Splatoon 3 (2022)

I recognise this as a good game, but unfortunately it just doesn’t do much for me.

Having drifted away from multiplayer games in favour of more fixed-length games as I’ve got older, the idea of casual three-minute bouts seemed like a fun way to scratch that itch again.

They are fun, but turns out what I liked most about multiplayer was playing with my friends, and as none of my friends have Switches or this game, I quickly got tired of playing with randos and didn’t have much desire to return to it.

The single player campaign is entertaining enough, and there were some highlights in the few worlds I completed, but honestly it kinda just feels like extra content rather than the main draw of the game (which is no doubt the case).

Splatoon 2 julkaisusta oli jo kulunut tovi, mutta silti kolmannen osan julkaisu tuntui tulevan turhan pian. Jatko-osa oli kuitenkin antoisa moninpelikokemus, joka teki kaiken paremmin kuin edelliset osat. Peli on päällisin puolin pitkälti samanlainen kuin Splatoon 2, mutta lisäten kaikki pelikokemusta parantavat ominaisuudet, joita voisi kuvitella. Latausajat ja pelihaku toimii silmänräpäyksessä, ja moninpeli kavereiden kanssa toimii juuri niin kuin se pitääkin. Moninpelilobbyssä voi vapaasti testailla aseita, ja asesettejä sekä varusteita voi vaihdella jokaisen rundin välissä täysin vapaasti.

Yksinpeliin en ole koskenut, mutta tämä sarja on aina ollut hyvin pitkälti moninpelikokemus itselleni. Tavallisen moninpelin lisäksi mukana on myös Salmon Run yhteistyöpelimuoto, joka on edelleen erittäin toimiva aaltopuolustuspeli. Valitettavasti cooppiin ei ole tuotu sen tarvitsemaa vaihtelua, mitä ainakin itse olen odottanut viime osasta lähtien.

Lautapelaajana arvostan mukaan tuotua pientä korttipelipuzzleilua, jossa rakennetaan oma pakka erilaisia vastustajia vastaan ja yritetään täyttää 10 kierroksen aikana mahdollisimman paljon ruutuja omalla värillään. Perusidealtaan peli näyttää hyvin simppeliltä, mutta peli on silti hyvin syvällinen ja kutittelee kivasti harmaita aivosoluja.

Kaiken kaikkiaan Splatoon 3 on erittäin hyvä peli, mutta sen heikkoutena on aikaisempien pelien hyvyys. Peli on pikemminkin todella iso päivitys Splatoon 2:seen, mutta jatko-osana silti hieman liian pieni muutos kaavaan. Jos olet tykännyt aiemmista Splatooneista, tämän hankinta on täysi no-brainer. Sama koskee myös toisinpäin: tämä on pohjimmiltaan hyvin pitkälti aiempien osien kaltainen, ja jos uusi kierros samaa vanhaa ei jaksa innostaa, ei kannata koskea tähän jatko-osaankaan.

Kiitettävä 4/5

I think I'm playing this game wrong. That, or the single player campaign is not that polished. I feel like I've been playing the same stages over and over again and the stages that are actually difficult aren't difficult because they are difficult but because some weapons are incredibly poor choices for that particular challenge.

The worst part is that even after playing the same things over and over again, I don't feel like I'm getting better at the game at all.

Things I want in future Splatoon 3 patches:

King Salmonid Chohozuna needs to be easier to beat. I've yet to come close to beating it a single time and I'm not bad at Salmon Run. When we don't all die, we're usually unable to get in enough hits to kill it before the time runs out. Buff the eggs plz!

Let me choose colours. I keep getting confused by the constantly changing colours. At the very least, colour lock should completely lock my colour, not just lock it to one set of colours.

Make it easier to earn money. Like, holy shit, I run out constantly ... There's sooo much more stuff to buy in this game and the stuff costs a lot, so I keep being unable to afford stuff and having to do lots of matches to get a single item ...

Give us ways to get stuff from older catalogs down the line plz. I want the emote you get at catalog lvl 76 and the glasses you get at lvl 79 but I'm currently at lvl 21 and there's just no way I'll manage to reach those levels in time before there's a new catalog ... There is no good reason to make those times exclusive items, so plz, give us a way to aquire those later.

When the 2-year support ends for the game, please make it possible to play stuff like tricolor battle and big run. Don't just make those modes time-exclusive that'll never come back if you didn't play the game at the right time.

Look. Splatoon 3 is a great game. Its an amazing game. But I don't think it needs to exist. It offers the same experience as Splatoon 2 and even half of its stages are from that game. Sometimes I even forgot I was playing a new game.

I cannot imagine that there's such a technical difference between this game and the previous game that the new weapons, stages and systems couldn't be added throug free or paid updates. Even the new (and very good) campaign. Anyway. The community is now fragmented and the ones unable wo buy a new game at full price now are playing a game with less players. I give less shit to FIFA and CoD games for doing the same thing. Well, at least we don't have a "new" Splatoon every year (yet).

But hey... "she's got a new hat".

Anyway. Here's my review in spanish for GamerFocus. This is still a really, really great game.

I'm guessing the constant connection issues is somewhat due to the large current player base and record initial sales? It is pretty awful and embarrassing for the 3rd installment, on the same platform as the previous to installment, to have such critical issues right out of the gate though.

It also may just be me, but trying to manage everything goin on and learn to aim with the gyro controls is really overwhelming and frustrating.

Finished all levels of Hero Mode, including secret level After Alterna

• Reached Credits
• Maxed Skill tree
• Gathered all Collectables / Scrolls

I'll see what the competition is like as for how far I plan to go for ranked modes. I went for S rank in all modes asides from Clam Blitz in Splatoon 2, but right now competition is still tough at B- as that's where all of Splatoon 2's veterans start at. Also this game is tough on my fingers / fore arms to be playing long term too.

Played this game for a few hours now. I can't understand how this can be Nintendo game, because everything just goes so smoothly. QoL-improvements has been amazing and everything just works so well. Gameplay-wise there hasn't been major changes, but the core mechanics worked so well already in previous installments, there really aint any reasons to change anything.

Its just pure fun playing this game! Cant wait to see how ranked battles and coop game mode spice things up, when I have a chance to try these!