So..it's out! First impressions anyone? (No spoilers, as there's a separate thread for that.)
I was pretty excited for this. It looked fantastic, and it's the second time I have ever pre-ordered a game in my life, and the first that isn't Smash Brothers. So, uh, it's...good. It's fun and really interesting, but flawed. I've only played it for a few hours, so I haven't reached any end yet, and there's a lot of content for this. My views are subject to change as it may blow me away later on. The setting and music are top-notch. Man, they went so far with the 90's aesthetic that there's even "mall music". It's hysterical and I love it. The dialogue is perfect, and some of Pearl and Marina's lines are so well written. It maintains the humor yet dark themes of pure Splatoon. However, the actual level design and pure gameplay is where things get rocky. I know the BOTW design team worked on this, and oh boy does it show. There's physics puzzles, ball-moving puzzles, timed-puzzles, all sorts of interesting new levels. Some work, and some do fall flat for me. For example, I really liked a level where you move a 8-ball around a obstacle course. But there's another more wave-based level that felt boring and difficult just for difficulty sake. There's one particular boss fight I won't name that's a S2 boss-fight re-used and "upgraded", and dear god, it is a disaster. The fight was not fun to play, and felt very unfair and poorly designed. I want to see more of the story and lore, as it's much more engaging and interesting than the gameplay. Maybe I just got spoiled with Octo Valley and Canyon, but these levels and bosses feel rather sloppy and rough. The visuals and story are neat though!