holdthemayo
356 reviews liked by holdthemayo
If Peppino was a journey through an anxiety-induced fever dream from a man who's been driven to the very edge of his own helpless sanity, then the Noise is a journey through a man's own vanity, going through the same struggles as Peppino not because he wants to or needs to, but just because he can. Noise is much more akin to Wario than Peppino in this matter then, effortlessly blazing through the tribulations presented to them for the sake of their own greed and ego. With such a shift of character then, playing Pizza Tower as the Noise is not a lame excuse for replayability, however it is a whole new experience within the same game.
Just like Peppino, Noise can go really fast, if not more so. Unlike Peppino though, the Noise cant climb up the walls out of sheer desperation, instead opting for his skateboard to act as more of a wall jump that gets instantaneous speed when landing on the ground. The Noise can also do a tornado spin when using his skateboard that decimates enemies. To counteract this lack of verticality though, the Noise can super jump at any time and has access to an uppercut with much more force and range to it. Bosses are also different, with the Noise deciding to gleefully throw his own bombs around the arena, instead of grabbing the bosses out of abject rage. These new movement options and every transformation having new control methods create not only just a different game feel than Peppino, but one that beautifully balances on the line between a chaotic and smooth experience.
The movement isn't just the only thing that makes playing through Pizza Tower as the Noise feel so fresh, but rather the fact that the Noise is a god damn scumbag cheater. He often just ignores several mechanics in the game, such as changing the stroke limit in golf so that he always gets the primo ‘burg, or not delivering the pizzas in Gnome Forest and instead opts to destroy the customers' homes to get the toppins. Not even the bosses are safe from the Noise's wrath, as he just flat out shoots the Vigilante in the climactic duel and even scares off Fake Peppino in the final chase phase. He doesnt even have his own title cards for each level he just slaps stickers of himself over all the faces that were present in Peppino's adventure. And that's only tipping the iceberg when it comes to all of the delightfully cheesy flourishes that the Noise adds to make for a hilariously cheap playthrough.
The Noise reinforces the chaotic and insane energy of Pizza Tower that, in my opinion, makes it one of the best 2D platformers ever made, and is a more than welcome addition to this amazing game. The Noise even gets some great new music tracks that compliment an already fantastic soundtrack.
Now all we need is a playable Gerome update to make this game a complete masterpiece. Come on Tour de Pizza I know you can do it!!!!!!
Just like Peppino, Noise can go really fast, if not more so. Unlike Peppino though, the Noise cant climb up the walls out of sheer desperation, instead opting for his skateboard to act as more of a wall jump that gets instantaneous speed when landing on the ground. The Noise can also do a tornado spin when using his skateboard that decimates enemies. To counteract this lack of verticality though, the Noise can super jump at any time and has access to an uppercut with much more force and range to it. Bosses are also different, with the Noise deciding to gleefully throw his own bombs around the arena, instead of grabbing the bosses out of abject rage. These new movement options and every transformation having new control methods create not only just a different game feel than Peppino, but one that beautifully balances on the line between a chaotic and smooth experience.
The movement isn't just the only thing that makes playing through Pizza Tower as the Noise feel so fresh, but rather the fact that the Noise is a god damn scumbag cheater. He often just ignores several mechanics in the game, such as changing the stroke limit in golf so that he always gets the primo ‘burg, or not delivering the pizzas in Gnome Forest and instead opts to destroy the customers' homes to get the toppins. Not even the bosses are safe from the Noise's wrath, as he just flat out shoots the Vigilante in the climactic duel and even scares off Fake Peppino in the final chase phase. He doesnt even have his own title cards for each level he just slaps stickers of himself over all the faces that were present in Peppino's adventure. And that's only tipping the iceberg when it comes to all of the delightfully cheesy flourishes that the Noise adds to make for a hilariously cheap playthrough.
The Noise reinforces the chaotic and insane energy of Pizza Tower that, in my opinion, makes it one of the best 2D platformers ever made, and is a more than welcome addition to this amazing game. The Noise even gets some great new music tracks that compliment an already fantastic soundtrack.
Now all we need is a playable Gerome update to make this game a complete masterpiece. Come on Tour de Pizza I know you can do it!!!!!!
The Noise you have to stop. You smoke too tough. Your swag too different. Your bitch is too bad. they'll kill you.
An anticipated update to one of my favorite games ever that absolutely managed to deliver. The Noise Update is a great New Game Plus mode for Pizza Tower that makes you feel like you’re playing the game for the first time ever again. It features The Noise as a brand new character to play as with his own unique moveset and different takes on the transformations Peppino undergoes. His moveset and transformation differences are primarily what makes this mode feel fresh and exciting. They're not too drastically different from Peppino, but they're enough to rejuvenate the experience.
The Noise somehow manages to have even faster mobility than Peppino, with lots of ways to keep his momentum going. He can immediately go into a super jump without needing to build speed, his uppercut goes way higher than Peppino’s, and he has his own version of Gustavo and Brick’s Stomp ability. All of the levels in the game feel a bit different thanks to The Noise’s moveset. Going through those stretches in levels with long and wide halls gives you a chance to really relish in just how fast The Noise can go. Aside from hazards, pretty much the only thing that ever slows the Noise down is your own mishandling of his abilities. Controlling The Noise is a challenge in itself, as his speed and movement options require a tad more precision compared to Peppino. Even more so than Peppino, it feels really bad when you run into a hazard or you do something that causes your momentum to falter or come to a halt, simply because of how enjoyable it is moving at top speed. I don’t think I’ll ever set out to get a P-Rank in every level in this game as Peppino, but that goes doubly so for The Noise. I can’t imagine the skill and dexterity required to be able to achieve and maintain the score level necessary for it while also being able to do a Lap 2 during the escape sequences, especially since you’re given less time to complete them than the base game’s.
The boss fights are unchanged, with all the bosses still having the same attack patterns as before. However, the way The Noise fights bosses is different from Peppino. During these battles, The Noise will fight with bombs that he kicks at his opponent. There’s a bit of a wind-up before The Noise kicks the bomb, so you have to time your kicks for the bosses’ small vulnerability windows. There can also be obstacles out on the stage that can block your bombs as well, so you’ll have to manage those while also doing your best to steer clear of the bosses’ attacks. This new approach to fighting bosses is excellent, it’s a great way to make them challenging again, even if you’re already familiar with how they work.
Those are the primary additions to The Noise’s campaign. There’s also some new and hilarious gags, as well as a few great new songs for the soundtrack. The Noise Update is an excellent way to re-experience Pizza Tower. It’s a fresh spin on the core experience while maintaining a standard of quality equivalent to the base game. If you enjoyed the base game, then I consider this a must-play. It goes above and beyond what you’d expect for a New Game Plus mode, and is a substantial and highly enjoyable addition to the game.
The Noise somehow manages to have even faster mobility than Peppino, with lots of ways to keep his momentum going. He can immediately go into a super jump without needing to build speed, his uppercut goes way higher than Peppino’s, and he has his own version of Gustavo and Brick’s Stomp ability. All of the levels in the game feel a bit different thanks to The Noise’s moveset. Going through those stretches in levels with long and wide halls gives you a chance to really relish in just how fast The Noise can go. Aside from hazards, pretty much the only thing that ever slows the Noise down is your own mishandling of his abilities. Controlling The Noise is a challenge in itself, as his speed and movement options require a tad more precision compared to Peppino. Even more so than Peppino, it feels really bad when you run into a hazard or you do something that causes your momentum to falter or come to a halt, simply because of how enjoyable it is moving at top speed. I don’t think I’ll ever set out to get a P-Rank in every level in this game as Peppino, but that goes doubly so for The Noise. I can’t imagine the skill and dexterity required to be able to achieve and maintain the score level necessary for it while also being able to do a Lap 2 during the escape sequences, especially since you’re given less time to complete them than the base game’s.
The boss fights are unchanged, with all the bosses still having the same attack patterns as before. However, the way The Noise fights bosses is different from Peppino. During these battles, The Noise will fight with bombs that he kicks at his opponent. There’s a bit of a wind-up before The Noise kicks the bomb, so you have to time your kicks for the bosses’ small vulnerability windows. There can also be obstacles out on the stage that can block your bombs as well, so you’ll have to manage those while also doing your best to steer clear of the bosses’ attacks. This new approach to fighting bosses is excellent, it’s a great way to make them challenging again, even if you’re already familiar with how they work.
Those are the primary additions to The Noise’s campaign. There’s also some new and hilarious gags, as well as a few great new songs for the soundtrack. The Noise Update is an excellent way to re-experience Pizza Tower. It’s a fresh spin on the core experience while maintaining a standard of quality equivalent to the base game. If you enjoyed the base game, then I consider this a must-play. It goes above and beyond what you’d expect for a New Game Plus mode, and is a substantial and highly enjoyable addition to the game.
i've reverted to ipad kid status. i live, breathe and sleep fortnite. i think about fortnite everyday. i can't stop thinking about fortnite.
KinitoPet
2024
Every so often someone comes onto a game dev forum to be like "hey guys, I wanna make a game that messes with the player's computer! how do I do it?" and then every reply is like No Don't Fucking Do That, You're Basically Making A Virus
Well, KinitoPET goes ahead and does it anyway, and you know what? It's a lot of fun. KinitoPET isn't flawless or particularly deep - it's pretty short and ends when you think the game is just getting going. Plus the scares that don't fall into meta PC fuckery like asking you to open command prompt to give Kinito special privileges, are pretty much generic creepypasta stuff you can find any Itchio horror game. THAT BEING SAID, I still absolutely think it's worth checking out and there's clear passion here, even if the idea isn't used to its full potential
Well, KinitoPET goes ahead and does it anyway, and you know what? It's a lot of fun. KinitoPET isn't flawless or particularly deep - it's pretty short and ends when you think the game is just getting going. Plus the scares that don't fall into meta PC fuckery like asking you to open command prompt to give Kinito special privileges, are pretty much generic creepypasta stuff you can find any Itchio horror game. THAT BEING SAID, I still absolutely think it's worth checking out and there's clear passion here, even if the idea isn't used to its full potential
I'm a little disappointed to be honest, but also I had a lot of fun, so that's why I'm giving it 4 stars.
For a DLC I think you will find a lot of value here. The Splatoon gameplay is already really good, so adding modifiers and variations to it makes a really entertained experience. Every run will play differently from the last one. However I wish there was more variation in bosses, enemies and level designs.
I like to think this was an experiment to see how a roguelike splatoon would play, and it was successful, so I really hope they double down on it and make full game someday.
I also want to mentioned that one of my favorite aspects of Splatoon is the lore and the story, and with how good Octo Expansion was I had really high expectations for this DLC. Sadly this was the weakest part. It feels like they sacrifice a lot of the story to make the roguelike parts works. Maybe it was for the best, but I'm still really sad about it. Oh well, hopefully this is not the end for the Splatoon 3 content.
BTW happy Nintendo Switch anniversary!
For a DLC I think you will find a lot of value here. The Splatoon gameplay is already really good, so adding modifiers and variations to it makes a really entertained experience. Every run will play differently from the last one. However I wish there was more variation in bosses, enemies and level designs.
I like to think this was an experiment to see how a roguelike splatoon would play, and it was successful, so I really hope they double down on it and make full game someday.
I also want to mentioned that one of my favorite aspects of Splatoon is the lore and the story, and with how good Octo Expansion was I had really high expectations for this DLC. Sadly this was the weakest part. It feels like they sacrifice a lot of the story to make the roguelike parts works. Maybe it was for the best, but I'm still really sad about it. Oh well, hopefully this is not the end for the Splatoon 3 content.
BTW happy Nintendo Switch anniversary!
I am really hoping the devs iterate on this in a future game. They already have a lot going right with this but god the level objective and boss variety is such a drawback for long-term replayability (such as clearing the Spire with every Weapon).
Even just one different objective type and an alternate final boss would've gone a long way.
At least they did something new and didn't just make another Splatformer with re-skinned Octarians again.
Even just one different objective type and an alternate final boss would've gone a long way.
At least they did something new and didn't just make another Splatformer with re-skinned Octarians again.
This review contains spoilers
Back on Splatoon 2's FinalFest, I was in Team Order. Not only did it strike me as the preferable moral choice, it also seemed like the less hacky threat to theme the next game around. I don't think there's a Nintendo baddie who wouldn't align themselves with Team Chaos, and it seemed easy to picture how that would pair with Splatoon's colourful, forever teenage aesthetic. I wanted to know what an orderly Splatoon would be. It seems the developers were fairly inspired by the curious prompt, too, as they pretty much ignored the divine authority of SplatFest results to deliver this vision as a bit of DLC.
Side Order has a pretty conservative approach to random elements, and that's both a good and bad thing. While I was pretty cold to the idea of Nintendo's new generation of developers handing over the game design tools to an algorithm, the levels here are all tailored with the same care they've traditionally put into the series' single-player content. There just isn't all that much of it. This is billed as a mode that you can play endlessly. One run through Side Order takes roughly half an hour, and the bulk of any two runs will be spent on the same stages. The variables are meaningful, and help to build skills you can carry over to the main multiplayer content, but I don't know if it'll have much meaningful impact outside of Splatoon's active playerbase.
Each run through Side Order asks you to select a pre-made weapon loadout and presents you with 30 floors of a tower to beat. Each one presents you with a random selection of three levels to pick from, each marked with their own difficulty rating and completion rewards. Levels each come with one of five objectives, and all involve either chasing or defending a target while fighting off oncoming enemies. It's fun, but it doesn't really offer the variety or complexity of a typical single-player campaign. I don't think anybody outside of the most hardcore fans will play through it with every loadout.
The thing is, Splatoon gets to use its characters, aesthetic and themes as a crutch. For the most engaged fans who lap up this stuff, this side of the DLC makes up for the relatively shallow pool of content. There's a lot of direct callbacks and narrative ties to previous games and a good amount of Splatoon deeplore stuff. It just seems to repeat a lot of the same beats we've already seen, and the only people who will care about this aspect of the content are the same people who will be bothered by those things.
It's a big showcase for Splatoon 2's pop duo, Off the Hook, with Pearl acting as a Bowser's Fury-style drone partner, taking out swarming enemies and shouting out words of encouragement as you play. She's a pretty good fit for it, really. It was kind of funny to see Marie take a similar role in Splatoon 2, trying to inspire action without losing her cool, but if Splatoon wasn't so committed to its characterisation, she'd have been hooting and hollering like Pearl throughout it. Dialogue and unlockable written content relentlessly reinstate how much Marina and Pearl love each other, though despite the burgeoning enthusiasm from a significant segment of the fanbase, it appears we're not going to see explicit confirmation of a gay relationship in a game from the publishers of Tomodachi Life anytime soon.
Playing through Side Order with different weapon loadouts (each one themed around a familiar Splatoon character, of course) will unlock further weapons, in-game cash to spend on upgrades, and entries from Marina's diary. These act like the Squid Sister Stories did in the runup to Splatoon 2, offering us a little insight on Marina's perspective following Team Chaos's victory, but it's relatively perfunctory. Marina's a fairly pristine character, uniquely talented in a range of interests, and full of love for everyone. It's hard to imagine her doing something maliciously. The developers have far less conviction in pinning her as a villain as they did for Callie in Splatoon 2, putting a lid on the possibility before you even see Side Order's opening titles. It's a little underwhelming, but I respect the team's commitment to established characterisation before everything else. We might get less exciting stories for it, but when the fans watch the concerts, they fully believe in those dancing fish people. You don't want to mess with that.
I'm a little anxious that the politics have taken a bit of a backseat in Splatoon now. Pikmin 4 was guilty of the same, and I really don't want it to be something Nintendo shies away from. Octo Expansion took a really big swing on this stuff. Not only did it deliver a fairly earnest anti-racist message in a way that really complemented the established characters and setting, I was fucking thrilled with how it put the game's ecological message into stark view. Implying that there's something to be learned from the energy and passion of the youth movement of the late sixties, by homaging Planet of the Apes' post-apocalyptic revelation with its sunken Statue of Liberty, but also presenting it in the most Splatoon way possible, with you grinding around it on midair ink rails to a thumping soundtrack and rapidfiring at Lady Liberty's pulsing weak spots. It's difficult for me to think of any part of a videogame that I love more than Octo Expansion's final hours. I was with Splatoon since Day One, and this was the perfect way to tell me that my good will had paid off. Presenting the oncoming climate emergency and subsequent extinction of the human race, not only as a solid fact, but a rollercoaster with popstars and dualwielded uzis. There's nothing like that in Side Order. Just a loose implication that dogmatic authoritarianism is a flawed attitude. It feels pretty lame by contrast. I don't know if anybody else gets as much out of this side of Splatoon, and I don't think they can repeat that high. I just feel obliged to keep prodding the developers to get radical again.
That's not to say that Side Order makes no meaningful progress on the story. Following up on the liberation of the Octoling army, we're given some insight into who those people were and how their lives have changed since. It's significant to our understanding of Marina, and shows commitment to the continuity. It didn't stir me too much, personally, but if there had been so much as a comment from a Squid Sister, I know I'd have been far more invested.
Completing Side Order gives players the ability to set Splatoon 2's Inkopolis Square as their main hub. It's kind of weird to be seeing nostalgia for a game on the same console, but with all the signs that the Switch may be wrapping things up, there is a bit of ennui in going back to the 2017 stuff right now. As a big fan of Zelda, Mario and Splatoon, that year was a complete thrill ride for me. Not only was there excitement for this new console, we were giddy for a version of Nintendo that put all its focus on a single platform. There seemed to be a massive new title every month, for a while. As remarkable a system as it became, I think it's fair to say it didn't really carry on that same trajectory for long. With Tears of the Kingdom, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and the Mario Kart 8 DLC, it feels like Nintendo have just been trying to repeat those 2017 successes, rather than continue on that journey of invention. Splatoon 2 is good, Splatoon 3 is good, and Side Order is good, but Octo Expansion had me thinking the series would change and get far more ambitious. I don't think that's happened. It's like we've seen everything it can be, and all we can expect now are minor tweaks. I still want Portal 2/Resident Evil 4 structure in single-player Splatoon. I just have far less faith it's going to happen, now.
I'm the kind of fan who paid for this as soon as possible to get access to the Splatoon 1 hub. Of course this is what my criticism is going to look like.
Side Order has a pretty conservative approach to random elements, and that's both a good and bad thing. While I was pretty cold to the idea of Nintendo's new generation of developers handing over the game design tools to an algorithm, the levels here are all tailored with the same care they've traditionally put into the series' single-player content. There just isn't all that much of it. This is billed as a mode that you can play endlessly. One run through Side Order takes roughly half an hour, and the bulk of any two runs will be spent on the same stages. The variables are meaningful, and help to build skills you can carry over to the main multiplayer content, but I don't know if it'll have much meaningful impact outside of Splatoon's active playerbase.
Each run through Side Order asks you to select a pre-made weapon loadout and presents you with 30 floors of a tower to beat. Each one presents you with a random selection of three levels to pick from, each marked with their own difficulty rating and completion rewards. Levels each come with one of five objectives, and all involve either chasing or defending a target while fighting off oncoming enemies. It's fun, but it doesn't really offer the variety or complexity of a typical single-player campaign. I don't think anybody outside of the most hardcore fans will play through it with every loadout.
The thing is, Splatoon gets to use its characters, aesthetic and themes as a crutch. For the most engaged fans who lap up this stuff, this side of the DLC makes up for the relatively shallow pool of content. There's a lot of direct callbacks and narrative ties to previous games and a good amount of Splatoon deeplore stuff. It just seems to repeat a lot of the same beats we've already seen, and the only people who will care about this aspect of the content are the same people who will be bothered by those things.
It's a big showcase for Splatoon 2's pop duo, Off the Hook, with Pearl acting as a Bowser's Fury-style drone partner, taking out swarming enemies and shouting out words of encouragement as you play. She's a pretty good fit for it, really. It was kind of funny to see Marie take a similar role in Splatoon 2, trying to inspire action without losing her cool, but if Splatoon wasn't so committed to its characterisation, she'd have been hooting and hollering like Pearl throughout it. Dialogue and unlockable written content relentlessly reinstate how much Marina and Pearl love each other, though despite the burgeoning enthusiasm from a significant segment of the fanbase, it appears we're not going to see explicit confirmation of a gay relationship in a game from the publishers of Tomodachi Life anytime soon.
Playing through Side Order with different weapon loadouts (each one themed around a familiar Splatoon character, of course) will unlock further weapons, in-game cash to spend on upgrades, and entries from Marina's diary. These act like the Squid Sister Stories did in the runup to Splatoon 2, offering us a little insight on Marina's perspective following Team Chaos's victory, but it's relatively perfunctory. Marina's a fairly pristine character, uniquely talented in a range of interests, and full of love for everyone. It's hard to imagine her doing something maliciously. The developers have far less conviction in pinning her as a villain as they did for Callie in Splatoon 2, putting a lid on the possibility before you even see Side Order's opening titles. It's a little underwhelming, but I respect the team's commitment to established characterisation before everything else. We might get less exciting stories for it, but when the fans watch the concerts, they fully believe in those dancing fish people. You don't want to mess with that.
I'm a little anxious that the politics have taken a bit of a backseat in Splatoon now. Pikmin 4 was guilty of the same, and I really don't want it to be something Nintendo shies away from. Octo Expansion took a really big swing on this stuff. Not only did it deliver a fairly earnest anti-racist message in a way that really complemented the established characters and setting, I was fucking thrilled with how it put the game's ecological message into stark view. Implying that there's something to be learned from the energy and passion of the youth movement of the late sixties, by homaging Planet of the Apes' post-apocalyptic revelation with its sunken Statue of Liberty, but also presenting it in the most Splatoon way possible, with you grinding around it on midair ink rails to a thumping soundtrack and rapidfiring at Lady Liberty's pulsing weak spots. It's difficult for me to think of any part of a videogame that I love more than Octo Expansion's final hours. I was with Splatoon since Day One, and this was the perfect way to tell me that my good will had paid off. Presenting the oncoming climate emergency and subsequent extinction of the human race, not only as a solid fact, but a rollercoaster with popstars and dualwielded uzis. There's nothing like that in Side Order. Just a loose implication that dogmatic authoritarianism is a flawed attitude. It feels pretty lame by contrast. I don't know if anybody else gets as much out of this side of Splatoon, and I don't think they can repeat that high. I just feel obliged to keep prodding the developers to get radical again.
That's not to say that Side Order makes no meaningful progress on the story. Following up on the liberation of the Octoling army, we're given some insight into who those people were and how their lives have changed since. It's significant to our understanding of Marina, and shows commitment to the continuity. It didn't stir me too much, personally, but if there had been so much as a comment from a Squid Sister, I know I'd have been far more invested.
Completing Side Order gives players the ability to set Splatoon 2's Inkopolis Square as their main hub. It's kind of weird to be seeing nostalgia for a game on the same console, but with all the signs that the Switch may be wrapping things up, there is a bit of ennui in going back to the 2017 stuff right now. As a big fan of Zelda, Mario and Splatoon, that year was a complete thrill ride for me. Not only was there excitement for this new console, we were giddy for a version of Nintendo that put all its focus on a single platform. There seemed to be a massive new title every month, for a while. As remarkable a system as it became, I think it's fair to say it didn't really carry on that same trajectory for long. With Tears of the Kingdom, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and the Mario Kart 8 DLC, it feels like Nintendo have just been trying to repeat those 2017 successes, rather than continue on that journey of invention. Splatoon 2 is good, Splatoon 3 is good, and Side Order is good, but Octo Expansion had me thinking the series would change and get far more ambitious. I don't think that's happened. It's like we've seen everything it can be, and all we can expect now are minor tweaks. I still want Portal 2/Resident Evil 4 structure in single-player Splatoon. I just have far less faith it's going to happen, now.
I'm the kind of fan who paid for this as soon as possible to get access to the Splatoon 1 hub. Of course this is what my criticism is going to look like.
Bit of an easier roguelite, but was still fun and felt well balanced! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe Nintendo has developed a game in this genre before. I really enjoyed the grind while it lasted, but there are tons of unlockables to keep players coming back.
Also, you could reduce the roguelite parts of Side Order if you wanted. There are options to buy lives and continues. It's nice to see accessibility for players who may not play roguelites /likes, but I chose not to use these options. Side Order is plenty do-able on one life with good luck!
Also, you could reduce the roguelite parts of Side Order if you wanted. There are options to buy lives and continues. It's nice to see accessibility for players who may not play roguelites /likes, but I chose not to use these options. Side Order is plenty do-able on one life with good luck!
Back in 2018, Splatoon 2’s Octo Expansion was one of my favourite releases of that year. It turned Splatoon’s core singleplayer gameplay and weapon system on its head, in a way the campaigns only vaguely hinted at - providing ingenious puzzle rooms and a surprisingly steep difficulty curve that finally demonstrated that Nintendo understood & could capitalise on the series’ potential. Leaned into the strengths of Splatoon’s setting too, exploring its bizarre underbelly and fugged vibes. One for the fans of the ‘Rock Bottom’ episode of Spongebob. Seeing Agent 8 in the trailers for this had me a little excited, as Splatoon 3’s campaign was solid but didn’t feel as if it pushed the envelope much, I’ve come to see Agent 8 as Splatoon’s Harbinger of Difficulty and it turns out I wasn’t wrong.
Side Order is cool!! I love the setting (even if it’s basically just something of a play on the Copied City). I found it pretty easy to be excited by the prospect of delving into whatever Nintendo’s idea of a roguelite would be, and it’s a solid foundation but there’s so little variety here I can’t help but find the tower loop a little dry. There are only four mission types, FEELS LIKE there’s only enough individual level layouts for you to see every available one in a single run, and the upgrades you collect as you ascend the floors are merely statistical buffs; “+15% shot speed” type beat. It’s very hard, I like the risk:reward option of choosing harder rooms for better upgrades on top of other chaotic modifiers that can shoehorn you into making rough decisions. As with all roguelites with vertical character progression though, it’s only hard for a while until you power creep your way over roadblocks with permanent character upgrades and such. Numerically overcoming odds always feels cheap to me and I knew my completing the DLC would only be a matter of time investment. Eventually you get the option to retract your upgrades for a prestige reward boost, but I’ll be one hundred percent with you, I don’t like the majority of the weapons in this game and I can not bring myself to be a completionist about this if it means I have to suffer the fucking umbrella. It's all a little undercooked and doesn't have enough to really justify playing over and over for.
Anyway the story is great lol, albeit that there's not a lot of it. The lengths they go to show how much Marina loves Pearl is endlessly cute. She made the currency in her gamedev project “Prlz” maan 🙏🥹. Recalling who won the FinalFest of Splatoon 2 gave me something of a pop-off moment and I’m dying to see how this DLC would have looked if Order won. Endgame is the strongest finale of all of these games yet and that’s honestly a ridiculously high bar. Remix Ebb & Flow forever I will cry every time. Personal favourite soundtrack in the series, too! I love how heavily it leans into its dark ethereal sleep paralysis ambiance. LOVE how the hub/training areas have little environmental tells for the instrumentation in the bgm.
Side Order is cool!! I love the setting (even if it’s basically just something of a play on the Copied City). I found it pretty easy to be excited by the prospect of delving into whatever Nintendo’s idea of a roguelite would be, and it’s a solid foundation but there’s so little variety here I can’t help but find the tower loop a little dry. There are only four mission types, FEELS LIKE there’s only enough individual level layouts for you to see every available one in a single run, and the upgrades you collect as you ascend the floors are merely statistical buffs; “+15% shot speed” type beat. It’s very hard, I like the risk:reward option of choosing harder rooms for better upgrades on top of other chaotic modifiers that can shoehorn you into making rough decisions. As with all roguelites with vertical character progression though, it’s only hard for a while until you power creep your way over roadblocks with permanent character upgrades and such. Numerically overcoming odds always feels cheap to me and I knew my completing the DLC would only be a matter of time investment. Eventually you get the option to retract your upgrades for a prestige reward boost, but I’ll be one hundred percent with you, I don’t like the majority of the weapons in this game and I can not bring myself to be a completionist about this if it means I have to suffer the fucking umbrella. It's all a little undercooked and doesn't have enough to really justify playing over and over for.
Anyway the story is great lol, albeit that there's not a lot of it. The lengths they go to show how much Marina loves Pearl is endlessly cute. She made the currency in her gamedev project “Prlz” maan 🙏🥹. Recalling who won the FinalFest of Splatoon 2 gave me something of a pop-off moment and I’m dying to see how this DLC would have looked if Order won. Endgame is the strongest finale of all of these games yet and that’s honestly a ridiculously high bar. Remix Ebb & Flow forever I will cry every time. Personal favourite soundtrack in the series, too! I love how heavily it leans into its dark ethereal sleep paralysis ambiance. LOVE how the hub/training areas have little environmental tells for the instrumentation in the bgm.
