Following the collaborative review for Splatoon Raiders, I thought I’d share some of my extensive thoughts on what works and what doesn’t about Nintendo’s spin-off to their eleven year-old ink-spraying franchise. In the review, we gave it a commendable 7.5/10, which addressed how insatiably addictive this single-player looter shooter is, but acknowledged that its level design was unremarkable and the game’s gratuitous challenge types revolved around the same principles of shooting all the salmonids (sometimes with a time constraint) and snatching up all the loot. So without further delay, let’s dive into more Splatoon Raider criticism!
You can never deny the whimsy and weirdness in a Splatoon game. The characters speak in weird octo-gibberish, your character sprays ink with a variety of weapons and tools, and you can swim about in the inky mess you’ve made as a squid, doubling as a swift form of submergent defense when you feel overcrowded by enemies and need to escape a volatile situation. Splatoon is and has always been a colourful and quirky alternative to the generic first-person shooter, and Raiders capitalizes on the series’ strengths by narrowing its focus down to single-player, with co-operative assistance if needed.
