Splatoon (Wii U)
By: Nintendo
I NEVER thought the day would come when I'd actively encourage the six year-old apple of my eye to delve into the world of online team shooting. But with Nintendo's comforting arm at the helm, Splatoon has emerged as a sugary gateway drug for tomorrow's Call of Duty fans to suckle at.
Stuffed with more squid than a bowl of tapas, the game is, amazingly, the first all-new IP to emerge from the Japanese giant in 15 years. The fact that it's an online shooter hardly the fodder the House of Mario is famed for is even more shocking. Yet the kaleidoscopic action polished, sublimely playable and kid-friendly is the blaster Nintendo was destined to make.
While Splatoon couldn't be further from the gory mass-market appeal of CoD, gamers after some unbridled team-based fun will be squids in. A Shibuya-esque Tokyo cityscape acts as the central hub where characters team up in four-player squid-squads, entering skatepark-inspired arenas with their paint guns for some bloodless calamari carnage.
Splatoon isn't about racking up body bags. Rather, gameplay is focused on spraying ink around the arena like a startled Zoidberg. Whichever team covers most of the level by the end of each timed match emerges victorious. You can still aim your nozzle at opponents, blasting them with paint for "kills" while characters can morph into squid to dive into the lying ink, hiding as they recharge their paint reserves.
The online experience is rock-solid, and while derided by some, the lack of voice chat means parents can sleep easy. Besides, keeping everyone's trap shut is infinitely better than having Yank tykes constantly casting aspersions on your mother's virtue.
Never before has Nintendo leaned so heavily on the online community, and in addition to standard Turf War battles and the king-of-the-hill-style Splat Zone, the company plans to add custom game lobbies and a party system as the fan-base grows, letting players target friends and match-ups with precision.
Yet Splatoon is no slouch in single player, and tucked away (literally down a drain) is the game's short-but-sweet solo mode, where players traverse a series of Mario Sunshine-esque levels, painting platforms, popping balloons and coating octopi in ink. Good times.
Visually, the retina-searing palette is the closest any game has come to copying Sega's dizzying Dreamcast heyday, when Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio ruled. Stuffed to the gills with inventiveness, Splatoon offers the world's finest cephalopod-based ink battles in an online shooter devoid of the snarling oiks that populate the virtual battlefields of Call of Duty. Colour me impressed.
