If anyone still doubts the ability to create new Nintendo video game sagas, this May change his mind, entertained with titles like Code Name: STEAM and now Splatoon, probably one of the most fun shooters fresh and original that we have played in recent years, which is saying a lot when talking about as saturated as is the multiplayer online action genre.
A Paint!
For those who track him to the game during its development, to say that this is a title that we will face Team duels four against four with one goal in mind: to paint everything we can color our group. Yes, Splatoon our weapons don’t fire bullets, but ink, and the key to victory is not only to eliminate the opposing team members.
But its peculiarities do not end there, because in the new Nintendo will control beings called inklings, a sort of humanoid squid able to change at will between their way of mollusk and human. With the first we can hide in our color ink to make us less visible, swim through it at full speed (which will also allow us to scale walls) and recharge our reserves of paint. However, to attack, shoot and use our arsenal, we must resort to the human form.
As we say, the change from one to another is done instantly and is a very intuitive movement, so it will not take even two games in adapting their controls to move with complete ease on the stage. There are also small advanced techniques that we will discover as we play and that will allow us to make a difference. Easy to play, hard to master: a very usual and Nintendo games here strictly follows high.
In regard to our armamentarium, we can carry three different weapons equipped in each item: a primary, a secondary and a special, although the latter two will depend on the first, so it can not be selected individually. Thus, what we are actually equip weapons packs, forcing us to have to adapt to all possible to take full advantage of our character.
The main weapons defines our style of fighting and is now divided into three types: Machine Gun, Sniper, and Roller. The first amount to machine guns and rifles of other games, allowing us to shoot ink at full speed and in all directions. Moreover, the rollers allow us to crush our opponents and kill them with one blow with a somewhat slow-moving, with little range and very powerful. Their main problem is precisely how limited is their reach, so despite its power, we become an easy target. At first it may seem easy to use, but while our rivals are better, the more we realize its limitations and the many "tricks" we have to use to take advantage.
Finally, the sniper resembles to any game: a somewhat cumbersome gigantic scope, enormous power of attack and maneuverability will force us to have to sharpen our shots carefully, forcing us to have to keep everything short distances possible.
Within these three types of arms we will find many different variants, since, for example, not all equally potent ink guns have the same extent and have the same rate of fire. This manages to give a surprising depth to the game as it does not only have to find a main weapon that suits our needs and style of play, but also come equipped with a secondary weapon and a special that we like. Our advice is to learn to use all you can to be as versatile as possible.
Continuing our arsenal, saying that secondary weapons are usually very powerful, but spend a lot of ink, so we need to calculate well the right time to use them. These are usually grenades, bombs and mines, but there are some other more or less original, as a kind of shower that serves as a shield.
As for the special weapons, these are the most powerful in the game and have to be used to fill an energy meter based paint. Having done this, we simply turn them to launch missiles painting (by selecting the location on the map of the GamePad), use devastating bazookas, become a super squid able to rampage or become invincible for a few seconds, to name a few examples.
Squid Fashion
To end our customization options, we have the clothes we can wear our inkling. This is divided into accessories (hats, sunglasses, bandanas ...), shirts and shoes and just let us equip ourselves with a piece of each type. Besides the obvious aesthetic function they have, correctly selecting our clothing will be very important in the battle, as they have different passive skills, and more attack, defense or speed ink refill.
Some pieces will get them with blocked skills, so we will be playing several games with them equipped to level up so we can access that extra improvement, although grace is that this is selected randomly, so that we spend some time to get to our dream team.
All the clothes and the weapons we buy in stores in the main city of the game, site from which you will access them and their different ways. An interesting detail is that all NPCs we see around here are in fact replicas of the characters of other players that we have encountered during our games. This will allow us to inspect, view and value their Miiverse messages, and even select parts of your computer to bring us the next day to a special shop.
Competing against the world
As mentioned, the "heart" of Splatoon and its very raison d'être lies in its online multiplayer. Currently it is divided into two modes: Territorial and painted areas . The first becomes the main mode of the game and participate in battles it four against four with a maximum of three minutes. Our objective? Stage paint color of our team. When time runs out the game, the team that territory has painted that color will bring victory.
This approach encourages everyone to have fun, and you do not need to kill a lot to make a good score and stand up as winners. In fact, it is perfectly possible to make a negative in our relationship casualties / deaths and earn equal. If we focus only on killing and forgot to paint and take territory on the contrary, probably end up losing.
Mind you, eliminate opposing team members will give us much benefit, as we will be taking away seconds of play between what slow to return and rejoin the fray, while we use to keep painting. All this results in a very fast games, very dynamic (come to produce truly epic comebacks in seconds), extremely hectic and most importantly hilarious.
So much so, that surprising ability to hook that has the game. Thanks to the last three minutes of every round, it has achieved a perfect balance so they do not come in long and heavy, but we will pass the time as fast during the battle that will leave us wanting to come back for more.
While the Territorial style could be considered as one of "friendly" designed to offer carefree fun, games the way Paint Zones comes to represent the opposite, that is, more competitive and fierce his side. In fact, to enter here will have to get first level 10, which prevent novice players begin directly with this method and we can ruin the experience.
Unlike Territorial, here only we have to worry about painting the specific areas that make us on the map. There may be one or two and we have to get hold of their control (our color painting them, obviously) to reduce our counter points. If our counter reaches zero, we win.
As you can imagine, this gives rise to very intense and constant battles, because we end up collecting all the players of both teams on the same point on the stage. Furthermore, in cases where there are two areas we not begin to "rate" until the two are under our control, intensifying the fight considerably.
While the number of players is held in four against four, the time limit is extended to five minutes, which makes sense considering that sometimes long power struggle in which it is very difficult to score occur. Another important feature of this method is that we will go up and down range as our victories and defeats, an attractive incentive to play hard and try to move up. Of course, the more we go, we will find better players because we will match users with a range similar to ours, so staying at the top will be increasingly difficult.
As for the maps that will battle, currently there are only five available, although Nintendo has promised to launch new venues over the weeks totally free, so if you think this little number, know that it will increase. The five that we could play quickly and easily memorized, because they have a fairly small size, besides being symmetrical, which favors much fighting and constant action.
Of course, they are all very well studied and designed, offering different strategies and courses of action, with specific points that we will soon realizing its importance and those who fight tirelessly. And thanks to the possibilities our characters for "plataformear" and climbing walls have been equipped with a grateful verticality, leading to battles of all kinds and pure skill (in duels against other players is as important to aim well as namely secondary move and take our weapons and our way of squid).
One detail that caught our attention and that may not be to everyone's taste dish is its unique selection system map. Every four hours a new rotation of scenarios for each game mode is entered, so you always have two available for Territorial and another two for paint zones. Once those four hours passed, a new rotation will be selected, so we will never have access to all the maps.
Regarding its online structure, saying that the matchmaking system has served us very effectively, finding relatively quick games (although we have had enormous difficulties to play Paint zones mode by the low number of players with level 10 in the test version ). In addition, during battles stability we have enjoyed has been total: no lag without any falls.
Absences
One of the main problems is found in Splatoon sparing content is, at least initially. Yes, this problem will alleviating the months thanks to the many free updates are planned, but the truth is that today we lack such basic things as the ability to team up with our friends, as the only way we play with them will be joining their games in the Territorial mode (which also ensure we fall into the same group).
This is something that until August will not change (upgrade that also will be used to include private and personal items) and is very much lacking in the Pintazonas way, and we'll never know who is going to play in the team, which can be very frustrating when rank up.
Something similar happens with voice chat. Or rather, his absence, since we have no way of communicating with our partners beyond a few indications that the moment of truth are useless. We can understand that this feature is not present when playing with strangers, although we fail to understand the reasons which led to Nintendo not enable it when you play with friends, forcing us to have to pull external programs to communicate and properly organize our known . Worst of all is that the company has already said it does not plan to include voice chat in the future, so we can only hope to change their minds.
Another detail that we found something disturbing is the inability to change our team when we are in an online room, forcing us to get out of it every time we make a small change. In fact, as we will never know who is going to be in our group (they change teams after each round), nor do we know what we most needed weapon in every battle to balance the team, which almost nullifies any possibility of trying to create good strategies, so just choose your weapon, your clothes, the gameplay and play.
Controversial decisions aside, the other big concern we had with Splatoon was with his long-term fun, because two game modes and five maps, at least in numerical terms, we obviously fancied scarce. But the fact is that after three weeks giving daily have not yet felt any trace of monotony or boredom, which speaks highly of the work that has been done with the gameplay.
We have always had the itch to want to throw us another game and all have enjoyed almost like the first time, or even more, since we have been polishing our skills and noticing a remarkable progression in our form of gambling, which has allowed us to Doing more with different gameplay mechanics. As we have said several times, is a hilarious title, costing tired, and you have multiple ways to bite us to always want more, either to level up, get a certain team or scale ranges in the competitive mode. Or just for the sheer pleasure of playing.
Maybe after the first day did not you go to spend many hours, but we assure you that constantly return unto him, if only to play half an hour (a figure that may increase significantly, of course). If we add the promise of new maps, modes, weapons and even temporary events as festivals, it is clear that we have squid battles for a long time to just let ourselves be seduced by its proposal.
The war against the octopus
Despite its clear focus on online gambling, Splatoon not forget those who like to play alone, so they introduced a single-player campaign that already I advised that it is simply a bonus. Of course, as an extra juicy. Here we have to overcome thirty levels as we make our way through them battling an army of octopus.
The design of each screen is very similar to a 3D platform game, looking to offer unique mechanical will not see in its multiplayer, as invisible platforms we have to paint for viewing or sponges that become larger with the ink of our color. This helps to provide some variety to their development, but there are ideas that were just repeating what your second half a little less surprising than it suggests the first levels.
The screens are very short and rare it is the passing of five minutes, so if you do the accounts, you will realize that there is a long way indeed. In fact, we have completed 100% in just four hours. We say 100% because in each level you have to find a secret scroll, which will allow us to know more about the game world and its background (I advised it has some surprising details that we liked a lot), but to find them is and hardly a snap with the leaping you go to little attention.
Before ending this way, we would like to highlight the genius of his final battle: probably one of the best bosses who designed Nintendo itself in recent years. Along with many different, frantic, spectacular and fun stages. We encourage you to overdo this mode if only to get here, and well worth it. The other bosses are good, but they are extremely simple and easy (as the other levels, actually), which does not mean that they are very entertaining.
The art of painting
Graphically, Splatoon is a game that shows a lot of personality thanks to a very careful artistic and original style. From the design stage and inklings until the enemies of the campaign mode itself, all it shows good performance. In addition, the modeled are really solid and very worked, and animations are also quite good and the paint effect on impact on the map is tremendously satisfying. To all this we have to add that the title is moved to a flawless rate 60 frames per second which does not break down at any time, even things that happen on screen, something we think is important in any good self-respecting shooter be.
Despite all this, we are sure that Wii U can still give something more of himself. Unfortunately, the game suffers from some very noticeable teeth saw that disfigure a product which, moreover, is very accomplished both technically and artistically pleasing and getting our sight at all times.
Finally, with regard to sound, we have a very good and surprisingly catchy soundtrack, those that cost out of his head. His compositions are very hectic, helping to acclimate perfectly every battle and still give them more pace if possible. The downside is that it is not particularly varied and extensive, so just repeating too, though not to bother at any time. The effects we also liked, especially the sound they make weapons to shoot paint on impact and the inklings to be dissolved in ink much. Variety and quality.
Conclusions
Splatoon stands for pure and direct fun. Since we catch the knob until it let go what we spend a great time playing with him thanks to a completely original, unique and innovative proposal that gets breathe new life into a genre too stagnant and saturated today.
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