MeinMMO editor Nikolas Hernes has already given up on the new installment of Splatoon at the announcement. But behind the Nintendo game is a great shooter that has quickly become a highlight.
I like the Splatoon series. Although I didn’t play parts 2 and 3 for an incredibly long time, the multiplayer rounds are just fun. The movement combined with the color mechanics plays well and still feels fresh in a flood of multiplayer shooters.
Splatoon Raiders initially sounded like a stupid idea to me. A single or co-op shooter where you fight fish enemies together? That’s just a single mode in regular Splatoon.
Forgotten and put in a drawer, I then stumbled upon interesting reviews that called the title a Loot-Shooter
. As an old Borderlands fan, I had to check out the game.
Gameplay is something Nintendo does well
First off: Splatoon Raiders feels just as good as the other entries in the series. The weapons have nice hit feedback, the colors are well-utilized to show the remaining life of enemies, and the movement in colored areas ensures a nice flow. You can feel this great gameplay from the first level.
In Raiders, there’s also a small mech that you always have with you and that fights automatically. If you press the X button, you can call it to a specific spot, and if you jump near it, you’ll be propelled upward. This can be used quite effectively, especially when you’re suddenly surrounded by enemies or just need a new angle for a shot.
Additionally, there are tanks, of which you can bring 2. You can choose from a total of 3 tanks, each with different gadgets. The purple tank, for example, focuses on turrets or traps, while the blue tank has mobile gadgets like a grappling hook.
You can upgrade and modify these gadgets to develop your own playstyle. This synergizes well with the various weapons. There are sniper rifles, submachine guns, or the well-known color roller that you can use in close combat.
And precisely from this, the loot also consists. There are weapons, upgrades for the gadgets, or resources to improve stats or storage.
Splatoon Raiders offers many build options without overly focusing on pure stats. I particularly liked that because I didn’t have to research extensively
in forums. The simple and later deeper mechanics especially encourage experimentation – which only enhances the mission design.
A gameplay loop, perfect for the evening
As previously mentioned, Splatoon Raiders has no multiplayer battles; instead, there are classic missions. There are several types:
- Linear levels where you must reach a specific crystal
- Wave battles in a small area
- Boss fights
- More open levels where you must farm a specific resource
- Small challenge levels where you must complete a kind of parkour with specific gadgets.
The beauty of the levels is that they can usually be completed in 5 to 8 minutes. This makes Splatoon Raiders perfect for me to play 1 or 2 levels before going to bed to farm a bit. Unlike grind sessions in games like Borderlands, where you smack a boss countless times to get a weapon.
Targeted farming isn’t possible in Splatoon Raiders, but the short levels remain fun even after the 10th time, simply because the movement is incredibly enjoyable. If a level is too hard, you can simply get help from other players. If you can’t complete a level, that’s not a problem either. You can get back quickly, and it’s so easy to rebuild your build that I never really felt frustrated, even if some levels are truly challenging.
And even if you don’t feel like farming and endgame: You can just play the main story, even in co-op – and it’s worth it.
In a time when the gaming industry has frustrated me, Splatoon Raiders was a great experience because it focuses so much on gameplay and fun. After a long time, I felt like a child again, immersing myself in the new Nintendo game and forgetting everything around me. Splatoon Raiders achieved that for me, and I can only commend the game for it. You can find another loot shooter here: A new loot shooter on Steam reminds of Borderlands without making your potato PC overheat
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