Nintendo makes shooters friendly and accessible

Nintendo says so many wonderful thingsbut Splatoon it can be one of the most surprising – or the most daring. The series began as an attempt to enter the online racing world, but in a way that felt a world away from the violence and bombing of Call of Duty or War. Splatoon It’s basically paintball covered in candy stars a kind of skate punk squid creatureand for three types Nintendo is just about perfecting the formula. This series brought the idea of ​​competitive shooters to a new audience, and now it’s growing: Splatoon Raiders it takes a different direction, but with the same goal of making shooters accessible.

Unlike previous entries, which were about competitive team-based games, Attackers and what is known as a shooter. Think of the game as The future or Borderlands where you do missions and explore dungeons to find new weapons and skills, which allow you to go on more difficult missions and dungeons. It’s a genre where the repetition is rather constant as you repeat the levels over and over in search of the best cheats. This means that the moment-to-moment experiences – how the tools are fun to use, how the parts are fun to explore, how they encourage finding new tools to play with – should be fun enough to inspire those replays. And it’s the same when Splatoon victory.

Depending on how it plays out, Attackers almost the same as its predecessors. You still control a giant squid who can use a variety of weapons, from guns that look like Super Soakers to giant paint rollers. SplatoonIts appearance is ink: It’s what you shoot at enemies, but you can also change from a humanoid to a squirrel animal to swim. Immersing yourself in ink allows you to quickly move through the level, replenish your health, and refill your ammo. The result is action where you are always moving, because standing still means death (or, in the words of Splatoondepression).

It’s all true Attackers. But here you are using these skills while traveling in different groups to defeat the enemies and get the treasure. The story puts you in the role of a mechanic on a ship that has crashed on an unknown island. You can’t leave, you and your colleagues – who are members of in the universe Splatoon pop group Deep Cut – Start building a stable base and explore the islands in search of treasure, hopefully, a way back.

Like most shooters, the game’s gameplay works like this: You set up a base, enter a level, return home with some upgraded cargo, and repeat. There are several types of levels Attackerswhich are progressively harder, and mostly involve defeating a large group of enemies before the clock runs out or collecting more fish eggs that drop from fallen enemies. Some sections are short, taking only a few minutes, while others require more research. There are also boss fights with giant creatures that remind me a bit successful achievements in Monster Hunter game.

Basically, Attackers he takes Splatoon‘s core gameplay is to evolve into a new genre. And it remains explosive, with levels that are incredibly stressful; there were many times when it came down to the last exciting seconds, which decided whether I would win or not. And you can play alone, Attackers it also supports co-op play for up to four people.

What it really does Attackers work, however, is that it also encourages constant experimentation. One way to do this is with the number of options you can choose from. There are many different weapons to use – my favorite is a katana made of a sponge that can spray ink – and each can be customized by adding equipment that will change its abilities, making it faster or more powerful. You also have a number of power-ups that unlock over time, each providing a different benefit, such as a rotating turret that explodes on contact or a turret that provides cover for hot shots. Finding what works for you means trying many ideas. But the game also goes further. To improve your skills, you really to be try different things and use them for a long time, and some parts have different properties depending on your creation. This prevents you from getting one type of game and sticking with it for the rest of the game.

A strange thing about the original Splatoon it’s how it took one of the most dangerous sports – competitive online multiplayer – and made it incredibly accessible. Attackers they do the same for sniper shooters. It’s not an endless grind that you feel compelled to play over and over again to see any progress, and it’s also not a live action that wants to absorb all of your free time and money. It takes the core elements that have made the genre so popular – fun gunplay, challenging levels, customization – and puts it in a package that respects the player and its time. At the same time the workplace is enteringand new shooters failing is dangerous all the time, Attackers it’s a reminder of why the game is so popular in the first place – and a sign that Splatoon they still have a lot of room to grow.

_{Splatoon Raiders launches the Nintendo Switch 2 on July 23rd.}