Nintendo just capped off the first Splatoon Global Testfire event for the US, with two more events coming up tomorrow, and separate playtimes for other regions. As an open beta testing Nintendo’s online servers, it is definitely a success, but we’ll get into that and other aspects later.
For those who still don’t know, Splatoon is a 3rd person team shooter developed by some of the younger developers of Nintendo’s EAD studio. EAD has taken the shooter conventions, and not only did they give it a fresh coat of paint, but they have adapted the genre to their typical lenticular design. In this sense, it has more in common with Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros than other shooters.
Design
Nintendo designs their games around a basic idea: will you have fun with it even if you’re new at it and lose a lot? For Splatoon, the answer is yes. Shooting ink all around the map, shooting like a rocket missile across the screen in squid form, these all feel good to do and repeat. Even if you aren’t playing well, even if enemies ambush you constantly, just experiencing these sensations make you feel good.
For average and advanced players, Splatoon has a lot of potential as well. When you get used to the controls and play a few rounds, you will immediately pick up on the winning strategies. You want to be constantly moving around the screen, spreading as much ink around the map as possible. If you can’t handle confrontations, you can get around this and spray ink where your enemies were.
When you do get down to PvP, fighting is quick and decisive. Campers will hate this game, because you can stay in one spot shooting down squid after squid, but your opponents can spread ink around you and win. Furthermore, there aren’t many places to hide, although you can play pitch battles of keepaway if you want to.
This is lenticular design: having fun gameplay elements that can be immediately appreciated, with deeper layers of strategy that you will not recognize until you get better at it.
Online
As for online, Nintendo did a bang up job, using the same magic that they did for Mario Kart 8 if not better. Matchmaking is not 100 % perfect, but you get matched up with other players quickly. When you actually dive in, the game played smoothly, with never a moment that the game was affected or even appeared to have lag.
In the seventeen something matches I played, I never got a message midway that the game got interrupted because a player logged out. However, I brought up Mario Kart 8 for a reason; it’s likely Nintendo used the same system that replaces players that disconnect with bots mid game. Of course, we would never be the wiser.
Weapons and Maps
These are how the demo weapons and maps play out:
Splattershot – this is the cornbread average weapon. Average reach and ink spread, average firepower, average everything. It’s a good weapon if you want to keep things simple, but may not necessarily what will get you the most wins.
Splattershot Jr – a fine first timer weapon. Similar to the OG Splattershot, but a little bit faster. What gives it the edge over its counterpart, however, is its special weapon, the Bubble. Activate it and you’re protected for a few seconds. If your teammates move with you, they’re invulnerable too. For this reason, it's smart for Splattershot Jr and Splat Charger players to stay together.
Splat Roller – if you were online during the Global Testfire, you already know this is the weapon everyone is talking about. The roller has a wide spread, allowing it to cover large areas of the map quickly. It can also dispense of enemies effectively with a close range splatter that I think is meant to duplicate a shotgun. People will tell you the roller is overpowered, but I think the other weapons can match up to it. Except for one….
Splat Charger –the Splat Charger is not immediately accessible, but it has a lot of potential as a solid weapon for an advanced player. It will lose out in a face to face controntation with any of the other weapons, especially the Splat Roller. However, and thankfully, the game's objective is to spread ink, and this the Charger can do very well.
The Charger spreads ink a considerable distance, opening up a path for other players. To leverage this ability, you should focus on spreading ink in wide, uncontested areas, such as the blind spot in the left side of the Walleye Warehouse. You also want to aim high, as high as you can. You can, of course, ambush enemies, but need to take care not to be ambushed or spotted yourself. Treat the charger as a medium range, not a long range weapon, and don't hesitate to rushdown once you power up your special weapon; the timed bombs.
The Charger is not meant to splat your enemies head on. However, it is the weapon that can most win games, if you know how to use it right.
Walleye Warehouse – this is a very basic, straightforward map. This map is not that big, with just enough distance to keep matches from being decided to soon. There is also a little bit of verticality, and a core central area that will be the battleground for some intense confrontations.
Saltspray Rig – this is a considerably bigger map, with much more verticality, and lots of places to fall off. Overall, you will want to be daring and move your way around as much as you can.
Voice chat
Just a brief note about voice chat; yes, the game does not offer it, and for fans who wanted it, this sucks. However, EAD has very clearly designed the game in such a way that voice chat is not necessary. The maps are small and the win conditions are drastically different. You don’t need to coordinate where to move. What I found is most players went their own way, and ideally we recognized the need to split up to cover more space.
The game also feeds you the information you would have wanted from voice chat. Check the middle top of the screen to see the status of each player, teammate and enemy alike (safe, in danger, splatted out). There will also be notifications if a teammate has used a special, such as Bubble.
Ultimately, the game rewards improvisation over coordinating attacks. You can easily catch a team moving around together unaware by moving around them to spread more ink around the map to win.
Motion Controls
Finally, the game defaults to partial motion controls on the Gamepad. Some fans don’t like it, and this is completely expected. I think Nintendo got this right.
You can see the basic controls on the small screencap I made below. For movement, the left analog stick makes you move a certain direction.
Now we get to motion controls. You move the Gamepad physically to aim, and swing the right analog stick left or right to move left or right. You can always press the Y button at any time to recenter the Gamepad, so you won’t be holding it awkwardly for long.
You can toggle to traditional controls, and use the right analog stick exclusively to aim and turn. In my experience, either control scheme is fine. Of course, experienced players will prefer traditional controls, but motion controls are easier to understand for newer players. Truthfully, Motion controls wouldn’t be as good if you could not recenter the camera. Thanks to this one small addition, the GamePad is that much more valuable a controller.
Overall, Splatoon Global Testfire was a success in both showing off the game and demonstrating the capability of their servers. How did you enjoy this event? Do you plan to catch the other scheduled Testfires? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
Splatoon will be releasing exclusively for the Wii U on May 29.
