Squidboards Update #7 - Splatoon Review "After 30" Submissions, Community Montage Update

Happy Saturday everyone! Time for a quick Squidboards update. Let's keep it brief and, of course, fresh.

The Official Squidboards Splatoon Review - Looking for "After 30" Opinions!

On the 29th, just a few days from now, we'll be posting the official Squidboards review for the reason we're all here...Splatoon! We decided to hold off on the review for a while as the game came into its own to give a more thorough and complete opinion on the game.

However, we don't wanna limit ourselves to just that. We'd like to have you all get involved as well! Thus, we're looking for "After 30" opinions from you!

Essentially, what this means is we'd like for you all to give some thoughts on Splatoon now that it'll be thirty days since the North American launch of the game by the time the review hits. We'd like to include some of the best comments in the tail-end of the review when it goes live.

To submit: Simply post your thoughts in 500 words or less on Splatoon in the comments of this update below. A few of the best comments will be selected as part of the "After 30" section of the review! It's as simple as that!

Then, check back for the full review when it goes live on Monday.

The Squidboards Community Montage - Extended!

If you remember from the Global Testfires, we attempted to pull off a community montage fueled by player clips recorded during the special demo sessions. We got a lot of clips, some really great ones!

However, the pickings were a bit too slim. And the window to record and submit was way too narrow!

So we've decided to extend the community montage to beyond the global testfires, since the game is out for everyone! We'd like to put together a full Community Montage with more clips, more users, and more hype!

1) Record your Splatoon gameplay (in high definition preferably!). Your clip(s) must be at least five (5) seconds long and no longer than thirty (30) seconds and must be saved in MP4 format.

2) Submit up to three (3) of your best Splatoon clips to this link by Sunday, July 26th at 11:59 PM EST. Please label your clips with your username and the map you played on (as well as a number if you are submitting multiple clips).

3) Watch the full video when it launches in August!

That's it for now. Happy Splatting everyone!

 

I think that Splatoon is an amazing first try at an online third person shooter. You might question it at first, but after playing it for about a month or so, everything collides together into the overall experience very well. STAAAY FRESH!

 

I have learned how to be both a kid and a squid. 7.8/10 Too much ink.

 

My "After 30" submission:

As someone who does not like shooters, I have to say, Splatoon has done what other shooters have failed to do: Make me like it. Not just like it, LOVE it. I wasn't too sure about it when I heard it was a shooter.. But then I played one Testfire session, and I was hooked! Splatoon is incredibly fun and addictive, and just plain beautiful despite it's cartoonish appearance. The gear and abilities are really nice, and add customizable style to your Inkling. And the weapons, man, the weapons. Yeah, some are better than others, but there's so many to choose from, that you're gonna find your perfect weapon one way or another. I certainly found mine. The single player story is a ton of fun, and the online PvP is even better! Grab a couple of friends, get on Skype and start splatting!

 

Here's my submission for the "After 30" review:

The reason why Splatoon is such a great game stems from the fact that Nintendo has managed to build upon an excellent core while also keeping the gameplay itself dynamic. Regardless of the circumstances, each round will still have the same fundamentals that make Splatoon so great: fluid movement, a clearly outlined and fun objective, a charming atmosphere, and dank memes. At the same time, however, gameplay with Splatoon is rarely stale because so much can happen within the boundaries of these fundamentals: turf war games can be won within the last 30 seconds, splat zone matches can be determined by a single person's placement decision, the list goes on and on. Achieving this balance is really what all game developers strive for and Nintendo's most recent effort has certainly been very effective in this regard.

 

"After 30" submission:

You never quite know what Splatoon's multi-player may entail; decimation, or really close games, and that's what makes Splatoon so great. With an amazing single player mode that tests your skills, amiibo challenges that utilise different abilites to polish up your gameplay skills, and so much different gear to change things up, Splatoon isn't going to be exhausted by the players for a long time. It may have its stumblings, yes, but in the long run, Splatoon is worth your money. Even more content is coming, so now is a great time to jump into Splatoon.

 

The online features are good, wih lag rarely occurring. The story mode dies out too soon but it is overall enjoyable. Content updates keep the game fresh while waiting for the August update.

...

Is this supposed to be honest or like everyone elses posts?

 

IM A KID IM A SQUID

 

This is very awesome! :D

 

Happy 1 month anniversary :D

Anyways I may do my clip(s) maybe XD

 

When I first got the game it was amazingly fun and exciting, of course I was caught up in the internet hype. Now that I've calmed down, completed the single player and got to level 20. I like the game and it's still fun and I come back to check on the new updates when they occur. I like the game for what it does and it's overall atheistic. One other thing to note is that this is one of a few games where I feel like I would be right at home if I were to exist in it's universe.

 

My After 30 submission:

Splatoon manages to do what Nintendo is best at, introducing people to video games, in this case, the shooter genre. Anyone can quickly learn and play this game.
The online is easily one of the best in the WiiU right now, which is the key ingredient in this fantastic squid ink soup made by the chefs at the Nintendo EAD.
If you own a WiiU, this title is a must have, if you're into shooters, you will love it. But if you have never played a shooter before, this is the best game to start with.

 

Ok here goes my mini review thing

Splatoon is a super interesting and exciting game to me, and makes my inner game designer giddy with appreciation. As Nintendo's first real entry to Online Shooters (Prime was 3rd party and the Wii wasnt well known for it's internet connectivity) it manages to revitalize a genre that's been overdone and oversaturated for years.

The mere decision to make the game about squid people seems to come from very well-thought-out design choices. See, Nintendo always wants to make a family friendly game, but how do you do that with a shooter, the most violent genre out there? Kids have waterguns and paintguns to enjoy, so that much was easy to latch onto, and when you combine the two you get inky squids! It's so brilliant, and being able to use your squidness to swim around in your ink opens up tons of options for both mobility and stealth, something that blows most shooters away. How many games have you played where you can effectively create your own cover and traps, let alone do so by just shooting normally? Also the fact that the game is centered on painting and not your kill/death ratio opens up a lot of interesting options for play, as well as allows less skilled players to still be able to contribute to your team.

The slow updates are interesting too. While I can't say I like them a ton, it's obviously a way to keep people from burning out on the game too soon. I got to level 20 and then slowed down a ton because there wasn't much left to do, but the updates mean I'll be able to pop back in and have fun with new stuff, and that's actually pretty great.

Splatoon is refreshingly new and different, which is fitting since it was developed by new and younger Nintendo employees. I don't think Miyamoto or Sakurai could have done anything like this and I am so thankful for how far is strays from the paths of both Nintendo's usual work and AAA games at large.

Hell Yeah I Love Being A Squid

I'm surprised this isnt over 500 words long lol (I checked).

 

Splatoon is a great safe shooter for all the family. There's no heavy violence or blood to limit it's player base instead, "Fun" is the factor to be considered. Either by playing in ranked matches or simple team vs teams, Splatoon provides that fun factor and unity that players look in a game. Something cool to try out as much as they can. A vast set of stages and weapons that keep coming freely in updates keeps the game fresh and in the long run provides for plenty of variation adding a shooter's own replay value.

The characters are lovable and the system of customization gives you the opportunity to create your own "Squid kids" or just manifest how would you look in the Inkling world. Solo game play has it's own merits with tricky or funny boss battles and small tricks to overcome the Octarians. Collect items and save the Zapfish. This mode is one of many located within Inkopolis Plaza, home of all the inklings and serves as an organized hub for the games various locales the help you customize buy your gear and weapons and even meet other Squids who might tell you even what they post on miiverse.

Splatoon while not a platinum perfection is still a great jewel to pick anytime. Just trying it once will make you feel like this is the game you should be playing with others. The controls are easy to adjust to themselves getting you into the action faster than you'd expect. If you have friends, like to shoot things and always look out for fun, Splatoon is your option. Pick it up now if you haven't.

 

Splatoon: Nintendo's attempt at a third-person shooter. The idea is that you control a humanoid squid called a Inkling that can change between kid form and squid form. You can use a variety of weapons to spray down ink of your color, and swim in the ink easily. This is also a disadvantage when you go into enemy ink, where you slow down.

Now, Splatoon may sound like some game that would have failed, but it has over one million sales. Why? because of it's colorful image, easy to learn controls, and overall nature.

The game focuses mainly about online battles and modes. The game currently has 2 online modes: Turf War, where your team has to cover as much of the map with their colored ink before the time reaches 0, and Ranked Battle, where players level 10 and above can compete in more difficult matches of Splat Zones, where your team has to control an area until a counter goes from 100 to 0. There are more game modes to come soon via free updates, which we will get to later.

There is a single player campaign for those that are just getting started at the game. This single player campaign is short with a simple story: Octarians, the octopus arch rivals of the Inklings, have stolen the Great Zap Fish, the power source of Inkopolis, the Inklings' home city. It is up to you to defeat the Octarians and collect all the Zapfishes. This campaign is also a great distraction from the intense online battles, and includes hidden collectibles which reveals Splatoon's lore.

You can customize your Inkling with weapons and gear. Gear are categorized as hats, shirts, and shoes. Each piece of gear comes with a ability, which helps you in battle. You can unlock other pieces of ability in gear by gaining points in online battles. Weapons and gear are bought at 4 different stores, each selling one type of gear, and one that sells weapons.

There are many weapons in Splatoon. You start off with a Splattershot Jr., a shooter weapon, and as you level up you can buy more and more weapons to use in battle. You can't customize a weapon, so finding a weapon that feels comfortable to use may not have the exact stats or sub/special weapons you want, so finding a good weapon set is key.

There is also Battle Dojo, a local-multiplayer mode. In this mode, you and a friend can battle it out to see who can pop 30 balloons in 5 minutes. One person plays with the gamepad, while the other players with a Classic Controller (Pro) or Pro Controller.

There is also amiibo functionality. If you tap one of 3 Splatoon amiibo on the gamepad at the amiibo box in the plaza, you will be able to complete challenges. These challenges are the single player campaign levels, but with a different weapon or a different twist. Completing challenges earns you rewards, like money, weapons, and gear.

There are weekly updates to the game as well. The game keeps expanding with new weapons and maps being added, and soon new game modes will be released too, like Tower Control, where your team has to control a tower and bring it to their base, and Rainmaker, which does has not had a lot of information released about it (except for a few leaks). In addition to weekly updates, Nintendo holds an event in Splatoon called Splatfest, where you vote on one of 2 teams, and compete in turf wars to see which team wins.

However, there are some flaws to Splatoon. Firstly, the matchmaking mixes new players with professionals, so this can result in many unfair advantages for the other team. You also can not choose the maps. They are randomly chosen every 4 hours, and they don't change for 4 hours. The shops also don't always carry good gear, and ordering a gear from a player takes a day for you to get.

Overall, Splatoon is a great game that may seem a bit slow at first, but then starts to become very fun, and the special events and updates keep adding more content for you to play with. Splatoon is one of Nintendo's finest jewels that brings the Wii U the justice it deserves.

 

Well, I'll try...

Coming from a casual gamer, Splatoon is fun and amazing. I very rarely play shooters much, mainly due to most of them being too realistic in appearance and dark, which is not to my taste, but Splatoon is more cartoony and colorful, which usually lures in people like myself.

There's probably better people to ask to get an analysis of how the gameplay functions, but I'll try my best. In my opinion, the gameplay is fun, being able to shoot around ink to cover spots up, swim around and splat your opponents to stop them. Many weapons are available for everyone's tastes, and any weapon (even the Splattershot Jr.!) can be the best in the hands of a master. Win or lose, even in ranked battles, even by close margins, I find myself still having fun. Lag can get a little bothersome in occasions when it happens, but I don't worry too much over it.

Customization is an attractive part of many games (especially for people like myself :P), and Splatoon includes this as well. Many pieces of gear are available to mix and match, including boots, aviator goggles, baseball jerseys, and even American football helmets! People are also capable of choosing their skin color, as well as the color of their eyes, including all natural colors plus some unnatural ones! However, there are some odd exclusions that should be inserted in the future: One is the option for wearing pants, which is bothersome to those (including myself) who find long sleeved-shirts with shorts tacky to wear themselves. Another is the lack of hairstyles, which is very unusual for a game that encourages customization. Only one hairstyle is available for each gender, limiting the amount of character customization even further, a bothersome point for those who love to customize their characters. However, what is there to customize with is enough to somewhat satisfy, although it would be nice to implement new hairstyles and pants in the future.

The world of Splatoon is very interesting and likeable, as well as the concepts of characters such as the Inklings, pointy-eared, black-masked, tentacle-haired, uniquely-fanged humanoids who can shapeshift into adorable-looking squids. They have become so likeable that fans have either drawn themselves as Inklings, or created original characters of the species. The world does seem like it could use more information beyond "Inklings are fashionable and love Turf Wars", but what has been revealed so far is likeable.

In summary, Splatoon may have some issues, but it is a fun game that is hard to put down, and the continuous free updates (IGN, did you know these exist?) give even more of an incentive to come back. Out of 100, this game gets a 90 from me. And remember that there is never too much ink.

I'm not the kind of person who reviews games, so yeah... And yes, I took a shot at IGN. :P

 

This game, imo, is a game on my top 3 favorite games of all time like at #2. The game is fun, challenging and always a rip-roaring good time. It's not the perfect game due to getting past rank 20, you can basically make your old gear amazing or give it another chance, a bit OP if you ask me. Even with its issues, this game rises pas Mario Kart 8 for being a must buy game for any Wii U.

 

My After 30 Submission/Splatoon Review:
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I always knew Nintendo would show off a new IP at E3 last year - so when I sat down to watch the Direct after school, I was not disappointed. The orange paint formed the Wii U logo, reminding me of the Nickelodeon logo, even though I was a Cartoon Network kid back in the day, and that's when I fell in love with the world of Splatoon. It was such a unique concept for a shooting game - focusing on territory control rather than kills like Call of Duty - and the main theme had so much energy put into it and the concept of turning into squids to move through the ink was genius! And adorable squid girls, de geso, with a dash of Team Fortress 2, which I also love playing. Splatoon really helped Nintendo win the show at E3 last year alongside their other hyped games like Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

Many of us were given tastes of the world of Splatoon through the Tumblr blog Nintendo set up, and the single player trailer looked inkredible - so to say. The lore of the game suddenly became an epic battle of Squids VS Octopi and gave more depth into this new world Nintendo was building up for their newborn IP. They had confidence in this game, without a doubt. You don't see that much confidence for a new IP like this that often!
The characters outside of the Inklings also contribute to the uniqueness of the world, from the Squid Sisters to Annie and Moe at the Hat Shop - so there's a favourite character for everyone!

And memes; Memes everywhere! From "Road Roller da!" parodies with the Splat Roller or Squidward, there's always something in Splatoon's fanbase that makes me laugh.

All said and done - when the game finally came out almost 11 months after it was revealed at E3 - I went and bought it straight away - and I love it! The online plays really smooth for me, and it's so much fun to play with and against other players around the world who enjoy this game as much as I do! Each weapon feels unique in their own way, and they really diversify the play styles you take with you into the Turf Wars. The free updates also keep the game alive, so there's lots to come back to. The main problem I have with the game comes down to the lack of content available in 1V1 mode - there's only 5 stages and 8 weapons - not as much variety like in Regular battles. It gets a little stale there with so little stages and weapons, but it's still fun competition between me and the other player.

In conclusion - I believe Nintendo have put in a remarkable effort into creating such a unique IP, and Splatoon is well deserving to be a part of their all-star legacy. That's it from me - stay fresh, squid kids!
--
498 words. Now get back to your actual essays and homework, Strider.

 

I could easily go through the extensive singleplayer, huge selection of weapons, amazing soundtrack, and constant stream of new content... But I'll sum it up in two words:
It's fun.
Take that, Call of HaloField: Modern Rehash: Product Placement DLC Expansion Pack Edition.

 

I love how im just jealous of everyone who has splatoon lol