Splatoon 2 Review

Splatoon 2 is Nintendo’s incredible third persons shooter game. Following the first game, the game is focused around covering the floor with ink as opposed to flat out killing other players. However, this does change a little bit depending on the game mode.

It’s a fresh take on the already unique shooter series and offers players a nice amount of content. At launch there are four main game modes: Turf War, Splat Zones, Tower Control and Rainmaker. The last three modes are exclusive to the ranked modes of Splatoon 2 and rotate on a two hour basis. There’s no way to play any of these three modes whenever the player wants which is a little bit sad to see. While each mode does have some instructions, there’s still some confusion to be had in the first few matches of each of the ranked game modes. However, understanding each game type doesn’t take too long and players will quickly get to grips with the game.

In addition to the multiplayer modes, there’s also a single player campaign called Hero Mode. In this mode, players must fight through waves of evil Octarians to save the Great Zapfish. Players must fight through a variety of levels using different weapons. Unlike the first game, players can now unlock different weapons and select which one they’d like to use. The bosses in Hero Mode are very entertaining to fight and are well designed. In addition to this, completing the Hero Mode will reward players with tickets that can be exchanged for temporary boosts in the multiplayer modes such as increased experience or monetary earnings.

Salmon Run is a brand new mode to the Splatoon series. This mode allows up to four players to team up to fight through waves of enemies called Salmonids which come in different forms. There’s different levels for players to fight through to reach the final boss. While this mode is very entertaining and a nice change of pace from the standard multiplayer, it does come with a major downside. It’s not always available. This mode is limited to specific times which restricts how many players can play. It was originally a lot more limited but Nintendo seems to have heard the frustration of players and have started to make Salmon Run available for longer time slots.

While Splatoon 2 is overall an amazing shooter, it does come with a few glaring issues. One of the biggest is the inability to play with friends during the Turf Wars mode. It’s nice that Nintendo has tried to limit team stomping in the casual mode but it does make it almost impossible to play with friends. Players are forced to wait until there’s a space in the other players lobby before they can join which can easily take at least ten minutes to happen. In addition to this, its not possible to change weapons while in a lobby. This is apparently due to Nintendo including weapon choice in their matchmaking algorithm but it’s still possible to be placed on a team where everyone has the same weapon. Clearly then, something is not working correctly.

The biggest downside to Splatoon 2 is the lack of voice chat. The only way to communicate with other players is through the Nintendo Switch app which is very temperamental. In addition to this, players can only speak to their friends and finding games with friends can be very frustrating. As a result, the app is almost unused and it’s easier to use the Discord app to talk to friends while playing the game.

The second edition to the series is incredible but the flaws in the game currently overshadow a lot of what makes it great.

Rating: 8/10