Splatoon 2 Global Testfire Reaction

<p>I&&num;8217&semi;m going to level with you&period; I didn&&num;8217&semi;t really play a lot of the original <em>Splatoon<&sol;em> on the Wii U&period; I played a little bit of it and it was a solid title&period; I just didn&&num;8217&semi;t have a Wii U anymore because I had to sell my launch unit to help get my car fixed&period; What can I say&quest; Times were tough and at the time there were only a few games out for it anyway&period; We plan on picking up a Wii U and many of its games when we get our tax return&period; We miss playing classics like <em>Legend of Zelda&colon; Wind Waker HD <&sol;em>and <em>Game &amp&semi; Wario&period; <&sol;em><em>Splatoon<&sol;em> was going to be a same day purchase for us as well but after playing through the Global Testfire&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;ve decided against it&period; The fact that the Nintendo Switch is getting a sequel to its unique and strange team-based shooter was already a great announcement but with it coming out this summer and being this good&comma; I went to Game Stop and pre-ordered it right after my first hour with the beta&period; This game is solid and despite it only being a beta&comma; it had a nice layer of polish that gives me high expectations for its full release&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;123329" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-123329" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-123329" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;28134456&sol;2017032414245000-777AC1189ADA093280C624C7F7AA30B1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"I just got splatted by an enemy&period; This match is tough&excl;" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-123329" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">I just got splatted by an enemy&period; This match is tough&excl;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>First thing&&num;8217&semi;s first&colon; Nintendo allowing everyone to download the <em>Splatoon 2 Global Testfire<&sol;em> weeks in advance was great&period; I know this isn&&num;8217&semi;t a new practice in the industry but I&&num;8217&semi;m happy Nintendo went with common sense&period; I shudder just thinking about everyone trying to download and play it the same day&period; It could have ruined the entire event&comma; or at least the first day of it&period; It was quite the opposite though&period; Matches were smooth and I think the longest I had to wait for a match in my 5 hours with the <em>Global Testfire<&sol;em> was forty five seconds&period; Most of the time right after a match was finished&comma; the matchmaking for the next round was pretty quick and loading within a few seconds&period; You had the option to back out without closing the entire game if you had to run to the bathroom or just dance for a minute to those sick squid tunes&&num;8211&semi;or maybe both&period; The bathroom dance never looked so cool with squid jams playing while you ran to the other room&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The full release will obviously feature different multiplayer modes but the beta only had the 4 v 4 Turf War&comma; which I think was for the best because it&&num;8217&semi;s probably one of the reasons that matchmaking was so quick and smooth&period; No one had to pick maps or modes&semi; all you had to do was keep playing and you&&num;8217&semi;d quickly get tossed into a match&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s also a pretty popular mode from the original game that a lot of people enjoyed playing&period; In this mode your goal is to simply paint the map&period; Obviously along the way you&&num;8217&semi;re going to splat some players too&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s a lot of fun having almost two objectives though because you go from painting the ground to running and gunning&period; It kept the experience feeling fast and fresh&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;123330" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-123330" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-123330" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;28134632&sol;2017032414264400-777AC1189ADA093280C624C7F7AA30B1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Splatoon 2&comma; Nintendo" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-123330" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Splatoon 2&comma; Nintendo<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The graphics don&&num;8217&semi;t really look too different&period; It looked a little sharper to me but that may have just been because my eyes were on our beautiful TV the whole time instead of popping my eyes down to the Wii U gamepad periodically&period; This is a double-edged sword though because as my Wife pointed out when she started playing&comma; the map on the game pad was really nice&period; You can still pull the map up but it&&num;8217&semi;s an extra step and you&&num;8217&semi;re vulnerable while you press the button&comma; wait&comma; and check the map&period; It was much easier to just look down really quick while firing off paint and wrecking your enemies&period; It definitely didn&&num;8217&semi;t ruin the experience but it is the first time that I found myself really missing the game pad and wishing the Nintendo Switch had dual screen functionality&period; <em>Breath of the Wild<&sol;em> didn&&num;8217&semi;t really need it&period; Inventory management was nice on <em>Wind Waker<&sol;em> <em>HD<&sol;em> remake but it&&num;8217&semi;s just as great with a Pro Controller&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It&&num;8217&semi;s worth pointing out though that the joycon controllers felt fine&period; I disabled the gyroscope controls immediately though as I just find it to be a nuisance&period; I get really into shooters and tend to flail around in celebration or when my team is getting its tentacles kicked&period; I don&&num;8217&semi;t mind gyroscope controls in <em>Breath of the Wild<&sol;em> or <em>Ocarina of Time 3D<&sol;em> but when running and gunning is the entire game&comma; it just feels better sticking with buttons and joysticks&period; Other than that though it was just hard living without the map in my hands while playing&period; I know I didn&&num;8217&semi;t play <em>Splatoon<&sol;em> a lot but in the few hours I did spend playing with family&comma; I really liked that the map was just a glance away&period; I know many people are divided on the comfort level of the joycon controllers but I personally really like them&period; We&&num;8217&semi;re going to invest in some Pro Controllers before <em>Mario Kart 8 Deluxe<&sol;em> and <em>Splatoon 2<&sol;em> release but that&&num;8217&semi;s just because the Pro Controller adds a level of comfort and ergonomics beyond what most controllers on the market offer&period; I also really dig the battery life on those&period; If you think you&&num;8217&semi;re going to put a lot of time into <em>Splatoon 2<&sol;em> though&comma; it might not hurt to purchase a Pro Controller as well&period; That way whenever you take your Nintendo Switch on the go&comma; you don&&num;8217&semi;t have to worry about your joycon battery life when you&&num;8217&semi;re a kid or a squid&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;123331" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-123331" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-123331" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;28134811&sol;2017032414400800-777AC1189ADA093280C624C7F7AA30B1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Splatoon 2&comma; Nintendo" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-123331" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Splatoon 2&comma; Nintendo<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The Splatoon<em> 2 Global Testfire<&sol;em> ran extremely smooth&period; Loading times were quick&period; Matches ran fast&period; The gameplay is as addictive as ever&period; The only thing missing is the ability to purchase some &&num;8220&semi;Squid Kid&&num;8221&semi; jams on vinyl or at least the ability to stream them on Spotify and other streaming services&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m serious&&num;8211&semi;the music reminds me of <em>Jet Grind Radio<&sol;em> but without feeling repetitive&period; I had a lot of fun playing Splatoon and will definitely be buying it on launch day to review and enjoy&period; Feel free to comment with your 89 digit Nintendo codes so we can all be a kid or a squid together&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;