Here is one of the reviews I will be doing on the games I end up buying for the Switch. Now keep in mind I won't be reviewing all of the games because they're expensive and I don't currently have a job, only the ones I own because they're so good I must have them. Now with that out of the way, on to the review!

The original Splatoon was Nintendo's first attempt at a multiplayer shooter. It released in 2015 and despite being a WiiU game sold 4.5 million copies. Marking their newest first party game as a massive success.

Does the sequel hold up to this and add enough things to make it more than Splatoon Deluxe? Let's find out.

So for starters the game when docked now runs at 1080P instead of 720P. You can tell just by comparing the two just how colorful and beautiful Splatoon 2 is. The characters all still pop but now they've got lots more animations while they talk.

As soon as you're dropped in you can tell things are different. For starters you're not in the same area as the previous game. You're now in Inkopolis Square, two subway stations away from Inkopolis. there's also multiple new shop owners, but Sheldon makes a return. This is explained through a secret scroll in the single player campaign. As is Crust Sean's return.

You learn a lot about what happened in the past two years through these scrolls. But you also get lots of lore on the world in general. As it stands we know that it's a post-apocalyptic world where Squid-human hybrids are the dominant species. Two years ago a new sport taking advantage of Inkling's unique abilities was created, this is turf war.

We now also learn that Inklings have ink sacks in their bodies, these sacks connect to the tanks which then provide your weapons, sub weapons, and special the ink they need.

You also see two new hosts, Pearl and Marina. Marina is in fact an Octoling. So it's interesting to see how she's a celebrity despite being an enemy to the Inklings. And Callie and Marie return in the story mode.

Now the story is simple enough, the zapfish and Callie have been squidnapped by the Octarians and you have to free them. The levels are the fun parts. There's tons of unique concepts like dash pads, grappling hooks, grind rails, and more. The scenery is very beautiful and all the environments are vibrant and different. The game now let's you use tons of different weapons instead of just one weapon in the previous game. So now it feels like much more of a tutorial for new players than before.

Also you can beat levels with over and over again with different weapons. This rewards you with Crusty Sean Tickets so the game is brimming with replay value, which is perfect for long car trips with no internet. (Even though all these fancy new cars have Wifi.)

The level design is excellent especially in the overworlds. They now have tons of secrets to find and are a joy to explore and land a rare item. The place this mode shines in however are the boss battles. They're all incredibly unique and sometimes just downright funny. This mode hasn't changed too much from the original however, so if you weren't sold on it before there isn't much to change your mind.

Now for the highlight of this game, online. There's 8 stages and five online modes. The stages rotate every 2 hours along with the 3 ranked modes, allowing you to get to play what you want to play much quicker. And now we don't have to listen to the hosts tell us all the new stages, we just get told everything's changed and we get to go back into the games.

Turf war is essentially the same thing. You spread more ink on the ground than your enemies in three minutes. You can hide in your ink and move much faster when you do, you also restore ink much faster in this form. You can only fire weapons in your kid form however. The game encourages constant switching between the two forms.

Then there's the ranked modes, splat zones has you controlling a specific area or sometimes two for a certain amount of time. While defending it from the enemies. It's a very fun mode and my personal favorite. There's also tower control where you try to ride a tower into the heart of the enemy base while defending against them. There's now checkpoints where the tower stops allowing for the enemies more chances to take back the tower. Finally there's rainmaker, where you scramble to get a super powerful weapon and carry it right into the enemies' base. (Although the most dangerous part is when you're breaking the barrier around the rainmaker.)

Now keep in mind these three modes didn't even exist in original Splatoon at launch. We got them all over time. On the other hand this game feels much more complete having multiple modes, stages, and weapons available.

Another kind-of new mode is League Battle where you take on multiple ranked modes for four hours with your friends. I haven't tried it out because I have no friends but it seems fun enough.

Now for the all new mode, Salmon Run. This mode has you fight hordes of enemies in three progressively harder waves. In these waves you must get a certain number of golden eggs from 9 different powerful bosses. These mode is frantic and intense. At times it's really hard. Once you hit the third wave you're swarmed with tons of bosses. And you have to constantly revive your team mates and survive to win.

There's also different challenges that randomly pop up like fog that makes it hard to see, nighttime which summons Grillers. Which are bosses exclusive to that event. Another event is horde defenses, where tons of Salmonids charge you at once and the boss is a giant golden Salmonid unique to this event.

There's also high tide which causes the water to rise which makes your movement space significantly smaller and tons of other events that can happen during any wave. And trust me, you don't want low tide during wave three. The rewards are great. Ranging from money to incredibly good gear. This is also one of the few ways to get a Crusty Sean Ticket.

It is limited to certain days but it seems to happen every 2 days. Plus it encourages you to check it out since it's a rarer event. Also it helps balance out the rewards.

Now for weapons. There are 9 new weapons including a brand new type: Dualies. which allow you to roll and adds another layer to your strategy. Weapon classes like the charger were changed so now they keep their charge for a short amount of time in Squid form. The new sub-weapons and specials are where things really change. New sub-weapons like the curling bomb and the toxic mist encourage new strategies. While they're similar to old subs they've changed things up to help balance them out more.

The new specials are really where things get crazy. All of them are new. And they feel much much more balanced than the old ones. For starters the only weapon that grants invincibility doesn't allow you to damage the enemies until you get rid of it with an explosion. Instead of the bubble which protected you of the Krakon which was ridiculously broken. The new specials are all fun to use and counter each other nicely.

For a few smaller changes you can now choose they ability that you want on your clothes with a lot of work. It's not easy but easily worth it, especially since some of these abilities are must haves.

Also you now get EXP bonuses for win streaks in turf war. The win streaks also are now weapon-based and don't reset every day. Which rewards you for trying new weapons and trying your hardest. You now also gain points for staying in the game the full 3 minutes which punishes those who quit before the game ends if their team is losing.

You can also speed up Sheldon if you want to because let's be real, he talks WAAAY to much. And one of the best changes is Crusty Sean. Using tickets you get from single player or Salmon Run you can buy special foods that increase the EXP, money, or abilities you get. The ability tickets speed up how quickly you unlock new abilities on foods and also increase the chances of getting that specific ability you had on your ticket. This is SO HELPFUL!

We now finally have a way to help us level up! And the best part is that the tickets aren't time based, they're battle based. So they only expire once you've battled a certain amount of times not after a certain amount of time. Another nice addition is the ability to set the sensitivity on your motion controls for Handheld and TV individually.

Now to address a big complaint, the lack of voice chat. Nintendo's attempt at fixing it with the app doesn't really work since Discord is a much better way to do things. Although the app is nice if you want to check out your Splatoon 2 stats.

Now the reason there's no voice chat in the regular online is because 1. Nintendo is kid friendly(Although just adding in an option to disable it with parental controls would work fine.) And 2. Here's the big one, the servers are worldwide. More often than not you'd be yelling at someone from Japan to do things but they won't understand you. I think voice chat should be included in private matches however.

The final thing I want to talk about is the internet connection. I rarely ever had any errors and often found matches within 30 seconds. This is far better than the painfully slow Wii U version and makes up for the lack of a minigame to play while waiting.

As in the original you had Squid Jump. A fun distraction while you waited for matches to start. This game added a similar minigame, this time being a rhythm game. Except it can only be played in Inkopolis Square. So I guess you can do it if you're bored and have no Wifi. Now in lobbies we have audio distortion. You can completely screw with the music while waiting which can entertain you for the short wait times.

Once in a game I never had any errors except for when I was in the home menu for too long. But that's to be expected. The game ran smoothly at 60 FPS and never dipped despite running 8 individual players, even in handheld mode. This is why the maps are noticeably smaller.

Speaking of maps I can't help but feel like there's some wasted potential in the lack of including dash tracks and grind rails. Hopefully we'll see the fun and unique gimmicks that set each map apart from the others like in the Wii U version through more maps that will later be released.

The game does have some flaws and there isn't much that will get you to play the game if you didn't like the first. But if you have a Switch and you're itching for some fun multiplayer then you should give Splatoon 2 a shot.