Splatoon 3 puts online play, fashion, and hair front and center.

Although I felt as unfamiliar to play as the previous episodes, Splatoon 3 It’s full of smart changes and updates that will lead to people – or at least me – making the game last longer than before. Over an hour before the September 9th launch, I played the game’s various modes, including just a few levels of the main story, a few Salmon Runs (the game’s incredibly difficult but rewarding Horde mode), and Turf War (The Splatoons take on a four-by-four death match).

When you start it, you will notice a welcome change in quality of life. Instead of being forced to sit at the in-game activity portal for the latest ads every time you restart the game, like in the past Splatoon Games done, you can simply click the left stick to listen to the message while doing other activities.

Multiplayer is where most of the game’s biggest changes are easily noticeable, though if you’ve played other modern multiplayer shooters it might not seem like such a big deal. For example, the Salmon Run mode, which helps four online players survive waves of enemies and bosses as much as possible, can be started at any time. in Splatoon 2, the mode was only available at selected times. Scheduling your life while in character is inconvenient, so you’d be forgiven for never having tried it before. It looks like there’s a lot of added variation here in terms of enemy types and new random events to keep it interesting.

Image: Nintendo

Before loading into a salmon run or turf war game, you’ll land in a shooting range—one Splatoon 3Features I really enjoy. When the game makes the connection, and everyone has their weapons and gear loaded, you can test weapons at the firing range. He remembers the way Fortnite He drops all players into a free-for-all lobby before sending them to the island in a battle bus. On paper, it’s a minor change, but it keeps my mind and fingers busy when the game loads.

When I loaded up my first Turf War match, I was struck by the familiar pitfalls of modern multiplayer shooters. Splatoon 3 For bragging rights, “Splashtags” have little cards that let you customize your background, title, and badge with in-game unlocks. There are also unlockable emotes that can add more personality to your character. Fashion has always been a big part SplatoonAnd Nintendo says it will roll out free seasonal catalogs with new apparel, accessories and more.

Image: Nintendo

The moment-to-moment action in Turf War felt as intuitive as ever, and I was able to employ the game’s new moves with relative ease. In squid mode (jump while reversing the direction of the left analog stick) there is a “squid roll” where you can reverse with a small coin. I also liked the “Squid Surge” which allows you to supercharge your jump while in squid mode to stun an opponent.

The game also handles custom spawn points differently than its predecessor. Each time your character regenerates, you can identify the location (with the motion controls or the analog stick) where you want to start anew. Or, you can jump to where a teammate is on the map. Two other notable improvements here are that you can jump into Turf War with your friends and stay on the same team without breaking up, and the game lets you record the frequency of matches and jump into action to make clips or study strategy.

I have to see some of them Splatoon 3’s Cleverly designed story levels to introduce you to new weapons. As always, they’re short and sweet, and this time you’re helping it with a little fish rib called a small smolfry. You can throw a smallfly at enemies to drain their health and then claim it back with a button click. He reminded me. god of warIt’s reminiscent of an ax, but nicer and a little less badass.

Image: Nintendo

My time with the story was limited and I was on the rails to avoid plot details, but for some reason I was intrigued by the game world you see in between levels, which is littered with hairy Octarian enemies. His hair is contagious – and deadly. If you touch it, your character will die hilariously.

There is only one hour to play Splatoon 3 It was a bit of a tease because there were so many things I couldn’t see. Nintendo jumped me into different single-player zones, and I couldn’t freely roam around Splatsville, where you could buy cosmetics, interact with characters, and much more of what seemed like a world. If I look at the game, it seems Splatoon 3 It can be the most feature full version. Splatoon Christmas.

Splatoon 3 will be released for Nintendo Switch on September 9.