#so excited for splatoon 2 owo

[memaiva]

Already posted this on twitter but posting it here too.

Just started college so I’m probably going to be drawing a little more often. ;w;

[gaming-grandma]

Splatoon 2

So i got Splatoon 2 while it was on digital sale the last few weeks (up until the 10th, i guess I’m late on promoting that but eh) and having beat the campaign mode and played a lot of turf war, including during a splatfest, I feel compelled to talk about it. Also, this doesn’t break my newly revised rule of “i don’t review pvp games that allow free communication before during or after the game” 

Splatoon 2 is a sequel nobody asked for, yet I find it charming and fun anyways. I didn’t own the first one (although I played it a bit at a friends house) so I wasn’t a huge fan of it, and the time that it came out in 2017 was a busy point in my life and I forgot about it until last month. I ended up getting it for at least the campaign and some casual online, and I have to say it’s about what I was expecting, if not more! 

There are many online battle modes, but the main one and the one you’re given access to immediately is Turf War, where you just cover the map with paint and try to get the higher percent. I find it extremely fun to participate in, because the matches are super short (3 minutes) and comebacks are possible at any instant. This leads to intense moments where you’re trying way too hard to ink every surface you can find and splat the other guys in a last ditch attempt to win by %, or sneaking into their backline and lighting up their home base and hoping it tips the scales. I love it for that.

The campaign was fun, albeit a little frustrating sometimes, but nothing challenging. There were a lot of cool creative ideas and mechanics, but unfortunately almost none of them make it into the online play or the last 10 minutes of the game, particularly the final boss, which i thought was such a regression of imagination and fun and was very stale. Nothing fun about the campaign shows its face in the last segment. I still enjoyed it, though, and it’s not too long so it doesn’t have that problem in shooters were the campaign feels unnaturally long and dragged out. 

I HAVE to mention that this game has what is essentially a miiverse system. It’s hilarious. I love it. Sometimes you see weirdos trying to do stuff like spread hate or be grumpy about other people having fun with it but overall it’s a nice addition to the hub area. 

I don’t usually do this but I’m going to boil this down to some pros and cons!

GRANDMAS WHACKY PROS AND CON LIST TIME!! WOAH!! OWO

Pros:

+ nice and short campaign + fun customization + salmon run is awesome + pvp is fun and not rage-inducing + amazing aesthetic and music, which is what this game is proud of + easy to get into + addicting (in a good way) online play  + progression system is fun and addictive and exciting + splatfests are super fun!

Cons:

- leveling up is an atrociously bad grind, inexcusable honestly  - as a result, getting cosmetics and new weapons can take way longer than it should - leveling up that equipment will also take way longer than it should -the main center focus of the game is the online pvp, so if you don’t have the online subscription this won’t be the game for you - if you don’t like motion controls you won’t like how using sticks feels - salmon run is only open in specific windows of hours a day for no discernible reason besides maybe stopping some people from getting too much money /items - splatfests are only 48 hours, and typically take place over a weekend. Have school/work, you may as well miss the whole thing. in splatoon 1 it used to only be 24 hours lol

In the end, it’s a happy little game I see myself picking up for quite a while! The splatfests go on until this summer, so if you’re thinking about hopping in do it before then so you can experience the thrill of splatfests! It’s not without its shortcomings but I like it anyways.  3/5!