Last week, we were invited to Nintendo’s headquarters near Seattle, WA for an extended
play-session with Splatoon.
And they weren’t kidding--I played the game for more than 5-hours--and in that time, I
was able to try out four different single-player missions, and countless multiplayer matches
spread across two different modes on a handful of new maps.
There’s a ton to cover here, so let’s dive right in.
So in case you’ve been living underground, the whole idea of Splatoon revolves around
playing as an Inkling--it’s basically a half-human, half-squid hybrid that can transform
between the two forms at will.
As a human, you’re able to use your weapons to spray ink all over the place, which you
can then swim through as a squid, which is way faster, allows you to travel up walls,
refills your ink, and effectively makes you invisible to the enemy.
But there’s a catch--you’re also extremely vulnerable, as in you have no offensive or
defensive capabilities.
Yep, the squid-form is for travelling and laying low--literally, whereas the human form
is what you’ll use to go on the offensive.
It’s this balance that makes Splatoon so incredibly interesting, as you’ll find yourself
constantly--and effortlessly--transforming between the two forms--in order to tackle
enemies while keeping on the move
Now according to Nintendo, each Inkling will be distinctly your own, as when you first
start up the game, you’ll be taken through a quick tutorial in which you’ll also customize
your Inkling’s appearance to your liking.
And once you have, you’ll be free to explore Inkopolus Plaza--the bustling home-world of
the Inklings, and the central hub of Splatoon where you’ll access all of the game’s
major features.
Want to play online?
Head for the tower.
Would you rather stick with the single player?
Just talk to Cap’n Cuddlefish hiding in the sewer over there.
You can even interact with the citizens walking about, which are actually the Avatars of other
Splatoon players from around the world, allowing you to see what equipment they’re using
and their current level.
And speaking of equipment, the plaza is also where you’ll outfit your Inkling for the
single-player campaign, which you can do by visiting any of the various shops.
Head over to Sheldon’s for weapons, Annie’s for headgear, Jelonzo for clothing, and Crusty
Shaun for shoe’s--and yes, that is indeed a shrimp wearing a tempura jacket.
And thankfully, you can easily switch from one store to the next with a simple tap of
either shoulder button, without having to actually exit and enter each individual one--which
is good, because there’s a lot of gear to go through.
Now of all that gear, weapons are perhaps the most interesting, because they actually
come in sets consisting of 3 different elements: a Primary Weapon, such as the rapid-fire Splattershot,
close-range Roller, long-range Splat Charger, among others.
Then there’s the Sub Weapon, which are generally extremely useful, but consumes more ink, and
consists of things like bombs, shields, and sprinklers, and finally, the Special Weapons
like Ink Tornadoes and Ink Launchers, which you can activate as soon as you fill your
Special Meter which happens as you spray ink.
Now although some weapons are similar to others, each one has its own distinct attributes that
affects things like range, rate-of-fire, and charge rate, among other stats.
making each one feel rather unique
Oh, and by the way, all of the gear you purchase is for the single-player campaign only, and
does not transfer over to multiplayer.
Anyways, once you’re equipped and ready to go, you’ll probably want to hit-up Cap’n
Cuddlefish to enter the single-player mode.
Now it’s pretty clear this guy’s seen some things--and as such, he’ll fill you
in on some of the backstory.
As it turns out, a group of octopuses known as the Octarions have stolen Inkopulas’s
primary power source: a giant electric catfish, and it’s up to you to get it back.
But in the short-term, you’ll also collect a Zap Fish at the end of each level, which
the Octarions are using to power local operations.
Once you’re up to speed, Captain Cuddlefish will set you free to explore Octovalley--the
underground homeland of the Octarions, and the hub of the single-player campaign.
Here you’ll access the various levels by using portals hidden about--which you’ll
first have to uncover by spraying them with ink.
Now Splatoon isn’t your typical shooter, and part of this is how the game combines
shooting--and platforming--especially in in the single-player campaign, where you’ll
find yourself hopping between platforms, climbing towers, riding ink spouts, crossing inkrails,
and navigating floating sponges that grow as they’re filled with ink--and we’re
just getting started.
In fact, the whole thing has a bit of a Mario Galaxy vibe to it--after all, most of the
levels I played took place on floating platforms connected by Launchpads that sent you flying
through the air.
And like Mario Galaxy, it lent the game a fast-paced feel that switched things up constantly.
But as I said before, it’s how Splatoon mixes the platforming with shooting that really
makes it stand out.
And that’s where the Octarions enter the picture--which come in a variety of forms.
The most basic of them shamble about, while others can fly, and then there are the ones
that man turrets, which you’ll have to distract by, say, throwing a bomb behind them in order
to get them to turn around making their backside vulnerable.
Now one thing they all have in common is that they fight back with ink all their own--in
fact, one of the Octarions even takes the form of a giant stamp that’ll hopes to stamp
you out of existence.
And if you take too much of their ink head-on, it’ll be Game Over--but your health does
automatically regenerate as long as you can stay out of harm’s way for a second or two.
So there’s often quite a lot going on around you at once, which meant I constantly found
myself diving into the ink in order to get a better vantage point, before popping up
fire off some shots, then taking to the ink again.
And this seemed to be crucial when taking on the Octolings.
Which as you may have guessed, is the Octarions version of an Inking, in that they can also
freely transform between a human-form, and an ink-swimming Octopus.
In short, they’re serious business,
In fact, the one level that that they appeared in also felt the closest to the multiplayer
mode of any of of the 4 I played, as it was more open-ended in nature, while having you
take on some formidable opponents.
And speaking of multiplayer, we played a ton of it too, including 2-different modes, on
3-different maps, with a variety of weapons.
Now one of these modes is Turf War, which we’ve seen a lot of since last year’s
E3.
In this mode, 2-teams of four duke it out to be the one that covers the most amount
of area in their team’s ink before time runs out.
It’s fast-paced, frantic, and a lot of fun--especially now that we were able to try it out on 3-different
arenas including Walleye Warehouse, Blackbelly Skatepark, Saltspray Rig.
The other mode that we tried is entirely new, called Splat Zones, which is essentially King
of the Hill, Splatoon style.
In this mode, it’s your goal to take control of a marked central location by--what else--covering
it in ink.
Taking control will cause your team’s timer to start ticking down--and if you can hold
onto it until it reaches 0, your team will win.
But here’s the catch, if the other team manages to completely take control of it instead,
your team be hit with a time penalty, which you’ll then have to burn through first before
going back to whittling away your main timer again.
It’s a constant struggle in trying to maintain control, and demands a lot more strategy and
teamwork than Turf War.
I mean, should your entire team attempt to hold down the splat zone from within, or would
it be better if some of your team broke off to engage the other team before they can even
get there?
And of course, your weapon selection will help dictate your strategy too.
After all, it wouldn’t make a ton of sense to have someone with the slow and sniper-like
Splat Charger defend the Splat Zone from within.
For my purposes, I found myself drawn to the Splattershot in this mode, which felt like
a well-balanced weapon for maintaining territory control while fighting off the enemy, due
to its close and medium-range fighting.
And I have to say that I rather enjoyed hiding in ink on the enemy’s side, and waited for
them to run past toward the Splat Zone, before taking them out from behind...yeah, I’m
a camper.
Anyways, both modes were a blast to play, but Splat Zone definitely seemed to be the
more strategic and skill-based of the two.
And it seems Nintendo’s aware of this, because this mode’s handled a little differently
than Turf War.
You see, Turf War falls under a category called Regular Battle, in that it’s a mode that
aims to be enjoyed by anyone regardless of skill level.
Whereas Splat Zones, due to its heavier skill-requirements, actually falls under a different category
called Ranked battles, in which you’ll earn a letter grade for your general performance,
and be matched against similarly ranked players..
So because of its greater barrier to entry, Ranked Battles won’t be available to play
from Day 1, as Nintendo’s only going to unlock this mode once enough players worldwide
reach level 10 in Regular Battles.
And even then, you’ll personally have to reach level 10 yourself to access this mode.
So in my 5-hours, I saw quite a bit of Splatoon--and yet it still feels like I’m just scratching
the surface.
The single-player was creative, the multiplayer hectic, and there’s just a ton of charm
throughout--just wait until you see some of the shopkeeper’s dialogue.
And regardless of which mode I played, the presentation was fantastic across the board.
The game ran without a hiccup, while looking great to boot--I mean, it really looks--and
feels--like you’re swimming through ink.
And this is partially due to the game’s fantastic controls.
As I said before, switching between the two forms really was completely effortless.
And aiming also felt great, with the gyro-controls allowing a level of responsiveness and precision
not often seen on console-shooters--although the right-stick is still there for those who
want it.
Although I will say that it was sometimes difficult gauge the exact range of my weapons--particularly
as each weapon’s is different.
Okay, so to wrap things up--Splatoon looks great, controls well, and was a ton of fun
during my hands-on session.
But I do still have some unanswered questions, such as the length of the single-player camptain,
what other multiplayer modes might still be there, and if the multiplayer mdoe has enough
depth to it to hold my interest for long.
But for now, I’m just pumped to play it more.
Oh, and Nintendo also confirmed there’s no vociechat in the game at all--which is
disappointed, particularly given more strategy-based nature of Splat Zones
Thanks for watching and make sure to stay-tuned to GameXplain.com for tons more on Splatoon
including more gameplay videos as well as our upcoming discussion, and other things
gaming too.