Splatoon (Series) Review

Posted: A year ago, last updated 4 months ago.

Overview

Splatoon on the Wii U and Splatoon 2 on the Switch are games where you shoot ink rather than bullets in this deeply skilled combat game. As well as taking out opponents, teams work together to cover the arena with their colour of ink. This not only decides who wins but enables them to rapidly traverse areas in their colour. Weapons are both varied and imaginative, ranging from paint rollers to buckets of paint and water cannon-style shotguns.

For younger players, this is a good alternative to more violent shooting games like Fortnite, but every bit as skilful and exuberant.

Details

Rating: PEGI 7+, ESRB EVERYONE 10+

Release Date: 21/07/2017

Platforms: Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Wii U

Genres: Action and Shooting

Tips

View our choice of games like Splatoon. This game is good if you want to:

Commitment

Duration: This game will take between 8 hours and 12 hours to complete. Once you have completed the campaign (which can be played with two players locally) the real fun is in the online multiplayer game.

Players: You can play with 8 players in the same room and up to 8 players online. To play battles in the same place on the Switch version with up to 8 others you each need a console and the game. Or you can play online with up to 8 players in public or private matches.

Costs

Additional in-game purchases are offered for items that enhance the experience.

This game supports Nintendo's amiibo, figurines and cards that can be purchased separately to unlock in-game items.

Age Ratings

This game has been rated ESRB EVERYONE 10+.

This game was rated PEGI 7 for violence that lacks any apparent harm or injury to fantasy or mythical beings and creatures and for non-realistic violence in a child-friendly setting or context. The examiners report expands this rating with the following: The violence in this game is unrealistic. When the characters are hit with ink multiple times they explode into splashes of ink. The game is set in a very colourful, cartoony and therefore child friendly setting. The only available weapons are ink blasters or paint rollers.

Some of the bosses look evil but the general atmosphere of the game never gets scary. Characters use expressions like: “Oh carp!” and “This sucker’s not messing around” but no actual swearing.

Users Interact: The game enables players to interact and communicate with each other, so may expose players to language usually associated with older rated games.

Accessibility

Splatoon 2 supports accessibility in the following ways:

Difficulty: The different matches of a variety of challenges and there are good tutorials for each mode and spaces in which to practice with each weapon.
Reading: There is reading to do, the text is quite big but the font is stylised.
Controls: There is a range of controls. Motion controls are default but can be switched off in favour of sticks. Sensitivity can be adjusted.
Image calibration: Visual indications of audio cues in the game. The colours are bright and can be locked to blue and yellow for colourblind mode.
Audio calibration: Rumble is used to communicate when you’ve taken damage and give you feedback on your movement. The sound effects and score are also pretty helpful in anticipating attacks. There are stealth attacks that you aren’t going to notice, but that’s a universal thing. You can't adjust the sound effects and music separately.

System Settings

Nintendo Switch has some built-in features, including a lockable zoom, that can be used on all games. The Wii U has some limited settings, such as disabling rumble and selecting mono audio... read more about system accessibility settings.

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