‘Splatoon’ Weapon Loadouts, Modes And Amiibo Features Unveiled.
The Global Testfire demo is available to download from the Wii U eShop today, and allows players to take part in scheduled network tests at 1pm and 11pm on Saturday, May 9, and at 7am on Sunday, May 10 (NZ time). The latest Nintendo Direct has given a detailed look at third person shooter Splatoon, and offered a free demo to anyone that wants to play it early – although there are some strings attached.
This Is the Best Game on the Apple WatchWhy Nintendo is Suddenly Profitable AgainMoose on the Loose in Canadian Shopping Center NBC NewsFour Killed After Small Plane Crashes on Atlanta Highway NBC NewsAttorney General Opens Investigation of Baltimore Cops NBC News I spent about a half-hour with Splatoon at a Nintendo event Wednesday afternoon. In the best mode of the game, you team up with three other players for a 4v4 showdown, the objective of which is to cover as much of a map’s territory with your team’s color before the clock runs out. Nintendo announced the deal during its Splatoon-focused Direct live stream this morning, along with the news the game will be supported with free post-launch content. The Inkling Boy and Inkling Girl Mii Fighter costumes will be released over summer, although precise details as to how they will be distributed are yet to be shared. At release, there will be five maps – Urchin Underpass, Saltspray Rig, Walleye Warehouse, Blackbelly Skatepark, and Arowana Mall, but new stages will be added “every few weeks”.
Further updates will add more Ranked Battle modes, new matchmaking functions that allow players to form groups with friends before queueing and create private matches, and new weapons. Nintendo also announced it will be holding Splatfest themed events that “ask players to ponder the answer to simple questions such as… Do you prefer dogs or cats?” The event then teams up players based on their responses and pit them against one another. After splatting opponents and covering a level with colourful ink, players can transform into squids and swim quickly through their own ink or use it to take cover and hide from enemies.
On the other, the combination of the game’s various weapons, the squid transformation effect and the multiplayer mode I described above combine to result in a complex strategy-driven shooter along the lines of Team Fortress 2. If fans of more hardcore shooters like the Call of Duty series can put aside (or, better yet, embrace) Splatoon’s cartoonish look, they’ll find a deeply involved, fully entertaining game awaiting them. One piece of strategy I learned early on, for instance: Players wielding a sniper rifle can cover a lookout post in his or her team’s color, then take the high ground in squid form, hiding from enemy players. This offers two stages that are refreshed every four hours with an official announcement in-game to sound the changes, meaning players will have to carefully consider weapons and tactics for the stages that lie in wait. In a 4v4 “turf war” bout, a wise team might pick two close-range gunners, one sniper and one painter, who carries the game’s massive paint roller.
In a rarity for Nintendo, Splatoon also boasts—indeed, focuses on—online multiplayer, a necessity if Nintendo is after the multiplayer shooter demo. With the recently announced Disney Infinity 3.0 Star Wars starter pack and Lego Dimensions both closing in on the Toys to Life genre, it’s good to see ongoing support from Nintendo on its popular (and sometimes hard to find) figurines. While Splatoon is destined for many a Top Wii U Games list, Nintendo’s console hasn’t sold as well as Microsoft’s Xbox One or Sony’s PlayStation 4, so the number of people who might enjoy it is capped from the get go.
