We’ll soon be coating our surroundings in kaleidoscopic coats of paint, with Wii U exclusive Splatoon now nearing the game’s May launch.
Nintendo have shared more details about their take on the third-person shooter genre, a single-player mode letting you explore the Octarians underground base as you master tips and techniques relating to shooting, jumping and splattering mechanics that will help you in the multiplayer arena.
Turf War is Splatoon’s main online mode, four-on-four matches that will see players look to cover as much territory in their team’s ink. Players will gain levels and in-game currency for their efforts, customising their Inkling with clothing that will provide gameplay perks – whether that be swimming quicker through ink, or reducing the time it takes for the ink canister to be refilled.
You can equip pre-determined weapon sets, deploying main weapons that cover rapid-fire ink guns, long-rank ink rifles and paint rollers, with sub-weapons letting you use ink bombs and sprinklers. Special weapons can also be accessed for a limited period by filling a special gauge in matches, which takes place across numerous maps – Blackbelly Skatepark, Saltspray Rig and Walleye Warehouse being newly announced.
Ranked Battle mode has also been revealed for the first time, tracking each player’s online ranking ( between C- to A+ grades) whereas Splat Zones will fall within this – seeing players trying to control territory at specified areas of the map. Players will need to reach Level 10 online to access these modes by playing Turf War, although they will be unlocked for all players once enough players have achieved Level 10 globally.
Splatoon will launch exclusively for Wii U in Europe, North America and Japan in May.
