The game begins by dropping your car at the top of an active volcano. I obviously tried to drive the car straight into the lava, but the game FADES TO BLACK BEFORE YOU REACH THE HOT MOLTEN GOODNESS. What is the point of all the realistic graphics if I can't even melt my car???

A little while later, while driving through a cloud of kicked up dust, the commentator shouted "WOOOO RIGHT INTO THE EYE OF THE STORM!!" Gamers, I furrowed my brow so hard at him. It was a dust cloud! There is no eye! The eye is the calm area in the middle of a tornado or something, a phenomenon in which the center of the destructive force is the safest place to be! That doesn't apply to the current situation at all!

I generally try not to be a Surly Nitpicky Gamer Boy™, but a lot of big budget AAA games really do bring it out of me. I get it, it's very pretty and the cars go fast. But I finally tried Ridge Racer Type 4 a few months ago, and the cars in that 26-year-old game not only felt better to drive, but it had an actual visual identity that was beyond cool. This is just boring!

Octo Expansion was so much better.

The main story and Roguelike mode lacks any real meat. I'm honestly shocked at how barebones the experience feels with a lack of mission types and enemy variety. I'm honestly not sure how this took way longer to release than Octo Expansion. I definitely prefer the handcrafted levels Octo Expansion and the Splatoon 3 campaign had.

Pearl and Marina were awesome though (so much better than Deep Cut), and the music/aesthetic were great. Ending was peak as per usual with these Splatoon campaigns.

Honestly not the sendoff I wanted for Splatoon 3 considering how disappointed I've been with the title compared to Splatoon 2. That said Side Order is still worth it especially since a Roguelike mode brings something completely new to the table

EDIT: After 100% the DLC yeah this a super mediocre Roguelike with little difficulty, very disappointed. Also really no secret boss/level like Octo Expansion and Splatoon 3's campaign?