I'll start by saying that, more than anything, Splatoon was really the game that Nintendo needed in 2015. While it may not have pushed the Wii U sales-wise that much, it definitely felt like a fresh new title at a time when Nintendo was sort of stagnating both in terms of their console sales and their IPs.
Splatoon is definitely a very unique take on the shooter genre in general - one that manages to still pertain to Nintendo's overall style and 'family friendly' image. Splatoon takes the form of a sort of 'paintball' shooter where you take control of 'inklings' that can swim through paint of their respective color in 'squid' form and be able to use weapons in the 'kid' form (are you a kid or a squid haha).
The game's definitely more multiplayer-oriented, but there is still a singleplayer campaign you can play through if that's more your style. I decided to play through that before writing a review (and honestly just because I've wanted to get around to it at some point regardless lol), and while it isn't necessarily anything too special on it's own, it's definitely pretty fun at the very least. In each stage your goal is basically to follow a linear course where you save a Zapfish at the end, and the game does mix it up with a decent variety of stage mechanics such as the 'sponges' and propeller-driven blocks. It's pretty short, only clocking in at 27 stages and 5 bosses, which takes maybe a few hours to complete, but I think it makes for a good tutorial of Splatoon's gameplay and mechanics as well as the different types of stage mechanics in multiplayer. You also get the ability to upgrade your weapons and gear within this mode by collecting Power Eggs that are sprinkled throughout each stage and the 'Sunken Scrolls' which establish the lore and history behind the world of Splatoon. It doesn't necessarily offer a huge amount of replay value, but I think what's there is decent enough as a singleplayer offering in a multiplayer-oriented game.
On that note, the multiplayer aspect divides eight players into 2 teams of 4 and offers a few different modes. I've pretty much described the 'core' of Splatoon's gameplay, and again - it's definitely pretty unique and even fun. There's a really good amount of customization here with the different weapons you can purchase with the in-game currency which you obtain from playing matches, adding a lot of replayability into the multiplayer with weapons having different attributes and even entirely different playstyles.
That being said Nintendo notoriously is bad with online multiplayer so there's bound to be a few caveats and... well, I definitely have some criticisms. On the more minor side, there's the lack of communication options which is definitely pretty important in a team-based game like this one. I can understand why Nintendo wouldn't want to put voice chat in a more family-friendly game like this one (i mean i've definitely heard my fair share of shit in pretty much every online PC game i've played lmao), but I can't help but feel like they could have at least done a bit more than just having "C'mon" and "Booyah!" I mean, come on, this was on the Wii U, surely they could have put a few more communication options, especially with how vague those are. They did change one of the signals in Splatoon 2 to "This way!" which is more helpful but... yeah.
But my biggest criticism of this game from a multiplayer standpoint is that I've never been a huge fan of how this game 'rotates' it's game modes. What I mean is, the game offers only one 'Ranked' game mode to play that changes on a daily basis with two corresponding maps - which basically means that if there's a certain game mode I like playing, and want to keep playing, but it's not the one that the game chose for the day, I'm basically at a loss until the game selects it as the game mode for the day.
And keep in mind, I said "Ranked" game modes there. If you don't like Ranked/competitive gameplay, you're arguably at an even bigger loss as the game's Unranked mode, 'Regular Battles' only offers one game mode - Turf War - and the only thing rotating on a daily basis being the two maps you can play on. I'm gonna be honest - this always made Splatoon feel sort of limited to me in terms of gameplay variety as you're basically stuck playing certain modes and maps on a daily basis and you're not really given any options to play anything other than what the game's algorithm selected for the day. I won't lie, I got into this particular game way later than others did (I didn't own a Wii U until 2018 when I bought it off the used market), and this still being the first Splatoon game I played, I actually just thought Turf War being the only mode playable in Regular Battle was just a result of the game being out of active support... but no, it was the same case when I bought Splatoon 2 on sale, and it was the same case when I got Splatoon 3 for Christmas last year. I... really don't understand this gameplay decision - maybe I'm just too used to Overwatch's method of having the mode/map rotate on a per-game basis in Quick Play or Comp or just other multiplayer shooters giving you the option to select whatever modes you want to play - but why certain other game modes are locked behind ranked on top of being rotated out daily was always kind of a weird move that causes the game to feel sort of repetitive fairly quickly imo.
The game modes themselves are still generally pretty fun though. Despite my criticisms of the other modes being locked behind Ranked, I will say that Turf War does make the most sense to be the one that's mainly available in the Unranked mode - it's easy enough for anyone to learn and understand the gameplay through, and it can get pretty engaging with each team fighting for the most ink splattered (especially as you get towards the middle of each stage). Tower Control is an interesting combination of the 'Payload' mode from TF2 with the more traditional 'King of the Hill' style modes from other multiplayer shooters, Rain Maker is a good spin on Capture the Flag type gameplay, and Splat Zones.. isn't too interesting, just kinda being a more traditional King of the Hill/Control Points style mode, but it's fun for what it is. Obviously later games would introduce more game modes but that's a different discussions for another time.
Overall, what else can I say other than Splatoon being a really unique and refreshing IP that Nintendo was kind of in need of in the time. Admittedly there isn't a whole lot of a reason to going back to the original Wii U game (other than the campaign which even then, while fun, isn't that much to write home about) unless you're still one of those people who only has a Wii U and not a Switch, as the multiplayer gameplay is more or less the same in later games with more game modes and more support, but I did enjoy going back to my Wii U and just re-experiencing this first entry after playing the later titles for some time.
Splatoon is definitely a very unique take on the shooter genre in general - one that manages to still pertain to Nintendo's overall style and 'family friendly' image. Splatoon takes the form of a sort of 'paintball' shooter where you take control of 'inklings' that can swim through paint of their respective color in 'squid' form and be able to use weapons in the 'kid' form (are you a kid or a squid haha).
The game's definitely more multiplayer-oriented, but there is still a singleplayer campaign you can play through if that's more your style. I decided to play through that before writing a review (and honestly just because I've wanted to get around to it at some point regardless lol), and while it isn't necessarily anything too special on it's own, it's definitely pretty fun at the very least. In each stage your goal is basically to follow a linear course where you save a Zapfish at the end, and the game does mix it up with a decent variety of stage mechanics such as the 'sponges' and propeller-driven blocks. It's pretty short, only clocking in at 27 stages and 5 bosses, which takes maybe a few hours to complete, but I think it makes for a good tutorial of Splatoon's gameplay and mechanics as well as the different types of stage mechanics in multiplayer. You also get the ability to upgrade your weapons and gear within this mode by collecting Power Eggs that are sprinkled throughout each stage and the 'Sunken Scrolls' which establish the lore and history behind the world of Splatoon. It doesn't necessarily offer a huge amount of replay value, but I think what's there is decent enough as a singleplayer offering in a multiplayer-oriented game.
On that note, the multiplayer aspect divides eight players into 2 teams of 4 and offers a few different modes. I've pretty much described the 'core' of Splatoon's gameplay, and again - it's definitely pretty unique and even fun. There's a really good amount of customization here with the different weapons you can purchase with the in-game currency which you obtain from playing matches, adding a lot of replayability into the multiplayer with weapons having different attributes and even entirely different playstyles.
That being said Nintendo notoriously is bad with online multiplayer so there's bound to be a few caveats and... well, I definitely have some criticisms. On the more minor side, there's the lack of communication options which is definitely pretty important in a team-based game like this one. I can understand why Nintendo wouldn't want to put voice chat in a more family-friendly game like this one (i mean i've definitely heard my fair share of shit in pretty much every online PC game i've played lmao), but I can't help but feel like they could have at least done a bit more than just having "C'mon" and "Booyah!" I mean, come on, this was on the Wii U, surely they could have put a few more communication options, especially with how vague those are. They did change one of the signals in Splatoon 2 to "This way!" which is more helpful but... yeah.
But my biggest criticism of this game from a multiplayer standpoint is that I've never been a huge fan of how this game 'rotates' it's game modes. What I mean is, the game offers only one 'Ranked' game mode to play that changes on a daily basis with two corresponding maps - which basically means that if there's a certain game mode I like playing, and want to keep playing, but it's not the one that the game chose for the day, I'm basically at a loss until the game selects it as the game mode for the day.
And keep in mind, I said "Ranked" game modes there. If you don't like Ranked/competitive gameplay, you're arguably at an even bigger loss as the game's Unranked mode, 'Regular Battles' only offers one game mode - Turf War - and the only thing rotating on a daily basis being the two maps you can play on. I'm gonna be honest - this always made Splatoon feel sort of limited to me in terms of gameplay variety as you're basically stuck playing certain modes and maps on a daily basis and you're not really given any options to play anything other than what the game's algorithm selected for the day. I won't lie, I got into this particular game way later than others did (I didn't own a Wii U until 2018 when I bought it off the used market), and this still being the first Splatoon game I played, I actually just thought Turf War being the only mode playable in Regular Battle was just a result of the game being out of active support... but no, it was the same case when I bought Splatoon 2 on sale, and it was the same case when I got Splatoon 3 for Christmas last year. I... really don't understand this gameplay decision - maybe I'm just too used to Overwatch's method of having the mode/map rotate on a per-game basis in Quick Play or Comp or just other multiplayer shooters giving you the option to select whatever modes you want to play - but why certain other game modes are locked behind ranked on top of being rotated out daily was always kind of a weird move that causes the game to feel sort of repetitive fairly quickly imo.
The game modes themselves are still generally pretty fun though. Despite my criticisms of the other modes being locked behind Ranked, I will say that Turf War does make the most sense to be the one that's mainly available in the Unranked mode - it's easy enough for anyone to learn and understand the gameplay through, and it can get pretty engaging with each team fighting for the most ink splattered (especially as you get towards the middle of each stage). Tower Control is an interesting combination of the 'Payload' mode from TF2 with the more traditional 'King of the Hill' style modes from other multiplayer shooters, Rain Maker is a good spin on Capture the Flag type gameplay, and Splat Zones.. isn't too interesting, just kinda being a more traditional King of the Hill/Control Points style mode, but it's fun for what it is. Obviously later games would introduce more game modes but that's a different discussions for another time.
Overall, what else can I say other than Splatoon being a really unique and refreshing IP that Nintendo was kind of in need of in the time. Admittedly there isn't a whole lot of a reason to going back to the original Wii U game (other than the campaign which even then, while fun, isn't that much to write home about) unless you're still one of those people who only has a Wii U and not a Switch, as the multiplayer gameplay is more or less the same in later games with more game modes and more support, but I did enjoy going back to my Wii U and just re-experiencing this first entry after playing the later titles for some time.