This game was the first and only splatoon game I have played as of right now, and I loved it. I don't own nintendo switch online so I wasn't able to play multiplayer, however the story mode was amazing. The actual story that was quite lacking, but that isn't what splatoon is focused on. The level design was extremely exciting and is just the right difficulty. I played the entire game on a 5 hour plane ride and only did the levels I was required to play, and I still had a great time. The final boss battle is difficult but rewarding. I highly recommend this title to anyone who has a switch.

Bungie-tier netcode makes any PvP match incredibly frustrating due to constantly trading with the enemy you just killed. Servers are also horrible.

That being said, Salmon Run is a fantastic horde mode to play with friends. It's so utterly hectic and the callouts can get messy, but it's great fun. Just wished the rewards for the King Salmonid weren't so piss poor.

The story mode for this game is mostly just fine. It's just taking the Octo Expansion model and running with it in a slightly worse manner.

Colorblindness Test: A
For being a game so heavy on the use of colors, the Turf War colors tend to be sufficiently different from each other that I don't usually have a problem with it. I believe the Ink Lock also makes ink colors the default Splatoon 1 ink colors, which work well enough iirc?
In any case, it just works.

I’ve been meaning to get to Splatoon 3 for quite a while now. I’ve had it for months, but it was just never the top of my priority list, so it just sat in the backlog. Only because I promised my friends I would play with them in the upcoming Splatfest did I finally get around to playing it. It’s been a good while since I played Splatoon 2 and the Octo Expansion, and because of that, I forgot how much fun I had playing the games. And on top of it, I finally got a chance to experience a Splatfest, and actual Turf Battles this time around, which I think elevated the overall experience.
Now, when it comes to the games I play, I typically prioritize the single-player experience. Multiplayer games just aren’t what interest me, so I typically don’t focus too much on them. In that regard, I want it to be known that my review of the game will also focus primarily on the single-player campaign of the game. Though unlike with Splatoon 2, I did play the multiplayer mode as well, so I will be able to talk about it this time around.
First and foremost, I think Splatoon 3’s main campaign is probably my favorite campaign of the three campaigns I’ve played (2, Octo Expansion, and 3). The general structure of the campaign is really fun, and I really felt motivated trying to get as much as I could done. Particularly, my favorite aspect of the game’s campaign is the explorable overworld. While it’s not the first to have one, it really feels like it placed an emphasis on it this time around. Hidden treasures and secrets are littered throughout each major section of the game, and areas that you cannot traverse unless you pay a fee. It’s also really nice how the game remembers where in the level you’ve splatted. It in some odd way makes it feel really personal, as a showcase of the time you’ve put in.
Some of the treasures you can obtain through exploring the overworld, or beating bosses helps you upgrade your character in specific ways. Either increasing the power of Little Buddy, increasing the power of your weapon, upgrading ink capacity, or even increasing movement speed while in squid form. I ended up completing the entire skill tree, though it’s honestly not too difficult to do, it kind of just happened naturally. Regardless of that though, I honestly just really like skill trees, as it’s a really fun way of customizing and personalizing your character.
While the explorable overworld is my favorite aspect of Splatoon 3’s campaign, what I think shines just as strongly is the level design. Splatoon 3’s level design is top notch, and I think there’s only one level out of the over 70 that I’ve played that I don’t particularly care for. That level particularly was “One Way Ride Through Target Town”, which compared to the other levels in the game, was noticeably much harder. Especially if you tried to do it with the weapon the game suggests. Regardless of that level, every other level of the game was super fun. I’m really glad that Splatoon 3 took the same general structure of levels that Octo Expansion did. In particular, it’s not just “reach the goal” kinds of stages, instead there’s unique ideas in each level. Some levels you can only use sub-weapons, in other stages there’s a thick fog covering the stage, and in some you have to survive. I still don’t really care for the fact that certain levels cost power eggs to access, but it was never that big of an issue. What makes up for that though is that practically every level aside from a small handful are completely optional. Beating each level gives you an enormous amount of Power Eggs the first time you beat it, but every subsequent level clear rewards you with not as many. Particularly, a first level clear gives you about 1400 Power Eggs, but every time you beat it after that it only rewards 300. You could beat the same level over and over to get Power Eggs if you’re struggling at a specific level. The game is really forgiving in this regard. There is a level you gain access to once you beat everything else which is much harder than the rest of the game. I did not play that level.
In a similar vein as well, the overall selection of bosses in Splatoon 3 are probably my favorite of the overall series. The first few bosses are really fun, and while I was challenged, I beat them all on my first try. What makes the bosses really fun to me is the dialogue and banter that occur, as it felt like that was a bit lacking in the previous campaigns. In particular, I think the boss on the fourth island is probably my favorite. Though with that in mind, I feel like the game’s final boss is probably my least favorite boss of the game. It’s a really fun concept, but I think it could’ve been done a bit better, especially the second half of it.
When it comes to the main campaign of Splatoon 3, yet again I think overall it’s probably my favorite campaign of the three I’ve played. But unlike my time with Splatoon 2, I was able to get a shot at playing the multiplayer, and I participated in my first ever Splatfest. Turf Battles in Splatoon were really addictive as I played them. When it comes to the turf battles, they seemed to be about 2 and a half minutes in length. I honestly couldn’t see what the total time for each match was, as I was too focused on the game to see how long each round was. But I feel like the short length of each match is really good, especially for a game like Splatoon. I probably played about 100 matches total, which I think is enough for me to at least have some form of opinion on. I also particularly like that the goal of each match is to cover the most terrain with ink, it provides a really unique goal, and methods to achieve it.
I’ll be honest I’m probably not that good at Splatoon? I won a lot of matches, and I top-scored a lot, but I also was absolutely destroyed in other matches. I was told by a friend that casual games don’t have skill-based match making, which would explain for something like this. Regardless, I had an absolute blast with the game. I particularly found myself using the Dualies, and I ended up playing really aggressively because of it. I found myself often charging into enemy bases, and using the Crab Tank to splat their base. In the rounds I was doing good in, I splatted so many people on the opposing team.
I’m also really happy that I was able to participate in a Splatfest this time around. It was something that I entirely missed out on when I played Splatoon 2, since Splatoon 3 was already out by the time I played it. There’s a unique atmosphere to being in the game while a Splatfest is happening, and I’m glad I was able to experience it firsthand. I was on Team Ghost for anyone was curious.
Of course there’s more stuff I’ve yet to do in Splatoon 3 that maybe I’ll get to at a later point. Particularly, I haven’t played Salmon Run yet, as that feels like something I should play with friends instead of playing with random people. I definitely want to try it out at least once, but I haven’t yet, and I planned to review it once the Splatfest ended. Side Order still isn’t out yet, and I definitely want to play it when it comes out. I’m not done with Splatoon 3, but I think I’m at the point where I can properly review it.
And in the end, I absolutely loved my time in Splatoon 3. Maybe due to the fact I was able to play with friends this time around, it became my favorite of the series. Though then again, I haven’t played the first title (I don’t have a Wii U though). The main campaign is amazing, and the competitive mode is really fun now that I’ve had a chance to play it. One of my friends kept getting jokingly upset that I haven’t played Splatoon 3 yet, and now I understand why.

As a fan of the series it hurts me to say I... wasn't a fan of splatoon 3. I've put countless hours into the previous games, especially 2, but with 3, after around 90ish hours, a certain feeling started to sink in, a been there done that kinda feeling, it was then when I realised that we really did just get the same game again, same structure, same problems, same(ish) story mode etc., a few quality of life improvements sure, but nothing worth buying a new game over.

My main problem with the core game (the online) is that they changed practically nothing to make it better, I'm mainly talking about the schedule stuff, the previous 2 had this sure, but I was hoping by the third game they'd do away with it or at least give it an overhaul, being as this IS a shooter and not a life sim (If I remember correctly the same team also worked on animal crossing, a life sim), but nope, the same ol' 2 stages every couple of hours and ranked modes switching every couple of hours. I suppose if you have all the time in the world to play then this wont matter much, but when you just wanna sit and play a few rounds it's pretty annoying, why can't I play say tower control whenever I want to? Why can't I play or at least vote for my favourite stages, instead I'm stuck playing the same stage over and over until maybe a stage I like is in the next rotation, and yes I said stage because more than likely, at least from my experience, the game loves to choose one stage over the other. In short it just makes the game super inconvenient, and that's not even mentioning nintendos lovely online service... I haven't even mentioned the game has a battle pass and seasons, while yes they're free, the whole thing is just a huge grind-fest, since there's no way to gain significantly more xp, you'll just be playing regular/ ranked matches over and over, unlike say fortnite where there'll be quests and whatnot you can do to complete the battle pass in about a week or so.

Salmon run makes a return and it's actually done away with the schedules which is nice, it's mostly the same as before, but now with new bosses, enemies and mechanics, It's actually quite fun, UNTIL you get to the higher ranks where it basically becomes unplayable with how many enemies spawn in on these small maps, it even makes the game lag a bit, another problem are the bosses, which appear at the end of the final round sometimes, it's a really cool concept but they're basically impossible to beat most of the time, and there's really no real reward for actually beating them.

There's this card game you can also play too and honestly, it's pretty fun, not much else to say really it's just a little side mode, but still.

Before I talk about the story mode I wanna quickly go over the splatfests and big runs, 2 of the games main events that happen once a month or so, Splatfests are ok I guess for what they are, but they're honestly a downgrade from 2 in my opinion, instead of the shifty station stages we get a new mode, tri colour, which is supposed to be a sort of 2 v 4 v 2, where one team of 4 have to defend the middle (from what I remember), but it basically just becomes a 4v4 anyway, I haven't played the game in a while but that's what I remember and yeah it's pretty lame, doesn't help that not only is it JUST the one stage but also it does't even become playable until the second half of the splatfest. The whole thing feels off still too, the tallying of points has always seemed off, and it can be argued that it's better here, but the fact shiver has somehow won pretty much every splatfest reminds me how marie and marina were similar in the previous games. And yes, this is really the only way to earn shells once again, with the only other way being levelling up, which takes as long as it did in the other games. Then there's the new one, big run. Big run is litterally regular salmon run but on a normal multiplayer stage, there is a ranking system to work towards for a prize but it's still just salmon run, and yes it's ONLY on the one stage, though I will admit the atmosphere is good, the hub going all red clouded and eery was pretty cool.

Lastly there's the story mode, which I played through recently, and it's... ok I guess, there's some fun stages I'll admit, the bosses were the highlight, and the whole final section of the game was good, I always like it when games have a big level at the end. However unfortunatley like with the rest of the game it just feels like the same as before, which is a shame because at first you wouldn't think that, you're shown this big wasteland, and in the trailer I remember seeing a city which looked cool, but in the actual game the city is just a background and the wasteland is litterally just the hub for a few stages and a boss. Most stages in this game just consist of blocky level design that sticks out like a sore thumb, you have these really nice looking backgrounds and suroundings but the level design? Blocks. They did take some inspiration from the octo expansion and have more gimmicky levels which were the better levels, but the rest just blend in with one another and they're VERY short, most levels should only take you about a couple minutes each, it honestly reminds me a lot of sonic forces, where you'll have these nice looking environments, but the actual stages are very hit and miss. The story is decent for what it is, though the ending does leave you with a few questions. Overall the story mode is, ok, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy any of it, but it's nothing memorable, nothing to make it stand out from the previous games' stroy modes.

And those were my thoughts on splatoon 3, or splatoon 1.75, in the end, maybe I'm just growing out of it, perhaps it just doesn't hit me the same way the other 2 did, I am a fair bit older now, but here's the thing, I still like the series, the characters, the music, just the overall theme is great, it's just that the actual games refuse to evolve, I still find myself wanting to play it but then I remember it's short commings and immediatley change my mind, what doesn't help is that they've done the whole "release it now finish it later" model, which people say only works for splatoon but, no it doesn't, especially when said updates aren't anything special to begin with.

Who knows, maybe I'll get a second wind and play the game again and change my tune, but for now, the series that was supposed to be "fresh", has gone into the same path as many others, just releasing the same game with minimal changes.

I was hooked on this game when it first launched, but as time went on I realized that while there were a lot of cool additions, the core gameplay is just a worse version of 2.

Story mode is good, Salmon Run always being online is good, Lobbies are good, but it's just so stripped down in comparison to a game already on the same system I own.

There are less weapons, less maps, less clothing; it's kind of a shame.