Nintendo has been slow to produce new IP’s, but when they finally make a new game, they tend to meet success. Splatoon is a third-person shooter that’s no different. But instead of going for gritty ultra-violence, it opts for making an unconventional paint-ball romp. The level of creativity is overflowing too…although some things were overlooked in the process.

The game is about a bunch of squid people called Inklings who engage in a sport called the Turf War. In Turf War your chosen character and a team of three other players will square off against another four person team. The idea is to shoot your ink spraying weapons to cover as much of the map as possible with your team’s ink. The team with the most coverage wins the 3 minute match. You move fastest when you submerge in the ink, and this also refills your depleted ink supply. It also lets you climb otherwise impossible surfaces. As you fill the map with Ink, your weapons special skill charges up, and they usually are pretty devastating. If you need to get somewhere real quick, you can tap on the gamepad’s touch-screen where another player is to super jump to that location: Very handy for covering more ground, especially literally. There are several different weapon types, which need to be unlocked after leveling up through matches and gaining money. Similarly, armor is also dealt with in this manner; As is the ability to play in Ranked Battles. This normally is much of a problem, but this is the point where online feels a little lacking in foresight. You can only earn experience and coins in Turf War, and there isn’t any way to host your own lobby, or set your own rules or levels. And matches also can’t be 2 vs. 2 or 3 vs. 3. There is a one on one mode, but it’s local only. You can at least play with friends, but the inability to choose is still prevalent. There will be DLC in the future that might solve this, but it’s a poor initial showing all the same.

It’s a shame too, since online is still a very fun experience. The game is oozing with creativity, and the online performance levels are fantastic. The game plays in 60 frames during matches with no lag from what I’ve seen, and that’s an achievement. There’s also a ton of strategies. You can be offensive and go with the Machine gun like weapon. Or there the Roller, for quick coverage and easy kills, provide that you sneak up on your prey, as you are very exposed. Then there are the chargers, which are the game’s sniper rifles. And there’s the hand cannons, and grenade like launchers. The different gears also have some passive abilities that help you out too, so a variety of different builds are available to use.

If you want to tackle the game offline, there is a single player mode. And it has quite a bit of depth. There is a story, but it’s not really all that important. The levels themselves are sort of like obstacle course and arenas where you fight Octopus people, the Octarians. The idea is to learn the game’s mechanics and get to the end of the level. None of the other weapons or gear from multiplayer can be carried over, but you can gain points to level up your pre-assigned gear. There’s also hidden collectibles that reveal more backstory of the game, and can unlock things in the multiplayer as well. While there are only 27 levels and 4 boss fights, there are extra Amiibo challenges to test players.

The game is pretty solid despite its initial shortcomings, which hopefully will be amended later through DLC. Although single player could have had more levels that used the other weapon types, the whole game is still a terrific experience. If you have a Wii U and like third-person shooters, Splatoon is a great way to satisfy that itch. Don’t let the kid-friendly look deter you. The game is still quite ruthless, and it proves that you don’t need gore and grit to make a fun game.

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