We’ve updated our review to reflect this shooter’s fresh coat of paint.
By Jose Otero
Editor’s Note: This review was originally published on May 27, 2015, with a score of 7.9. More on our re-reviews policy.
Rushing to paint the ground and claim territory in Splatoon is a frantic activity that never gets old. With it, Nintendo’s twist on the team-based shooter turns the act of making a mess into fun and chaotic matches. But this game of turf wars also has a playful sense of style, one that transforms super soakers, giant roller brushes, and even Nintendo nostalgia into a suitable paint-smearing arsenal. Don’t be fooled by Splatoon’s kid-friendly, mother-approved looks though: there’s a mechanically deep shooter hiding in those shiny pools of ink.
We want to hear it.
Territory control is a concept that you usually only hear high-level shooter players talk about, but Splatoon successfully takes this tried-and-true idea and makes it central and accessible to everyone by having us splash colorful ink everywhere to mark our turf. It plays with that idea in fun ways in each of its 4v4 competitive modes. Where Turf Wars is about drenching the map in your color and painting over the work of your rivals, the manic Rainmaker mode is about grabbing a powerful weapon at the center of the map and driving it straight into the enemy’s base.
Painting a level is crucial, because as long as you’re standing in your own color, you can hit a button to instantly switch to a fast-moving but unarmed squid form. You can use it to quickly reach trouble spots, then switch back to open fire and defend your territory. It’s a fun tradeoff that encourages you to swap between the two forms constantly, and both moving and shooting feel good at a steady 60 frames per second.
Each of the 12 symmetrical maps plays with the way you paint.
Each of the 12 symmetrical maps plays with the way you paint. Moray Towers has a cascade of slanted hills that dip down into a turbulent central zone, while Flounder Heights turns a commercial rooftop vista into a labyrinth warzone full of catwalks and flat blacktop. The only bummer is waiting for your favorite map to work itself into the rotation. Private matches let you play whatever map you want, but doesn’t award points to spend on new gear.
Each ink-spreading tool is built around the dual purposes of painting the ground and splatting your enemies. The whimsical Splatroller lays down a wide lane of color, but flick it and you’ve got the equivalent of a shotgun. The Splattershot is a trusty rifle, but the different variations you unlock change how fast you paint and how far you can shoot. Coupled with secondary weapons, like the Splash Wall or the Sprinkler, there’s a lot to choose from, but a handy test facility lets you experiment and pick the preset arsenal that’s just right for you. I just wish I could tweak my loadout while waiting for the sometimes-slow matchmaking to get me into a game.
We want to hear it.
Since claiming territory is such a visual activity, it’s easy to tell if enemies are nearby whenever you spot rival ink. A quick glance at the GamePad immediately tells you who’s winning a match and what areas need to be recaptured. Sadly, this doesn’t make up for the fact that Splatoon doesn’t support voice chat. So whenever I jumped into Squad Battles, I found myself dialing up my four friends on Skype so we could coordinate, but that feels like an unfair advantage.
“…the wide range of weapons and gear sets up a great upgrade loop.”
Between matches, I got a kick out of visiting the offbeat vendors of Splatoon’s charming Inkopolis. Each one sells useful gear that looks trendy and makes you more effective in multiplayer battles, and the wide range of weapons and gear sets up a great upgrade loop. And some of the arsenal is just ridiculous to look at, from ink-throwing buckets built to drench the competition to The Classic Squiffer, a long-range weapon that looks like it was made from kitchen-cleaning supplies.
We want to hear it.
I could do without the Squid Sisters, though. This pair of hosts announces major events and which multiplayer maps are available through an unskippable cutscene, and the fact that you have to suffer through their lame banter each time you boot up borders on criminal.
The six-hour single-player campaign has the type of variety, pacing, and amusing boss fights you’d expect from a Mario game, albeit in a shorter form. Splatoon levels take a theme, say sliding platforms or sponge-like surfaces, and build a fun stage around it that’s challenging and well thought out. The Octarian enemies you fight are both expressive and lovingly detailed in a way that lives up to Nintendo’s high standards. It’s definitely fun until the end, but there aren’t many reasons to finish it a second time.
We want to hear it.
Beyond that there’s Battle Dojo, the forgettable offline 1v1 mode, which has you trying to shoot down more balloons than your rival. With the way Splatoon works, shooting precise targets just isn’t as fun as the rush of spraying paint everywhere to claim territory in Turf Wars. Finally, Splatoon amiibo will unlock fun additional challenges that make clever use of alternate weapons, but all of that is disappointingly locked behind a figurine paywall.
On top of that, Nintendo holds regular special events, called Splatfests, that turns Turf Wars into a fun day-long community face-off, where players choose sides and rally for a team. The rewards are a little stingey, though.
Nintendo’s take on the third-person shooter is refreshingly original, with lots of impressive tools, skillful mobility, and creative maps to play with. Matches are consistently fun and tense, and the mechanics feel simple and fair enough that almost anyone can contribute positively. Not having voice chat is a bummer, but the great modes and maps feel polished and kept me claiming turf for hours.
