First some housekeeping:
1. This game has ongoing free updates like Splatoon (1) or Overwatch where you get the core game in the beginning, but the developers will update the game monthly with free new content. Nintendo stated their will be new weapons, gear, and stages down the line. They already announced the new splat brella, and bubble blower weapon. Also Nintendo promised 2 already planned years of Splatfest content
2. Playing online with others is free for now, but Nintendo stated they're going to charge an online play service like PS+ or Xbox Live by the end of the year 2017. Updates for single player are probably free, but once the service is live, you may have to pay to play online with others.
3. There are enough enhancements in the game that make This is a full fledged squeal and not a port of the original with extras and minor gameplay tweaks/gameplay balances like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Pokken Tourament deluxe, Ultra Street Fighter II, or Disgeaea 5 complete for example
Now onto the review:
1. What's new/general changes:
Map rotations are now every 2 hours instead of 4
Rank battles: separate rank for each game mode. More individual stats based, unlike Overwatch where you and your team rank up the same; if you perform well in a match you can rank up 2 ranks if you carry your team and dominate the opposition
League battles: ranked with friends
Splatnet 2: mobile app where you can keep track of your stats and see what map rotation is coming up. You can also use this for voice chat, but it has a horrible implementation where the screen has to be on at all times, and every time you use your smart phone to do other things, the audio auto-mutes. Best just to use 3+ way calling or skype in my opinion so you don't have to use an extra plug for your phone to keep it charged as having the screen on-all the time drains battery life (hope there's an update to this soon)
No miiverse seeing there's none of the Switch. There's an art submissions area where you can enter your drawing for a chance of it showing up in in-game battle arenas or main hub areas
No duel screen. You have to now hit a button instead to open the map screen, instead of quickly looking down like in the original. There are some UI changes to makes things easier, but not as fast as the old method. For example: there's a new special indicator on UI showing who has specials. This omission of a duel screen doesn't break the game, but I'll miss that it's gone
New maps. Aside from some returning ones with some tweaks to them, there are new maps in the game. As mentioned before, Nintendo promised more to come
LAN play. Easy to setup and connect with other Switches
Mini arcade: There's a DDR/Guitar Hero type rhythm game where you press the right button to the beat.
2. New customization, gear and characters
-In terms of character customization there are new hair styles, and leg wear
-Characters and shops:
Flow is in charge of the head wear shop
Jelfonzo, the shirt shop
Bisk, the shoe shop
Sheldon (returning character) weapon shop. This time you can fast skip his weapon explanations if you want
Crusty Sean: you can purchase food for temporary exp gains and/or money during matches
Murch: use sea snails to increase weapon slots for weapon abilities
New singing idols Marina and Pearl. Their songs are more mellow and lyric based (although they speak squid) than Callie and Marie in the first game. Still an awesome soundtrack
3. Single player. Better plot than the original, linking to the last splatfest in the first game. But the ending is predictable. Very good tutorial to the game in general and will help train you to the main modes in the game, multi-player. For the last boss, you spend most of time in big circular arena instead of constantly moving forward to different areas like in first game which is a bit disappointing, but the level designs for the rest of the single player campaign is better than the first in my opinion
4. Weapons:
-Here are the main weapon types each having advantages and disadvantages :
Standard shooter: all around shooter,
Rollers steam: use large paint roller to cover areas fast
Chargers: sniping guns, doesn't cover much area.
Splatting cannons: Gatling guns, covers areas fast, but needs to be recharged
Sloshers (bucket): covers a lot of area within a short range
Blasters: basically the shotgun in this game
-New function of weapons in splatoon 2
Chargers can keep charge while hiding and moving in ink
Clash baster: very short range, but high damage/fire rate, good for 1v1
Rollers can change orientation horizontal or vertical
Dualies (new standard shooter) lets you dodge roll
New sub-weapons:
Autobomb: unlike seekers in first game, it's more accurate at following one enemy but is slower
New Specials:
Baller: puts up in a hamster ball and able to self destruct on an area/enemy
Bomb launcher: throws a lot of bombs constantly for a set time
Ink armor: fortify all allies with temporary armor that makes them invincible, good for special counters, especially the tenta missile and baller
Ink Jet: flies into air and shot enemies with high damage gun, this also makes you an easy target so watch out
Ink storm: basically summons a storm cloud that covers a set area for a set time
Sting ray: constant ink sniper weapon that can shoot through walls
Splash down: jump and ground pound from the air making a circular AOE attack
Tetna missile: auto lock onto enemies, and comes down from up top. Only escape once locked-on by enemy is to hide under buildings and bridges or countered by the ink armor special or baller. More for advance players as it takes time to master the lock on
New weapon abilities:
Drop roller: lets you dodge roll when after using launch ability
Thermal ink: once you shot an enemy, you can see them through walls
object shredder: high damage to non-player targets such as ink walls
quick re-spawn: noob friendly ability, if you keep getting splatted constantly you re-spawn faster. Also good for reckless players who rush in without thinking first
re-spawn punisher: increase re-spawn time of enemy once you splat them.
5. Game Modes:
Turf War: Main mode in the game, cover map with more ink than the enemy for a set time period
Rank battle Modes:
-Tower control: escort a moving tower to an enemy base by standing on it to make it move
-Splat Zone: cover a small area with ink and watch as a timer goes down. first team to have their counter reach 0 is the winner
-Rain maker: Basically capture the flag, but the flag can be used as a very slow charge firing weapon for self defense
-Salmon Run (new mode): basically horde mode with waves of enemies, but you collect enemy drops (power eggs) and place them in a set location for points. This mode is not available at all times, so best to keep an eye out on the scheduled timed when you can play. Guess they made it this way so players don't get fatigued by playing the same game mode every time.
Splatfest: monthly or bi-weekly events where you choose a side and battle in turf war. One with the most points and popularity gets prizes, there's also consolation prizes for the losers. Now you can play with your friends on the same team
6. Amiibo:
You can save your load outs on a amiibo, and just tap and play those load outs without having to manually customize everytime. Good if you have multiple loadouts and multiple amiibo
You also get specific gear from the amiibo, but they are balanced with the set gear in-game and not OP
7. Graphics are way more improved than the original. Colors are more vibrant and fame rate is smooth througout
Overall best multiplayer game on the Nintendo Switch so far. Highly recommended. Stay Fresh!
