Month: June 2015

Splatoon Get-Together #1

Last night, I held my first Splatoon get-together. While I’ve been playing Splatoon online on most nights lately, this was the first one that I’ve announced ahead of time on Twitter and Facebook. Three of my Wii U friends joined in: Qwerty (Nintendude), Meli, and DaBraxMan. The other spots were filled by random players, of course. For those who don’t know, Splatoon doesn’t allow you to open private lobbies just for your friends.

Here’s a lovely group photo of me, Meli, DaBraxMan, and a guy named David.

Freaky squids turning into inklings.The night’s levels were Bluefin Depot and Blackbelly Skatepark. I don’t think I’ve played on Blackbelly Skatepark much before last night. I don’t care for it too much, but maybe it will grow on me eventually. I’m not a fan of the two-levels-per-four-hours thing either; it’s not unusual to do the same stages five or six times in a row.

Still, playing online turf wars is ridiculously fun and addictive. I lost more battles than I won tonight, but I had a great time. Despite the game’s flaws, Splatoon is probably my favorite online Nintendo game since Mario Kart Wii. It’s rare for a game to keep me playing for hours at a time, and coming back nearly every day.

Splatoon gameplay screenshot from Blackbelly Skatepark.Here is a video showing three of last night’s battles. At the end of the first battle, my Kraken got lifted up into the inkstrike tornado. I thought that was kind of funny.

I reached level 19 during last night’s battles, just one level short of the maximum. I’ll probably hit level 20 at some point this weekend. As for the game’s story mode, I completed it about two weeks ago. It’s very enjoyable too, but it’s shorter than I would have liked. I don’t recommend Splatoon to anyone who isn’t going to play the game online…at least not at full price. The bulk of the content is online-only. If you haven’t seen my video showing the first three levels of the story mode, you can see it here.

I’ll be having more Splatoon videos in the future, and I’ll also have my review coming up in the not-too-distant future.

Snowpack Park Impressions

Club Nintendo coins expire on June 30th, so I logged into my account to use up my last remaining coins. I wasn’t sure what I wanted; I initially considered Fluidity for Wii. I played the demo of that game before, and I enjoyed it…but still, I wasn’t really in the mood for it. So I looked at the other available titles; many of them were games I already owned, and so many of the others were generic looking puzzle games. Sometimes it takes a really unique (even weird) game to capture my interest. And one game, Snowpack Park for Wii, certainly fit that description: It’s a penguin simulation game! Not something you see every day. I spent my 250 coins and downloaded the game.

Snowpack Park Title ScreenYou start out by choosing your Mii, or you can use the default eskimo (like I did). A tutorial teaches you how to greet penguins, how to pet them, how to feed them fish, and how to pick them up. Each penguin has a mood, ranging from a loyal penguin that will follow you around to a skittish penguin that runs away from you–even to its own death. If you get too close to an angry penguin, watch out. You will get slapped!

Snowpack Park: Slapped by a penguin.Once you’re familiar with all the basic moves, you can take a balloon to another area. There, you will literally set a trap to kidnap more penguins to take back to your base. You will gain friendship points, collect hats for the penguins, and play a variety of mini-games. You can even play basketball…using a penguin as the ball! I can’t decide if it’s cruel or funny to see a penguin smack against the backboard.

Snowpack Park: BasketballIn a small way, the game reminds me of Pikmin in how the penguins follow you around. But unlike Pikmin, you need to continuously keep these penguins happy. Ignore them too long, and they will wander off to another area, out of your control. So take the time to pet them, greet them, and feed them. You’ll need groups of them to follow you to overcome some of the obstacles in the game.

Snowpack Park: Line of penguins.

So far, I’m still not sure I understand the object of the game (if there is one). It seems like I’m wandering around aimlessly, just grabbing all the penguins and trying to please the moody little birds. Most the mini-games don’t appeal to me much. It is somewhat fun just to explore, but each area is pretty small and doesn’t have a lot to see. I do enjoy the atmosphere, with relaxing music and gently falling snowflakes. But so far, I can’t really recommend the game. It’s certainly unique and a bit bizarre, but the gameplay seems mediocre at best. Perhaps it will grow on me as I progress further…or perhaps not.

I’ll try to review the game once I’ve put enough time into it, but that might not be real soon. If you’re interested in giving the Snowpack Park a try, it’s available from the Wii Shop Channel for 800 Wii points ($8.00 U.S.) or for 250 Club Nintendo coins. And remember, all Club Nintendo coins expire on Tuesday, June 30th, so use them quickly.