I always thought this was one of my favorite games, but i haven't played it since it came out so I wasn't confident saying that. Now I am.
All the levels are challenging in a fair way that I feel respects me as a player. Alterna had decent levels from what I remember but they all felt easily beatable by a child, kind of like a Mario game. Octo Expansion gives you the real shit. Levels with timers are usually strict as hell and getting to the goal in some levels is a legitimate challenge. It is worth noting though that no stage is completely backbreakingly difficult, this isn't some kaizo romhack combo meal supreme. Girl Power Station is quite a significant challenge though, and Inner Agent 3 is a damn good challenge.
Something I liked is how it cuts the shit. I honestly never liked the hub worlds. I liked going into levels. Alterna misses the point of the gameplay formula by having a hub, even if that one isn't as long. Octo Expansion sticks you on a train and you just do levels. It feels so good.
It's also important to note what it was like to play this when it first released. This was the first time we directly interacted with the dark side of Splatoon. This game isn't really like some gritty grimdark thing by any means, i'm an adult and this game is made for kids, but it is definitely more mature than previous games. I first played this as a teenager, and a teenager who was not crazy good at Splatoon. I actually DID think this game busted your balls a little with the difficulty. I thought the agent 3 fight in the story and the statue painting were actually quite hard.
I could write a lot more but I don't want to put up a massive wall of text that takes ten minutes to read. This is the best Splatoon campaigns have ever been, and although I hope this isn't true, is probably always gonna be the best.
All the levels are challenging in a fair way that I feel respects me as a player. Alterna had decent levels from what I remember but they all felt easily beatable by a child, kind of like a Mario game. Octo Expansion gives you the real shit. Levels with timers are usually strict as hell and getting to the goal in some levels is a legitimate challenge. It is worth noting though that no stage is completely backbreakingly difficult, this isn't some kaizo romhack combo meal supreme. Girl Power Station is quite a significant challenge though, and Inner Agent 3 is a damn good challenge.
Something I liked is how it cuts the shit. I honestly never liked the hub worlds. I liked going into levels. Alterna misses the point of the gameplay formula by having a hub, even if that one isn't as long. Octo Expansion sticks you on a train and you just do levels. It feels so good.
It's also important to note what it was like to play this when it first released. This was the first time we directly interacted with the dark side of Splatoon. This game isn't really like some gritty grimdark thing by any means, i'm an adult and this game is made for kids, but it is definitely more mature than previous games. I first played this as a teenager, and a teenager who was not crazy good at Splatoon. I actually DID think this game busted your balls a little with the difficulty. I thought the agent 3 fight in the story and the statue painting were actually quite hard.
I could write a lot more but I don't want to put up a massive wall of text that takes ten minutes to read. This is the best Splatoon campaigns have ever been, and although I hope this isn't true, is probably always gonna be the best.