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Nintendo’s Splatoon Takes Paintball To Absurd Lengths
Nintendo showed off a new Wii U IP at its Nintendo Direct, the multiplayer shooter Splatoon. The game features four-on-four matches, paint-based battles, and characters who can change species at a moments’ notice.
In Splatoon, characters have to cover as much territory as possible with their team colors. To do so, they run around and fire paint-based weapons. Players can fire directly at their opponents to temporarily knock them out of play, but the ultimate goal is to cover the ground with the colorful goo.
To make things a bit more interesting, players can also transform into a squid. In that form, they can move quickly under surfaces that have been painted by teammates. Hit an expanse of the other team’s colors while submerged, and you’ll be knocked back up – with a hit to your speed, too.
It looks like Nintendo is designing the game to be quick and frantic. For instance, players can look at the GamePad’s screen for an at-a-glance update on how the battles are going (the more surface area covered in your team’s paint, the better). Players can then leap to where their friends are instantly by tapping their respective icon on the screen, to help take on contested areas, plan coordinated rush attacks, and more.
The trailer ended with a look at a few weapons that looked different from the default gusher, including a rocket launcher and a gigantic paint roller that blanketed wide swaths with paint – and mowed down nearby opponents, too.
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