Splatoon 2 - Welcome To The Party!
Nintendo, the ultimate couch-lock
Few developers have been as good on making multiplayer-games as Nintendo. From old classics like Ice-Climber, to the Mario Kart-series (and every Mario game in between) we've been able to gather in our sofas and super smash our friends! When it comes to online-play though, Nintendo has not fared as well. Splatoon, a title that was released initially for the Wii U for almost exactly 2 years ago, was in some ways a response to their online-community. The title can kind of be compared to Nintendo's attempt to flirt with the Call of Duty-audience, even if were not really talking glorified brutal war-violence this time.
With time, Splatoon became a huge success, not least thanks to Nintendo themselves being excellent at keeping the title alive with updates and large competitions. Therefore it shouldn't come as a surprise that the sequel is the companies only big game to the Switch this summer, and therefore it's getting a lot of attention.
Dropping colored death from above!
Let me start of by saying that Splatoon 2 does not make any claims to redefine any concept. In matter of fact it's hard to notice any big difference between the sequel and the original. Starting of it's mostly the visuals that are striking me as looking better, and the animations has gotten a bit smoother with a more fluid gameplay as an result. The big news comes in the new abilities and weapons that you will have at your disposal. For example you can now use a jet-pack and throw color-bombs from above or take homing missile color-bombs to help you get rid of the opposition. Most of the abilities are much more fun than they where the last time around - i especially like that it takes more time to master them, and the fact that you need to adapt your playstyle depending upon who you choose. Even the weapons arsenal has gotten an upgrade, where one of the coolest features is the possibility to hold 2 color-guns in each hand instead of just one. With those two guns it's easy to move quickly to the sides and keep living a bit longer.
Among the game modes it is of course Turf War that takes the biggest spotlight, the game mode in which the team that manages to color the largest area of the map wins. It's been a part of Splatoon since the original and is just as good now as then. Except for that we also find ranked games and the new Salmon Run - which let's you fight of waves of incoming enemies (a little like horde mode from Gears of Wars). Salmon Run is surprisingly quite extensive, here you will see unique enemies and a different lighting-setting than what we are used to in Splatoon. You can't play Salmon Run exactly every time you want though, at least not online. You just have to adapt to Nintendo's times, and right now i don't know how often the mode will be open.
A funnier campaign but still something is missing
The biggest gaming addition is that the single-player game experience is much more "serious". Still there is something missing, but much better designed than in the first one where it just felt like a long tutorial before getting into multiplayer. To a certain degree this is still the case - but this time you get a chance to get familiar with every weapon and ability in the game, and in your own sweet time you can get very comfortable with the layout - but both levels and bosses are more advanced this time around.
The campaign in Splatoon 2 sometimes feels a bit wasted. The concept is fun enough to be able to flesh out a real full-scale single-player experience, that could even have managed to stand on it's own legs. This is absolutely not the case - the challenge level is way to low, maps are way to short and everything just ends very quickly. No, Splatoon is all about the online and multiplayer gaming, believe me on that one.
With that said it's hard not to give Nintendo some criticism for not doing enough. Splatoon 2 might not be suitable to be compared to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but the tendency to take a popular Wii U-game and just re-launch it with minimal updates to the Switch is present even here. As said, for a untrained eye it's actually pretty hard to notice anything new - and if you didn't like the original you most likely won't like the sequel.
Just as in the predecessor i find myself asking why Nintendo won't let me customize my experience more. I can't choose levels, instead 2 predetermined levels spin and mix randomly for every game mode, and are switched out periodically. On one hand this can be experienced as limited, on the other hand this also leads to Splatoon 2 being easy to understand for anyone. You don't need to fiddle in any menus, or learn every corner of any certain map - instead you just jump in and let yourself enjoy a quick few hours in Splatoon 2.
Concluding
Sure we might not find any revolutionary changes but the concept is polished enough that we might manage anyway. Few multiplayer titles with online focus can balance it as good as Splatoon does - here you will find something interesting no matter if your a rookie or a Splatoon-veteran. Splatoon 2 certainly beats it's predecessor even if it's pretty slightly.
A small warning flag for the tech needs to be raised tough. During my gaming it has sometimes taken a very long time to find a game. Hopefully this is because the amount of players is low, rather then it being a technical error.
The Best
- Very accessible for everyone.
- Looks better
- Better single-player mode than the last time
The Worst:
- Few new things
- Slight problem with finding games.
- To little options for customization.
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