Splatoon 2 Salmon Run E3 2017 Impressions

Splatoon 2 was one of the many games I got to play while at the Nintendo press area during E3 2017 and it was a blast. I missed out on the first Splatoon game always hearing great things and am currently quite excited for the second one. What I got to play here was a special behind the scenes sort of demo where I worked with a team to take out enemy squids and other creatures. I hope I got that mostly right as they were saying some distinct names and not coming from a well versed knowledge of the lore I didn't quite get it all. That being said, I know shooters and games very well so I didn't feel out of place.

The demo was designed for four players to work together against the AI in a PVE environment. We went in with three players and I was told that it would be very hard to do, we really didn't have any trouble doing so. I did get downed a couple times as did another member of the team so we just revived each other. It was actually a lot of fun as we strategically splashed areas for fast travel and worked together to tackle enemy creatures. The general goal we had was collecting balls and then placing them within a container to win the waves. The waves continued to get harder and it was a fun challenge to take on.



Splatoon 2 looks really good on the Nintendo Switch and we were playing it with the undocked option since the four little Switches were packed together in a corner. This was also to show the controller based gyro controls where you aim by moving the controller. It honestly made me feel a bit motion sick, but you're apparently better once you get used to using them. You can also apparently turn them off and the same option works for when you use the Nintendo Switch Pro controller.

Aside from bright colors and a beautiful water dock the game felt good. The shooting aspects work well and the AI put up a challenge. There was also a variety of them to battle over the waves and honestly I had a good time playing it. Horde modes are certainly fun to play with a group and the Salmon Run seems to fill that need well. I'm looking forward to Splatoon 2 as it looks like one of the best Nintendo Switch games for the type of gamer I am. There will be a full single player campaign, competitive multiplayer and of course this cooperative mode as well.

Read our Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle Preview (E3 2017)
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