A whole new way to play online shooters- instead of shooting people, shoot the ground! You can't miss!

Splatoon should be the Wii U's best game. It's one of the most inventive, joyful, and vibrant shooters in years, bursting with energy a...

One of the most refreshing takes on the shooter in years; Its all (in Splatoon's own words) 'totes adorbs

There's just not enough game here; Discards genre convention with varying degrees of success; Gating content behind amiibo is gross

Excellent product, delivered quickly and packaged securely

Nintendo does a nice job of painting outside the lines with its own third-person shooter, but then muddles the final product with meager content, frustrating online design, and an unremarkable single-player offering. In some ways, Splatoon seems like it would be an ideal free-to-play game – especially with the rotating map selection and limited, straightforward matches – or perhaps a low-cost, multiplayer-only digital game. But by positioning it as a full boxed game instead (albeit a comparatively affordable one, at £29 from Amazon), Nintendo has made Splatoon's frustrations sting a little more than they otherwise might.

Fast-paced fun; Colourful aesthetic; Squid navigation;

Limited content; Irritating menus; So-so solo mode;

My 7 year old was asking for this game in the summer holidays, I got it for him on a pocket money basis, I hoped it would help us get through the holidays, I never realised that I would be so addicted to it, every time he plays I have to have a turn or 10!

Splatoon's world is bright, colourful and full of charm; pretty much the norm for a Nintendo game. It's also a lot of fun, as anyone who has played it will attest to. Nintendo have put their spin on

Super fun; Looks great; Superb sound

Threadbare Multiplayer; Archaic online structure; Short story mode

In a sea of rock-solid single-player Nintendo experiences Splatoon is a standout as being an utterly sublime multiplayer endeavour. Everything is knitted beautifully and seamlessly together to create what is quite simply some of the most fun you can have online.

Splatoon is a game about color. Color as a noun, color as a verb. If ever a game were alive with the joy of color itself, it's this one. Splatoon has been described, incorrectly, as Nintendo's first shooter.

Holistically rethinks the shooter..

...but locks some content behind hard-to-find amiibo