Splatoon Review

        Nintendo has won big with the release of one of its first made for online multiplayer games for the Wii U console.  Not usually known for online multiplayer games, Nintendo has turned out a new shooter/platform game that will have kids and adults alike counting down for the next time they can play!
     Picture combining Capture the Flag, a shooter game, and squids, (yes Squids) and you have Splatoon. A four-on-four multiplayer game that (funny thing I am writing this and there is a commercial of Splatoon playing right now!) sets you up to not only destroy the enemy, but to also cover the board with their colored ink to claim the turf as their own!  Sounds like fun right? You do not EVEN KNOW.  The game play is so fun, and so new to the gaming world (especially in multiplayer game play) that you are going to be on your feet with excitement.  First off lets start with the weapons. Your job is to attack rival teams players and cover the arena with your team's color paint.  You are armed with an amazing arsenal including ink blasters, rollers, bombs, as well as using amazing upgrades that give you new ways to spray, and customizable content to your characters and more!  Are you ready for the best Part? ARE YOU?  ARE YOU?  Each character has squid powers (yeah that is not a typo) that turns your character into a squid like creature and lets them swim through their own team's ink! You can get through your turf with high speed, go up on the walls or under floors to solve puzzles and attack the enemy unaware.

    The soundtrack is amazingly catchy and the graphics are typically Nintendo but not in a bad way.  The animation of all Nintendo created games are truly their own, and there is a signature to all of them that lets you know what company created it, and this is no exception.  It is a mix between Rainbow Mario, and a early version of Zelda in my eyes, and it is splendid.  Add the seamless game-play and the amazing colors and it looks like the game vibrates off the screen.

 The Wii U has never been used more efficiently, between the Game Pad controls that let you see where your team mates are at any given time as well as a gyroscopic control that help you close in and aim on your target.   The Game Pad also has real time updates on who has covered more ground, in game boosts as well as maps on the GamePad. Brilliant!

     This game also stands out from other shooters by the level of strategy that is available in the game play.  You can send players out to cover areas in your ink, or use the Game Pad to see where you need to cover or where to penetrate the other teams defenses the most.  There is a lack of voice communication, but you will not miss it, and with upgrades it may even come into the game at a later date.
   There is also a solo offline mission where you infiltrate the headquarters of an evil octopus army and recover stolen electric catfish.  Yeah, that is all a real situation in the Splatoon world.

       Although officially released, this is really a soft launch of the game that promises to have a lot of free downloadable content in the future that will keep the game fresh and new.  Although to be honest you will not get bored fast with the five huge maps that are available already, new weapons to unlock and ever changing game play that comes with playing  multiplayer online games in general.

    This fast-paced multiplayer game WILL change the way we will play Nintendo games in the future, I see this as only one of the many multiplayer titles that will amaze us to come in the future.  It is good to know that not only can Nintendo bring it when it comes to playing online, but they will not veer away from the gaming experience that we have come to expect and love over the years.  Thet stayed true to it's fun way of gaming while going forward in a increasingly social online world of gaming!

Game is available now at a store near you!

***Thanks so much to Pete who lent me the title for review!****