It's enough to make you think you're playing the best Dreamcast game that never was, though this is one of those rare titles that works hard to fill out the Wii U's eccentric brief. As is too often the case, stock seems to have run dry, with models already going for a painful premium online. It's a fun diversion, albeit hardly an essential one, but it's a shame that it's locked off, not only for those with no interest in Amiibo but also for those who want them but aren't lucky enough to get their hands on them. Scanning in one of the three tie-in models unlocks a challenge mode, whereby existing single-player missions are remixed with new goals in mind. One of the few genuine missteps made by Splatoon is in its use of Amiibo - although it's hardly the game's fault. Friendly tip! Resist the urge to stick with the roller, get your hands on a decent gun and remember always to keep your sights ahead or above you in order for maximum coverage. There's a sense of bubblegum rebellion in the day-glo punk aesthetic too, backed up by spiky, catchy tunes that cascade with all the sweetness of late-90s Sega. The Shibuya-esque hub world in which you're deposited every time you start up Splatoon is a fulcrum of fashion, where shops that refresh their stock every day sell you hats, shoes and shirts that each come with their own perks and abilities (a game of dress-up that's reminiscent, in its own way, of Square Enix's excellent The World Ends With You). Take that adolescent veneer too, which works its way outwards from your genetically spliced teen protagonists. Nintendo's quite the gunsmith, it turns out, even if its armoury is pointedly non-lethal. There are the special abilities that unleash huge towering geysers that can tear through enemies, or give you an Inkzooka that thuds out whole pools of spray. Gal that spits out thick angry globules of paint. There are the rollers that steam their way through levels, creating a pathway so others can follow in their wake, or the squat 52. Take the weapons, variants on shooter staples that are bent towards Splatoon's own particular style. Dipping into it in squid form allows you to hide from enemies, to move faster, to scale painted walls and to top up your ink reserves - and so victory comes about not just by spraying everywhere, but by spraying wisely, opening up new channels for yourself and your team-mates. Take the ink you spray, which drips gloriously from each surface (glimmering like gloss, it almost burns the nostrils with its freshly laid, acrid paint shine). It's a strange concept that's been approached with a sense of impeccable, meticulous logic, each system tying into one another in a delicious weave. Form meets function in the characters you control: slightly gangly teenagers whose purposeful posture speaks of their energy, and who can transform into squid at the press of a button, gliding through the ink they deposit with impressive speed. The chaos is orchestrated by exquisite design, as you might well expect from Nintendo EAD. Predominantly, Splatoon is all about creating a big, gaudy mess. ![]() It's scrappy and it's simple, and it speaks to a pleasure as primal as that found in other online shooters, even if it's more overtly juvenile: this isn't about bloodlust, and it's only nominally about a sense of conquest. ![]() At the end of each match, the amount of territory is totted up, and a winner is declared. The Turf War battles that are the default online mode see two teams of four face off against each other from opposite sides of the map, working to paint as much of the floor as possible in their own ink. Splatoon is a giddy, at times delirious game. ![]() Nintendo's games have always held fun at a premium, of course, but given a blank piece of paper it's fascinating to see how far its developers go in energetically providing colour of their own. It's a machine for happiness, in other words, where each element has been engineered to elicit a smile. This is new territory for the company, for sure, but the one thing that's evident throughout Splatoon is that, despite the lack of familiar faces, it's every inch a Nintendo game. There's competitive online play at its heart as well, though success isn't measured in how many headshots you pop off but in how much colour you bring to the world, and how successful you are in spreading that thick, sloppy ink. Yes there are guns, though they're employed in a different kind of wet-work: one that sees splashes of vivid, bright colour sloshed all over the stages. Is Splatoon a shooter or isn't it? There's been a lot of discussion about where exactly Nintendo's new Wii U exclusive - the first all-new character-led IP to emerge from within the company for 14 long years - fits, but in truth it defies easy categorisation. Nintendo covers new ground with messy colour in Splatoon - and creates one of its finest games in a generation in the process.
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