Opinions on Marlin Airport?

[Aiko.Octo]

I'm finding it fun in a new-and-novel sense, though the fact that they only released one map this season and it's in EVERY rotation miiiiight be a bit much. It sure won't feel new and novel for long, lol. I haven't had a chance to play anarchy modes on it yet though so I'm curious what those are like. Thoughts?

 

[Hippo555467]

I’m really enjoying the unique layout of the map it’s easily becoming one of my favorites

 

[MandatoryCatalyst]

S'okay! I like using the propellers to almost stall the Rainmaker for a few seconds either by making enemies swim up to get it, or force them to swim up to progress, but the stage doesn't feel revolutionary or anything. I like the aesthetics a lot though! The bright, cheery surroundings really charms me, so it gets extra points for that

 

[missingno]

Mostly good, but the propeller platform chokepoint is a bit of a pain. Hard to push through, and hard to play Heavy when it's the high ground I want but cannot keep raised.

 

[vitellary]

i constantly forget that there's another route on the right with a propeller lift in basically every mode other than zones and every time i do remember the map suddenly feels so insanely fun and dynamic to play. i've had a great time with it so far, i think tower control might be my favorite mode for it because it doesn't feel snowball-y in any direction which i think a lot of tower maps fail at

 

[Tac]

I'm super conflicted because the big propeller lift is fun and both mid and spawn have really interesting terrain but the only way to move between them are those lifts. Already that's kind of an issue for me, makes both pushing forward and retreating slow and visible. Wish they added a sponge or a rail or something that would let you retreat or push left of the central lift. But then on top of that they'll make baffling decisions like removing the right side lift in tower control and not replacing it with a ramp or paintable wall or anything to push from that side.

Also I have so many questions about the rainmaker layout. Why is there only one checkpoint? That's on top of the lift? Why do you have to get checkpoint in order to use either lift? There isn't even a sponge to compensate or anything! There is literally a one way drop into mid with no way back without a super jump and it sucks because I think it could've been a great map for rainmaker but they really fumbled the implementation. I still have fun on it but until both teams make it to checkpoint it plays really awkwardly.

Zones is fantastic though and I'll be looking forward to seeing it in future rotations.

 

[isaac4]

I really like it and I love the unique layout with all the height differences and propellers but it does seem the kind of stage that would feel awful to defend on weapons without range. The attackers getting height advantage seems really bad right now but I haven't played Machine on it so maybe it'll feel more tolerable when I do play it with my main weapon. Either way, I prefer having those smaller problems than another linear hallway Splatoon 3 stage.
If all the stages were the same quality as Marlin Airport and Robo Rom-en then maybe I'd be harder on it but as it is now, it's one of the best stages in the game.
Also, seeing it all the time is making me a bit tired of it. I really wish we had another stage because I want to see what they would do with the older stages now that they're better at designing new ones.

 

[DzNutsKong]

Honestly it's a fun map. They use the fans in really fun ways and it doesn't feel nearly as chokehold-y as a lot of others in this game. It still does feel a bit cramped at times but it's clear to me that the developers are back on their feet coming off of...whatever this game's launch maps are supposed to be. I've been playing on it a lot lately seeing as the rotations all include it and I really haven't managed to get tired of it which kinda speaks to how good it is, even if it's far from my favorite.

 

[ikebro]

the stage itself is very beautiful to look at, interesting terrain and the well-modeled airport is very cool!! probably one of the most gorgeous maps in the game design-wise. it's also a really solid turf war map :D
sadly i found myself disappointed with its zones layout, i think it could be improved simply by making the zone larger. it feels really awkward to get to at the moment
i haven't played a whole lot of clams and tower yet (too busy w salmon run), so i can't really say a whole lot. the baskets on clams though feel like they're just a bit too far back? again, can't say for sure.
i've personally never been a fan on propeller maps like ancho-v (i hated ancho-v so bad) and i unfortunately see some of its flaws here, mainly the propeller being the main way into base from mid, though in this case it feels a lot better so i can forgive that

 

[#8 regret]

Map fun.

I'm honestly just happy that the map designers aren't deathly afraid of using stage hazards or player-caused moving map geometry anymore. I understand why the Splatoon 3 maps are designed the way they are, because they want it to be as neutral as possible for competitive play, but it makes every map feel so bland. The mere addition of sprinkler fans has single-handedly made this one of my favourite maps in the game.

 

[Babab]

Mostly good, but the propeller platform chokepoint is a bit of a pain. Hard to push through, and hard to play Heavy when it's the high ground I want but cannot keep raised.

There is the right route though I think?

 

[vitellary]

There is the right route though I think?

only on rainmaker and clam blitz, and even with rainmaker it's only there once you've cleared the first checkpoint (which is definitely a very strange choice to me), so the right route is only a thing on about 1.5 of the modes. i would definitely like the map more if that route was there on more modes because it's a very fun push option when it's available to you

 

[Madt123]

I think its actually pretty good.


yeah that's all

 

[Lego1upMushroom]

Probably the best new map in 3

 

[Yosi Spring]

Feels like it might be too long-range favored with how bad the cover in mid is, but very fun to play around the moving blocks

 

[joe???]

I like it overall. I think retaking is well balanced on zones, when you take your fan back (which you have several angles to do) you get high ground over basically all of mid. Bottom left drop is a little weak but its a decent distraction I suppose.

I like rainmaker despite the fact that getting the first checkpoint isn't really much of an achievement. Once you take the rainmaker into their plat I feel like there's pretty balanced options between taking it far right and trying to go up the little ramp close to their spawn. Reminds me a little of starfish rainmaker from Splatoon 2 in a weird way?

Clams I'm really unsure of, I haven't played or seen enough but in general my opinion is positive.

Tower control is really iffy for me. It feels really hard to defend up until the tower starts to move up onto your plat, at which point the defenders have a clear advantage but then you NEED to stop them there otherwise if they get the tower onto plat and into your top left its basically ggs. Extremely mediocre map on this mode to me, which is a shame since this map draws inspiration from ancho-v games and that was easily one of the best tower control stages in Splatoon 2.

 

[Flango]

I think the most important part of the map is the secondary fan platform, it’s there when it’s needed on Rainmaker, always on clam blitz. And on Zones it’s removed to make it more difficult to move up, as you don’t need to in zones, so I can see where they’re coming from.

Then we have tower control, I think it was probably removed because otherwise the tower would have to take a very weird path. But the map is definitely hurting without it.

 

[missingno]

And on Zones it’s removed to make it more difficult to move up, as you don’t need to in zones, so I can see where they’re coming from.

The problem I have with this, and with a lot of Zones layouts in general, is that every time they make it hard to push up, they're also making it hard to retreat.

 

[lucassaur0]

not as good as ramen. a solid A tier

 

[JishTheFish]

I've only played rainmaker and splat zones, but I found it pretty fun on both on those modes. I think we need more stage gimmicks because the propellers platforms are my favorite part, sucks that I didn't play splatoon 2 and never got to experience shifty stations