Splatoon – The Only Online Shooter I’ve Ever Enjoyed

Nintendo had its “Splatoon Global Testfire” event this weekend, three hour long sessions over two days where WiiU owners could download and play a limited set of 4 v 4 online matches in the new squad based arena third person shooter game, Splatoon… I played all three sessions (yes even the one that had me up at 4am Sunday morning!) and this is what I though if it.

[ArnoDorian]

Splat, Splat Splat

[Aery]

He is wearing the Delsin's beanie. I love that beanie :D

[ArnoDorian]

Splat Splat Splat Splat :D

[mikeslemonade]

It's fun, but I'm sensing really thick Nintendo glasses from this guy.

Like it's fun for up to a hour on the demo. They gave us one hour long sessions on the demo, and by the 40 minute mark I was like "I'm getting bored".

The game is missing features: VOICE CHAT, leveling system, rank, stats etc. It's missing all the features from your traditional online game.

And don't give me the weak argument that "traditional" is what's wrong with online games. That's false because that's an option. No one is forcing you to do all those things. In COD you can be level 20 and beat a level 70.

[3-4-5]

* Can't wait to play this.

I opted not to try the demo, as I want my first experience to be the main game.

* Looks like that got a lot of little details right in this and that trumps no voice chat.

* Voice chat, if you watch the games of Splatoon being played, it wouldn't work like it does in BF or COD.

The chat would be more hectic and sporadic and a bunch of screaming gibberish.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Day 1 for me. Heck, I'll even do a public gaming session with it for fun.

[G3n3raL86]

Day 3 or 4 for me, waiting for some money to kick in:)

[Skate-AK]

At least that will be in time to redeem your free Wii U game.

[freshslicepizza]

this game might make me finally get a wii u. shame no voice chat but they are doing some interesting things with the gamepad. should be fun either way.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

got minees pre-ordered.

Summee Fun with Smash, Mario Kart 8 and this!

[bouzebbal]

Spatoon for Wii U
Ultra SF4 for PS4
nice month for me! cant wait.

[Lennoxb63]

Jeez, how many online shooters have you played?

[MasterCornholio]

Why are you offended by his opinion?

Its possible for someone to play games like Halo, Call of Duty and Battlefield and not enjoy them.

[Lennoxb63]

I'm not offended, just curious at how many online shooters he's played. I know it's not too far fetched that everyone doesn't like the online shooters you've listed. Again I'm just curious.

[PlayableGamez]

He said online online shooter. Not FPS. That's a lot of other shooters he hasn't enjoyed. Unless he hasn't played to many shooters in his life.

[One-Shot]

If only there was voice chat.

[gerbwmu]

Best part of no voice chat was the un-interrupted squid death metal music on Saltspray Rig!

[Summons75]

If only voice chats weren't rampant with savage, undisciplined children...

[One-Shot]

You can't even do it with your friends though, and with 4 people teams that is the perfect thing for communication.

[PlayableGamez]

Hmm. I call bullsh*t on this. Out of all the online shooters he has played in his life, this is the only one he has enjoyed? This guys has to be a casual if that is the case. I can name a bunch of online shooters that were fun. I know this is an opinion piece, but it's pretty weird to have only enjoyed one online shooter in your life.

[apesquashyou]

That's why HE wrote an article about it. Your comment uses a lot of words to say absolutely nothing.

[mydyingparadiselost]

I'm 31, I've been playing games liberally and fairly heavily since I was 4. The only online shooter I've ever really been able to get into is TF2, and now in a couple of weeks I'll be getting Splatoon since it reminds me a lot of TF2 in numerous ways. Most online shooters typically just don't interest me, be it either with the art style, the mechanics, the scummy practices of the companies that release them and so on.

I'm sure you can think of a popular genre or mode of play you've hardly ever played or enjoyed, can't you?

[mshope10]

Is is really that hard to believe Nintendo made a great online shooter. It's amazing how much people hate Nintendo for no reason even though they probably don't even play wiiu just hate to hate.

Hey we all know ps4 and xbox one have some great online shooters.that doesn't mean we dont finally a have a great exclusive of are own.

Nobody is hating on your system's here.

[rawrock]

I tried the testfire but it actually has made me decide to wait until I catch it on a good sale. Wasnt too sure about it...

[WeAreLegion]

Seriously? I like the game, but you haven't enjoyed Unreal Tournament? Battlefield 1942? Warhawk? Nightfire? SOCOM? RFOM? Gears of War? Killzone? Halo? Modern Warfare? Quake? Mech Warrior? Counter Strike? Left 4 Dead? TF2?!? Come on. You're missing out. Go to a LAN party.

[alphaomega88]

I agree with him completely...outside of enjoying a few go arounds of gears and halo, onlinr shooters just arent 'fun' to me. Entertaining, sure. Fun? Not really. This was fun. I was having a blast playing the demo, I didnt want the hour to end. That said, you also said 'go to a LAN party. I hardly consider LAN online, its more akin to local multiplayer, in which case I have had tons of fun with lots of shooters, favorites being Goldeneye 64, Conkers Bad Fur Day, Timesplitters 2, Halo(lan play with 8 was awesome), Halo 2, Gears of War...but that is LOCAL to me, even LAN is local. I dont find online shooters fun, never really have.

Chat or no chat, I feel so disconnected from the people I am playing online, and its just not the same. I dont understand how most of you do it today, personally I think kids anyway are so disconnected, back in the GC/Xbox era 4-8+ of us guys would get together, play football or volleyball or kickball outside for multiple hours, then after we were beat we would come in and play multiple sessions of smash or halo or timesplitters or conkers or whatever, laugh and joke and have a hell of a time. I think this kind of play trumps online every day of the week, and there is not even a comparison as fun goes. If I wanted to talk to strangers with no regard, I would probably be out at the club or bar, not at home playing in the yard with my kids or gaming at night with the wife or the occasional weekend with friends.

Honestly, this game, even without the local multiplayer or online chat, is just fun. Simple, unadulterated fun.

[bobacdigital]

One thing people really fail to mention is that team voice chat honestly is rarely used in most competitive gaming (dont stop here I know people will dislike this read more)... I think when people gripe about voice chat not being included they cant really fault the game or the developers for it.

What we should really be complaining about is not have a PARTY chat system. 9 times out of 10 you are going to use a 3rd party chat client on PC like Mumble or Teamspeak or Vent... On xbox live / psn network you are going to be in a party chat with your friends and so on... When I play competitive CS / TF2 I never use in game voice even when I am in a public server and not a match .. I always used a 3rd party client..

What we should really be screaming at Nintendo for is including a PARTY chat system .. which would eliminate their issues with the cussing and people telling people they are crap when they play. If you have the option to limit chat to people on your friends list that would remedy any issues Nintendo would have with it.

Lets not fault splatoon for not including ingame chat.. something that even COD players dont use in public games... Fault them for not including PARTY chat in the OS.

[bobacdigital]

Sorry to go on a tangent .. .

The funny part about some of the gripes people have about splatoon is the 5 multiplayer maps included at launch... If you are a player who has ever played any of the said above games... Mainly CS and TF2 lol ... You would know 95% of the games played are on a handful of maps...

I have played Counter Strike since beta all the way thru cs go ... .I still cant believe how often DUST2 is played.... CS GO is mainly played on Nuke and Dust2.. LOL.

Also a side note.. UT2K4 is only played on roughly 4 maps (maul, chrome, geothermal, and citadel.)

[Mikito11]

It's a great online shooter, most fun I've had online for quite some time.. Used to play GoW online with mates all the time but just got annoying when everyone just spams the shot gun and the noob sawn off shotgun... I like the way in splatoon anyone can have fun, even if you're bad at aiming you can just use the paint roller and make a difference for your team :)

[BigGamersSmallTalk]

I liked the game, but no voice chat is so weird. It's 2015, and giving people the option to use voice chat is something that should be standard.
Nintendo needs to stop trying to be everyone's parents, and just put together a robust online network with friends, voice chat and an achievement/trophy system. Hopefully the next Nintendo console understands this.

[objdadon]

Lmao! GTFOH!!!