effort on placement in this game, of which I'd like to further go on and talk one particular sub weapon: the Sprinkler. This is so clever. You throw an ink-spewing sprinkler that fastens onto wherever it lands. And it can adjoin onto platforms and stage elements in quite a variety of ways from hanging upside down, on the corner of a wall, directly on the ground, etc. (In the sequel its purposefulness is greatly diminished.) Obviously I enjoy throwing these everywhere, especially on the aforementioned biggest stages.
What is nice about the two available invincibility specials is that they provide the player a breather to take amidst the chaos, and the Inkstrike special weapon too needs a certain amount of relaxing distance to use well that big stages provide. Sprinklers also tremendously benefit from stages with more surface area and hard-to-hit high rise locations. All of this contributes to a certain enjoyable tone that is only in this game.
CONCLUSION
Paintball Mode has come a long way with Splatoon. The spaciousness of the world that allows the player to take a breather alongside the bold display of colors erupting from weaponry is truly in a class of its own. The current state of Splatoon [Wii U] in Japan is still quite active. Wii U's online server time table is unknown, so I recommend speedy action on acquisition of a Wii U console and Splatoon game software. Unlike when the game launched you have access to all the weapons and stages now. (Miiverse, SplatFests, and SeaSnail use are all unavailable though.) There's a lot more to the game that I haven't talked about that awaits you.
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