Splatoon

Splatoon is the freshest franchise to rock the shooter world since Team Fortress 2 rethought the way we attack each other on an open map for control. Set up in a similar fashion with a base for each team and different classes, Splatoon takes the TF2 formula and spins it on its ear, cartooning up the violence further with guns that shoot ink which can be used to cover area for points. Ink also speeds up your movement as the Inklings you play as transform into squids and swim in their own coloured goo  The emphasis is on laying down ink,  which can slow and even explode enemy Inklings.

The bread and butter of Splatoon is the Turf War mode, in which two teams of four try to cover the most area on a large map. For more details on Turf War check out the review of the demo from a few weeks back here. The weapons section there is no longer valid as there is much more to buy than in the demo. All shops and modes are accessible with a tap of the D-Pad, or you can run around if you’re all old school. In matches the D-Pad map will also let you squid-jump around the map with a tap.

The variety of weapons and special abilities brings a class system to the game and are really what makes the battles interesting. As mentioned in the demo review there are paint rollers, snipers and now a wide variety of weapons with different stats, secondary tools, and specials. DLC has already started to roll out. As well as new maps there is a new ink brush weapon as well as the Nintendo Zapper. While running with the ink brush covers just a small area, just holding the brush and waving it around can spray deadly amount ink in a short time, but with a limited range. The paint roller can cover more territory, but  is also vulnerable to ranged attacks. The Nintendo Zapper looks like the classic gun from the NES and shoots a concentrated stream a good distance.

Each weapon has a secondary, such as grenades, sprinklers, area bombs, seeker bombs, teleport points (for allies), and radar. They also have special attacks that must be charged up by laying down ink on uncontrolled or enemy land, like turning into a giant squid and becoming invulnerable, a tactical missile strike, a barrage of bombs, and many more.

While players will use their primary weapons the most, special weapons can often decide the fate of a map. For example, while using your tactical ink strike to mess up the enemy base early on may seem tempting, it may be more useful to the team to use it on a contested area or save it for the last second when they won’t be able to cover up the mess.

There is also a variety of different fashion choices to make. Each piece of gear can have up to 4 abilities attached, and they are randomly assigned each time. They can save you ink, decrease spawn time, give your squid form ninja-like evasion, and many more. There is a hidden merchant from whom you can order special gear from other players visiting your town;  later he will let you upgrade your old gear to all have 4 slots or reassign abilities on your already owned gear. You won’t be able to buy any gear until level 4, though.

The playable online maps rotate every few hours, and it works well. The map rotation is a neat way to keep each map fresh, avoiding  majority rule and popular maps becoming overplayed. You never know what you are going to get when you turn the game on, and it will only get better as more maps with more challenging terrain are added.

There is a single-player campaign with about 50 levels where you square off against an army of Octarians to save the town’s Zapfish. The levels are set up in a Mario Galaxy type of way with small interconnected platforms, and there is an overworld, Octo-Valley, where you hunt down the entrances to levels.

Octo-Valley itself is a pretty decent platformer, even without multiplayer, but it isn’t very long. A seasoned player should be able to beat all the levels and find the hidden scrolls contained within in twelve hours. I beat most of the levels during the many periods in which playing online was problematic (more on that later). Every ten levels you fight a boss, and they all live and die by the old boss rule of threes. Each one has a secret to exposing a tentacle and after three successes, that’s it. It wasn’t until the final boss reared his ugly, reprehensible DJ head that things got truly interesting.

As great as the final boss fight was, its greatness made the rest of the one-player mode feel lackluster. Clearly there is more they can do with a single player campaign for Splatoon than was actually included in the game. While plenty of free DLC has been announced for multi-player, there has been no word on expanding the single player campaign. If you really want to you can buy Amiibos to unlock a few more challenge levels, but who wants to pay an additional $40 for all three Amiibos to play a couple more levels and unlock a couple of 8-bit games after paying $70 for the game? Not this squid, dammit.

Speaking of 8-bit games, there is one included with the game proper, accessible in the town square or in between matches. Squid Jump is a basic jumping game featuring a squid from the old Mario games. You jump to higher platforms, using fish and other old Mario enemies to boost your jump. The platforms move, or are covered in ice, while water rushes up to destroy you. It’s 8-bit, there is no point in questioning why water kills a squid. It’s a decent little time waster, but in true 8-bit fashion there is no saving your progress when the system gets turned off. You can continue playing after the next match, but the average wait for a match to start is under 30 seconds, so there isn’t much time to appreciate the game unless you play it in the arcade machine in the town square. It’s a entertaining nod to Nintendo’s roots building challenge into games with little power behind them. There are reportedly 25 levels, but I have yet to get past 9. When you run out of squids you can continue, but it puts you a couple of levels back. Squid Jump is a fine addition to the game, but it’s not a reason to buy Amiibos to unlock 3 more similar games.

The real meat of Splatoon is in the Turf War and Ranked battles. Ranked battles unlock at level 10, and currently there is one mode, with two more to be added in the coming weeks. One involves defending a tower that moves through enemy territory, while the other is still a bit of a mystery but seems to include some sort of waterfall. For now, two teams fight for control of small squares of territory.

In Ranked battles, you earn coins for wins like in Turf War, as well as special Battle Points to raise your Rank. The ranks start at C- and go to A+, with players fighting against similar ranks. You rank up by earning 100 points, but if you lose you earn no money and lose ten points. In C- rank you’ll earn twenty points for victory plus a big bonus of cash, but the points you earn will lessen with each level. Sitting at C+ I get 12 points for victory. When you level up there is a built-in buffer to prevent you from being ranked down immediately. For C Ranks at least you get to start your level with 30 points; lose a rank, though, and you have to earn 30 to regain it.

 Earning points in Ranked is brutal. The matches last three minutes, but if a team controls the control square or squares (depending on the map) a separate timer will start counting down from 100, and the other team must seize it for themselves. If both teams fail to dominate, whoever has the least time on their timer will win. As you can imagine, the area surrounding the control square is hotly contested, with ample opportunity for entire teams to be wiped out and sent back to base.

In both Ranked and Turf battles your team’s ability to grasp the sticky, oozy layers of combat will decide the match. Losing in Turf War will still earn you points and cash, but your streak rating will go down. Playing online—especially without voice chat—is a rewarding experience. Each team is random and if you are set up with a good group for one match, it may not be so next time. The game manages to keep the challenge up with such a broad array of play styles. Tactics that work one match may not work against the next group, or you may have to play catch-up to a lackluster team. I have found myself screaming at my teammates and opponents and thanking the makers they can’t hear me.

While some may not be impressed with this lack of voice chat, it is the only way to make a game like this accessible for all ages. That’s not all Nintendo has done to make it a stable environment, though, as while waiting for a match there is no backing out or switching weapons. With no backing out there is less chance of uneven teams, which is essential for fair play.

Even in a 4-3 match, the team with a missing player is at such a disadvantage that winning is nearly impossible. Don’t even get me started on that 4-1 match I once endured. I still consider that 9% of the map I covered a victory. Switching out weapons at the last minute to balance things out would be problematic for the servers and probably end up causing more uneven matches. As it stands, the random team selection negates last-minute weapon changing as an option; as it is quick and easy to do it between matches, the point is moot. Whenever I start to complain about Nintendo’s servers I try to remind myself they are the only free online console, and I’d rather have glitches than annual fees. That doesn’t mean they don’t drive me batty.

Yes, the game runs very smoothly online without lag; however, this is also dependent on your router. During the week after launch my connection was solid enough, but disconnects were rampant, especially in ranked battles. With ranked battles, a disconnection means a loss, including points. It got so bad that a call to Nintendo was in order and the very friendly representative reminded me how sensitive the Wii U is to interference. We switched the channel on the router but alas, it did not help. Eventually I was able to make arrangements with another, nearer router and its owner and the change was like night and day. All disconnects are blamed on host devices now and occur only in matchmaking, so if your Internet connection is not solid, be prepared for a bumpy ride.

There is a local multiplayer option, which has one person playing on the pad and the other using a pro-controller or Wii-remotes on the TV. You don’t fight for turf, but over who can pop the most balloons before the timer runs out. It is amusing, but there has been limited time to test this mode.

Soon there will also be more options for teaming up with friends in an August DLC, and before then the Ranked modes. You can join friends’ turf fights, but you may or may not be on their team. The new DLC will have up to eight friends playing with/against each other or teams of four vs. other teams of four. Currently you cannot join up with friends in Ranked Mode even if they are the same rank. Check out the Splatoon Direct video for more about the free DLC coming soon (skip to 26 minutes).

Not quite a shooter and not quite a platformer,  Splatoon is inking its way into the hearts of Wii U owners as the new best reason to buy a Wii U. Even at the level 20 cap there is plenty of fun to be had trying to build the best gear and a gear set for each of your favourite of the many weapons to choose from, as well as working on Ranked Battles. The single player could use more meat and those with sub-par Wi-Fi will be frustrated, but despite its few shortcomings Splatoon is hands down the best online game offered on the Wii U. With any luck it will spawn a franchise with plenty of opportunity to cover the flaws of this flagship title. Stay fresh indeed.