Hello and good day everyone!
Welcome to my Video Game Thoughts series, where I look at a specific video game and
explain what I think is positive about it, what's negative, and what is neither positive
nor negative.
Though please keep in mind that I often find negative aspects to positive things, and positive
aspects to negative things, so these aren't supposed to be super strict categories.
Thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoy!
Positives
- 3D Platformer I'll be honest, I bought Splatoon to support
the single player.
Now I know that Nintendo promoted the multiplayer a lot more.
I was just initially unsure about how much I would enjoy the multiplayer given that I
don't play shooters at all.
I usually dislike graphic content, and I get uncomfortable seeing blood.
Splatoon had neither of those two things, so it was a question of whether I would like
the gameplay.
I tried the game during the Global Testfire and found I really enjoyed it.
But I still decided to buy it to support the single player as soon as Nintendo revealed
the single player campaign was a 3D platformer.
3D platformers are super rare nowadays, but they are my favorite genre, so I wanted to
show support.
I also love how people have been going on and on about how Nintendo needs to make a
shooter to be taken seriously in the current video games environment, and when they did
make a shooter, it was a shooter where the shooting mechanics create paths for your character,
thus facilitating the larger goal of platforming.
Granted combat becomes more important in online battles.
But I loved the gameplay of Splatoon.
Your character can't jump well, but you can shoot ink and dive into the ink to move around
undetected by enemies and to refill your ink meter.
You can't touch enemy ink because that will cause damage and slow you down.
Which makes the game as much about combat as about control of the terrain even in multiplayer.
You have to keep in mind not only what you need to do next in terms of movement but also
keep in mind the layout of the map, moreso than other platformers, because enemy ink
or lack of your own ink on the ground will put a stop to your progress right away.
Although the single player campaign was short, it was a wonderful 3D platformer.
The later levels can get a bit longer than I would usually like, since I like Crash Bandicoot
length levels: short but impactful.
Nevertheless each level introduces mechanics like new enemies or new platforms, all of
which need to be defeated and manevuered around differently.
Each level is divided into islands, each of which has a specific goal you need to achieve,
at which point you get blasted to the next island, until you reach the end of the level.
This system works great with levels don't overstay their welcome, notwithstanding my
personal preference for shorter levels.
The only weak points would be the bosses after each set of levels.
These bosses were quite simple and not very challenging, until of course, the final boss.
The final boss, with each of its stages increasing in difficulty, and each section of the battle
with the final boss bringing in elements from earlier levels like earlier enemies and physical
obstacles, and then the final part having different music to make sure you realize how
far you've come and how important this battle is, the final boss is just great.
I know I had a difficult time with the final boss, though I know others found him easier
than I did, but I felt so accomplished when I finally defeated him.
This is one of my favorite final boss fights in a long time.
He doesn't make up for the comparatively lackluster bosses before him, but it is a great way to
end the single player.
I also quite liked the credits that you revealed by shooting ink.
- Multiplayer I didn't think I would love the multiplayer
as much as I do, given that I enjoy 3D platformers much more than shooters, but I really did
enjoy the multiplayer.
Even when the game was recently released with only a few maps and only the Turf Wars game
mode, I had a ton of fun.
The ink mechanics, controlling territory, traveling through the ink, and so on, made
the game such a unique experience, and it worked great as a single player experience
where you're trying to go through a series of obstacles, and great as a multiplayer experience
where you're trying to defeat your opponents using the same skills you learned in single
player.
I don't know if I speak to this honestly because Splatoon is the only shooter I've played,
but it seems a unique achievement that the game's mechanics work so well for both being
a 3D platformer and for being a shooter, so I think Splatoon definitely deserves credit
for that.
If I were writing this upon the release of the game, I would probably leave it at that.
But I'm writing this in May 2016 and editing this in May and July 2017, long after its
release.
Now, thanks to updates, there are more maps, more intricate maps that involve more mechanics
from the single player, as well as new game modes each with different objectives.
At which point I have to say that the multiplayer has great variety, now it incorporates the
single player elements even better than before, and it encourages different playstyles, whether
it's focusing on controlling a specific area in Splat Zones or focusing on protecting your
teammates and making forward progress in Tower Control.
Tower Control for instance is more defensive, since the player on moving Tower Control has
no control of the path the tower takes or the speed at which the tower moves, though
the teammates' task remains the same, protect the player on the tower and be ready to take
their place if need be.
I really appreciate the different play styles, since this makes sure that there will always
be a use for different equipment.
That doesn't mean I like all game modes, since I dislike the jokes used to promote certain
game modes.
- Clothes I'm also a big fan of the balance the game
struck between different clothes with different abilities, upgrading to better clothes, or
upgrading clothes with weaker abilities.
The sysem encourages you to buy new items by changing the stock daily, and by adding
better and better items as you level up.
But if there's an item you just like, you can always upgrade it.
And if like me there are items you really dislike, you can avoid those items.
- Splatfests Splatfests were a great idea, with one huge
problem.
I absolutely hated when Splatfests referenced franchises besides Splatoon, especially since
in my opinion some of the franchises referenced were not family friendly, or when dialogue
added in didn't sound family friendly, whereas Splatoon the full game is family friendly.
These were the Splatfests I didn't even consider participating in, just based on the fact that
the teams referenced media that wasn't family friendly.
If you've seen my Pokken review, you know how much I dislike referencing media that
is not family friendly in a video game that is.
All it does, so far as I'm concerned, is tarnish a good video game by associating it with things
it shouldn't be associated with, things I'll be honest and say I dislike and that also
are different from Splatoon in not being family friendly and therefore shouldn't be associated
with it.
And similar to that, I also really dislike the marketing for Splatoon, just because things
are referenced that shouldn't be.
Having said that, a number of Splatfests had nothing to do with other franchises, and those
were better.
Months after I thought I had finished play Splatoon, I'd still come back for the Splatfests.
I think changing the hub area into a night-time concert, as well giving access to the maps
during night time, makes the Splatfests feel like a big celebration.
It's unique to play because of these changes from the daytime maps, and its great to see
all the Inklings outside dancing and singing.
- The controls I thought the motion controls were implemented
excellently.
Originally I had no intention of using motion controls and I played for several hours using
only the button inputs, but when I did try to use motion controls I found the motion
controls were precise and intuitive.
To me, this is exactly how motion controls should always be implemented.
Splatoon offered the ability to use either traditional or motion controls, both were
optional, and both worked very well.
Negative
- References I mentioned this before, but it merits repeating:
I really disliked references to non-family friendly content within Splatoon, especially
with how it happened during Splatfests.
Splatfests as a concept, having a special time period in-game where the music changed,
the atmosphere of the central hub was that of a concert, and everyone competed in a one-time-only
event, that concept is wonderful, but I am no fan of the Splatfests referencing things
outside of Splatoon, especially things that were not family friendly.
I disliked such references when Splatoon's marketing used it, and I definitely disliked
the inclusion of any jokes that were not family friendly.
Overall the game is apt for all ages, with squid children that need to save an electric
catfish from the evil octopus creatures, it's apt for the whole family, which is what I
appreciate.
- The connection is unstable "The connection is unstable."
I had this message appear so often.
Sometimes I'd be able to have several matches in a row.
Other times it would appear from the very first match.
Sometimes I'd be able to have one match if I kept going into the lobby, since it would
reconnect after disconnecting, but more than not that would be one match I managed to play
from beginning to end out of around ten that I started and then was given the "The connection
is unstable" message.
I even didn't get to enjoy some Splatfests, because I would only have a certain period
during the weekend free to play Splatoon and the game would keep giving me "The connection
is unstable" message.
I would be sitting there up to thirty minutes, trying to start a battle several times with
the hopes of getting to play, and then having the battle cut short almost immediately by
the message.
I don't know if this is just my Internet connection, in which case it isn't the game's fault.
But just about every time I stopped playing the multiplayer, it was because I was forced
offline, not because I wanted to.
Again, I'm not sure what the cause of it is, but for a game with such a strong multiplayer
focus, it is very annoying to get thrown offline.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét