Entertainment

Games: Switch owners will be squids in with Splatoon 2

Splatoon 2 is game of emulsion immersion as you blanket levels in ink
Splatoon 2 is game of emulsion immersion as you blanket levels in ink Splatoon 2 is game of emulsion immersion as you blanket levels in ink

Splatoon 2 (Switch)

By: Nintendo

SPLATOON on Wii U was Nintendo’s first original IP in 15 years – a sugary gateway drug into the world of online team shooting, with the Japanese giant’s comforting arm at the helm ensuring a bubblegum treat.

But considering there were more at The Last Supper than bought the console (shame on you), this Switch-hosted sequel is likely to be the first time most gamers will experience the cephalopod shooter, and will soon realise the original’s rabid fanbase weren't squidding. Playing out like Cuttle of Duty, Splatoon 2 is paintball, Nintendo-style.

A game of emulsion immersion as you blanket levels in ink before the time runs out and where armed anthropomorphic seafood fights for Dulux victory by coating the majority of the arena in their team colours. Diving into pools of the wet stuff in squid form allows players to move faster and recharge their ink reserves.

There's also traditional warfare mechanics, and you can off your foe by smothering them in ink with a variety of paint-based weapons, with brilliant new additions including dual pistols and the Splat Brella – a brolly shotgun that doubles as a shield for some (paint) flinging in the rain.

It’s easily accessible but hides a gorge of depth, and one of the few Nintendo games where you can die by getting shot in the tentacles. Turf war, the main event, sees two teams of four fight to colour a map, ranked play introduces more aggressive multiplayer while a new horde mode called Salmon Run tasks a group of friends to take on the fishy Salmonids.

Stuffed to the gills with new and revamped older maps, players can now see what weapons others have equipped while the long-awaited Switch voice-chat adds to the social nature of the game, though implemented through an inexplicably fussy mobile phone app.

While its raft of online modes will octopi most of your time, tucked away (as with the original, literally down a drain) is an oft-overlooked but surprisingly brilliant single-player quest as gamers use their paint-slinging skills to navigate fiendish levels stuffed with alien foe.

Once again, the bosses exploit the game’s mechanics in a unique way, though rarely hit the heights of Splatoon's final battle – arguably the greatest ever committed to a game.

So it’s all (a LOT) more of the same, then, but given Nintendo pretty much nailed the original, that's no bad thing. And being on Switch, it’s smoother than a velvet child, while you can take the kaleidoscopic action on the go, splatting like crazy on the toilet, should you wish. Switch owners slavering for new ways to show off their new toy will be squids-in here.