Splatoon held it's first
European/Oceanian Splatfest over the weekend. Splatfest involves
everyone choosing a team based on whichever 'thing' you like best;
this weekend's choices were Rock music or Pop music, and then you
duke it out in Turf Wars for 24 hours and see who comes out on top!
So, what went down?
Uneven Teams and Communication
Errors
In many
multiplayer games, it's still possible to seize a victory even if you
have a smaller team...but not so in Splatoon. If you lack the full
quota of players you may as well quit out because you'll be in for a
3 minute pasting at the hands of your adversaries, and it's just not
fun for either team involved.
This became a
real problem during Splatfest as it was clear after a few games there
just weren't enough Pop fans to make up the numbers (at least that
was the impression I got). This either meant you were battling
against fewer opponents (or more opponents), or the server played you
off against another group from the same team as yours (which is just
as annoying as there's no incentive).
There was also a
number of communication errors which booted everyone out of a number
of matches, which I must admit has rarely ever happened to me since
the game launched.
PAR-TAY!!!
The Ink-lings
sure know how to throw a party as Splatoon's hubworld was plunged
into darkness for the Splatfest, and everyone was treated to a neon
musical performance by the Squid Sisters (Splatoon's resident music
stars). Every match was accompanied by fully voiced rocking tunes, it
truly felt a like celebration and really livened up the atmosphere.
The Prizes
Stink!
The whole point
of Splatfest was to earn 'Spiky Shellfish', which you can use to
modify your equipment. They'll either add another attribute slot to
your existing equipment, or randomise your existing attributes if you
already have the maximum four attributes for each piece of kit.
The only problem
I had is that anyone who picked up the game at launch most likely
have the maximum number of attribute slots filled on each piece of
their gear (making the shellfish pointless). Of course you can
randomise your existing attributes, but randomise doesn't always mean
better. I'm aware that some Ink-lings may want to improve a
particular piece of gear they like, but there seems to be a better
equivalent for every single piece of kit in Splatoon (again, making
the shellfish pointless).
It would have been much better if Nintendo had thrown in some unique equipment for everyone to win, thus raising the stakes and making the Splatfest a must-play event. Come on Nintendo, let me win a FLUDD that fires ink!