Two Short Pause contributors jumped into one of the three one-hour sessions of the Splatoon Global Testfire Beta. Despite the fun gameplay, the lack of being able to communicate, or even party up with friends, are cause for concern for a game based on teamwork.
Nintendo has recently restored Wii U Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon online after five months of being offline.
Game Rant Writes "Mar10 Day is a fun yearly celebration of the Super Mario series, and Splatoon may warrant a fan-designated day of celebration in its own right."
How, exactly, did Splatoon reach heights rivalled only by Pokémon in Japan? New IPs from the House of Mario appear as often as shiny Pocket Monsters, yet typically move comparatively mediocre numbers or fall into relative obscurity behind the premium marques of Mario, Animal Crossing, Zelda, and Pokémon. Take Pikmin and ARMS, for example, which we adore but struggle to compete with the tentpole franchises when it comes to sales numbers or mainstream mindshare.
So, again, how has Splatoon risen to become one of Nintendo's most important series in Japan?
For a game that would likely benefit from coordinating with teammates, the lack of voice chat seems like a huge mistake. The fact that you can't party up with friends until August is another glaring "WTF" omission. So essentially you are going into each match with people you don't know and can't talk to? Why not just delay the game until August? This is totally something Nintendo would do.
I had a huge amount of fun with the global test fire despite the lack of voice chat or custom teams.
I'm sure that I will CONTINUE to enjoy the game without VC, and the wait till August isn't that far away at all.
It's fun enough that I want to play more of it despite its flaws.
That's what matters.
And for Heaven's sake, just pay attention to your surroundings and your maps.
Those are your coordination tools.
Knows your weapons, pick your role in the team, stick with it.
You don't need voice chat for that.
I know I didn't.
I didn't feel the hurge at all to talk with teammates : you basically see everything there is to see on the map, and tactics in this game depend essentially on the weapon you picked (and possibly your skills). I did however feel the hurge of getting involved in more games, and to earn some level up out of it - which I'll get by the end of May
Another point is, I was sceptic about the motion control but it was extremely easy for me, and even for a friend who barely played once or twice with the gamepad, to deal with the shooter and to frag other players, even ones playing with the roller. The motion control is really soft, you don't need to get the gamepad off your knees so it's not a bid deal.
I agree that 5 maps is not enough, but I bet a bunch of maps will be added for free soon enough, and the first player mode seems quite complete, not to be compared with most FPS lately - even if we're talking about third person shooter here
I'm still going to pick this up at launch, play through the single player portion to get a feel for the gameplay and weapons. However, when it comes to team-based games, communication and coordinating is key for me. I'm well aware that there are some who don't need that stuff, and to each their own. I've played enough multiplayer to know how much it sucks when you're playing with randoms and because they have a bad game they leave mid-match (regardless if we're winning or losing) because little Jimmy/Jenny can't handle a little adversity. When I play with friends who I know won't bail and I know what they're going to do on the playing field, it makes for a much more enjoyable experience. Hopefully they can get the party matchmaking out sooner than August cause that's a little too close to MGS5, Mad Max, and the rumored Destiny expansion.
This looks like it'll shit over Evolve which I played for about 3 days before being bored. At £25 it's more than worth a punt.