What do you get when you combine an online multiplayer shooter and Nintendo? You get a group of shapeshifting squids, a giant inky mess, and a game that looks more fun than it has any right to be.
Splatoon is the first of two new IPs (Intellectual Properties) announced by Nintendo during the E3 2014. The game is a 4 vs 4 multiplayer shooter for the Wii U, but instead of firing bullets or lasers at the other team you splatter the ground with ink!!! (Who doesn’t love to make a mess?)
Each 3-minute match has one simple goal: to spread more of your team’s color ink on the ground than the other team. At the end of three minutes a tuxedoed cat announces the winning team and the player with the most points. The team with the highest percentage of ink on the ground across the map wins!
The game is made even more interesting by your different movement options. You can transform from a human(ish) character to a squid at the push of a button which gives you the ability to swim quickly through your own color ink. But you will have to be careful because if you swim into the opposing team’s ink you’ll be slowed down and vulnerable. Ink on the walls doesn’t count toward winning, but can be used to swim to higher ground. Swimming allows you to refill your ink faster, or you can silently wait for an enemy to wander by and send them back to their spawn point in a spray of paint. .
The Wii U gamepad got some love too (a running theme for Nintendo at E3). During the match you’ll see a full map of the arena along with a bird’s eye view of each team’s ink coverage. Your teammates will also show up on the map and you can touch any icon to catapult across the arena to their location.
Of all the showings at Nintendo’s E3 presentations, this is the game that intrigues me the most. Well… aside from a “little-known” title called The Legend of Zelda, but that’s for a different preview.
What do you think? Are you as excited for Splatoon as we are?
