Splatoon 2

Genre: Third-Person Shooter

Players: 1-8 Team Competitive (Local Wireless), 2-8 Team Competitive / Co-Op (Online)

.

Review:

Splatoon 2 is a Third-Person Shooter with Nintendo’s own unique twist on the “online deathmatch shooter”, where players aren’t shooting normal guns, but brightly-colored ink, where you’re not just playing as some guy, but an odd human/squid hybrid that can transform to move faster and get over and through obstacles, and where taking out enemies is secondary to your main goal, which usually involves coating the arena with your own color of ink.

Along with this change in theme comes a bright and colorful color presentation that’s also really unique for the genre. This game is absolutely gorgeous, and arenas don’t just fill with color when you “ink” them, they literally look like they’re dripping with it. And it’s really satisfying to paint over an area with your color and hear it glopping all over the place.

Playing the game is fairly straightforward – your weapons run on ink, and when you run out, you can turn into squid form to refill them, and while in that form, you can move quickly on any area with your own color ink, but you can’t attack, so players need to pace themselves out and know when to use each form.

You’re given a few different control options, including motion-sensing controller options if you prefer. In addition, the various weapons can work very differently, with everything from uzi-style squirtguns to sniper rife-style weapons, to paint brushes, paint rollers (my personal favorite), and paint buckets. In short, you’ll have a lot of options and will likely settle on a favorite way to play that is uniquely you.

The game has a progression system where the more you win, the more access you have to various weapons and gear to upgrade your character, but this isn’t too one-sided – while later gear is noticeably better than earlier gear, it doesn’t upset balance so much that players with the better stuff will always win.

Online play is a blast, for the most part. While Nintendo still has frustrating issues with online play (players have had to deal with cheating, connection issues, and various other problems since the game’s launch), most of the time playing online in Splatoon 2 works pretty smoothly, and as with the first game, they’ve put a lot of effort into supporting the game post-launch with their “splatfests”, which come to an end mid-2019, two years after the game’s launch. In addition, Splatoon 2 offers additional game modes, including a new co-op mode if you’re feeling like working together with other players instead of constantly being at odds.

Overall, Splatoon 2 is a phenomenal game for those looking for shooty action but craving something different. It looks great and plays great, and while its online has had some frustrations, for the most part this game is a blast and you’ll find yourself getting sucked in for hours at a time.

tl;dr – Splatoon 2 is a Third-Person Shooter that takes a refreshing approach to the genre, where splatting the area with your color of ink is just as important as taking out enemies. While the game isn’t without its annoying problems, it looks great, plays great, has plenty of variety of weapons and game modes, and will suck you in for hours at a time.

Grade: A

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}