Check out our review of Splatoon right here.
I finally got Splatoon this past weekend, and it’s fair to say that I’m having a blast with it. In fact, even my wife – who never plays video games – is being accused of hogging the gamepad too much. While many are echoing this sentiment, I can’t help but be frustrated with several elements of Splatoon, but I think if Nintendo fixed them, they’d have a bonafide shooter masterpiece on their hands.
I’d love to be able to change my loadout here and get some more map variety, as well.
Changing Weapon Loadout
If you’ve played any kind of online shooter, you probably have been in the situation where your luck has run out and you’re looking to change weapons. This usually isn’t a problem because you can simply switch your loadout by selecting from your 5 (maybe more) loadout set ups and then you’re ready to get a fresh start on your global domination. In Splatoon, this is not the case. You have one loadout, and in order to change that loadout, you are forced to return to the lobby and change things up. Thanks to the gamepad integration, it’s really a touchscreen press away from changing it, but it’s annoying when you’re faced with this scenario frequently. We should be able to change loadouts mid-match. This is a staple of the shooting genre, and leaving this out is just silly.
Better Team Selections
This is kind of connected to the last point. I have no qualms with how your teams are paired when it comes to leveling. Today I played with my good buddy and GWW writer, Nathan Dugas, and found that if you had 2 high level players, they were never paired up on the same team. However, if everybody on our team had Splatrollers, then we were stuck with that team. Splatoon is more about the weapons you have as opposed to the level you are at. You can be the best player in the world, and if your teammates are equipped with weapons that don’t compliment each other, then you’re stuck.
So what it essentially comes down to is either Nintendo allows us to change our weapon loadout mid-match or before the match, or it takes into account weapon loadouts, as well as player levels, when pairing up teams.
Voice Chat
More than most of today’s shooters, Splatoon is about strategy. Battles can get pretty hectic and it would be fantastic if somebody would tell me that the enemy is storming the base. Or perhaps before the match begins players could be allowed to strategize and get an idea as to what role they would be playing. I get that Nintendo isn’t “on board” with the whole voice chat thing. Games like Mario Kart 8 didn’t really need it, but in Splatoon it could prove to be quite useful. “2 guys are painting our base. Anybody want to help me out here?” I want to be able to communicate these kind of things.
These girls talk a lot and so does everyone else you come across.
Less talking, More doing
Each time you start your game, you are met by Callie and Marie – the anchor-duo of Inkopolis News. They give you a run down of what kind of new content is available. I found this to be a clever and endearing way to deliver that information, but when every shop keeper delivers a lengthy explanation of what an item is and how it works, it can get a little repetitive. An alternative to this would be for an item to have a short description of what it does. For example, a weapons description could say “short-distance, wide burst.” And if I want a deeper explanation, I could press “more” and get that explanation.
These maps are incredible. I just wished we’d get more than 2 at a time.
Map variety
Have you ever had something that was so good but couldn’t get enough of it, and therefore, began to like that certain “thing” less? That’s how Splatoon’s maps are for me. When you play through a online session, you’re given the same two maps to play from. You can’t vote on them, either. You’re stuck with them, whether you like it or not. These maps are all extremely well designed, but the excitement can grow stale after being forced into the same experience hour after hour. If Splatoon gave us the ability to vote for maps and gave us more than 2 maps at a time, we’d see a more varied and exciting experience.
Ultimately, Splatoon is an incredible game that offers a great deal of depth and fun. Wii U owners would be crazy not to pick it up. But things need to be smoothed over. I doubt that we’ll ever get voice chat, but I think these other items could find their way into this great title in the near future.
Have you played Splatoon yet? What are some changes you would like to see made? Tell us what you thINK in the comments below!