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Games: Revamped paint 'em up Splatoon 3 the best-looking game on the Switch

Splatoon 3
Splatoon 3 Splatoon 3

Splatoon 3 (Switch)


By Nintendo

IN 2015, Nintendo finally dipped its sugary toe into the filthy world of online shooters. But given the House of Mario was behind the warfare, I was happy to let my seven-year-old take aim. With Nintendo's comforting arm at the helm, Splatoon wasn't so much about racking up the body bags as it was pop art paintball, featuring more squid than a whale's belly.

Third time around gives the series an MoT. True, there's nothing massively new here, and at first glance the untrained eye would fail to distinguish its online skirmishes from the previous effort, but the Switch's latest ink cartridge is much more than paint by numbers.

Balancing Nintendo's family-friendly USP while punching up the skill level for series vets, Splatoon 3 is another joyous free-for-all of as you art attack your way through online battles where anthropomorphic seafood fight for victory by coating the majority of an arena in their team colours.

Rather than spilling guts, your ink gun takes take out opponents, all the while leaving a messy trail players can scoot through in squid form for crisp, clandestine movement.

Being Nintendo, there's always something deeper and more complex going on beneath its gaudy surface – from the vibrant hub city of Splatsville to its vast arsenal of paint-flinging weapons that are more dye than die.

Splatoon has always catered for soloists, and its threequel is once again no slouch in single player. Tucked away (literally down a drain) is the game's campaign, now promoted from tutorial sideshow to a quest worthy of the entry price alone, where players must clean up Fuzz – a deadly substance that blocks progress and hides trinkets and upgrades – by splurging Power Eggs earned from completing self-contained levels with unique challenges.

One second you're trying to ace a level with limited ink, the next, navigating mazes or platform hopping – all the while giving your enemy hell with a paint gun.

Of course, it's multi-player where Splatoon earns its stripes, and third time around it offers a much-needed revamp. Its Splatfests now include three distinct teams while the Salmon Run horde mode, where up to four players fend off waves of monsters and bosses, is now a constant, rather than popping up on timed rotations.

Turf War – Splatoon's bread n' butter – is finessed no end with two new fancy-pants manoeuvres: an ink roll, which gives a glimmer of invincibility as you pop out of squid form, and a squid surge that lets you zoom up and pop out of inked surfaces like a champ.

For a series all about fresh paint, Splatoon 3 gets more than just a fresh lick. With much quality-of-life improvement and boundlessly creative campaign levels stuffed to the gills with inventive whimsy, Splatoon 3 also happens to be the best-looking game on the Switch, dropping nary a frame no matter how hectic things get.

Little wonder it's enjoyed the Switch's most successful launch in Japan – and looks on track to threaten even the original Super Mario Bros as Nintendo's best-selling game on home turf.