I went from being mildly excited for Splatoon 2 to
MAXIMUM HYPE OVERDRIVE. I need the new Hero Mode...
Need it!
I keep re-watching the trailer... And a few things continue to stand out:
- Everything seems more COLORFUL, with dramatic contrasts. This includes some shadowy levels where the colors truly POP as you grind rails, whizzing past snipers with laser sights or flying drones with searchlights. I know I keep talking about "colorful darkness" on this forum. Splatoon 2 really nails it.
- Everything is
weirder than before. Like, the Octarians were always wonderfully weird, but here, they're even WEIRDER. We see them popping out of holes in bowling bowls... Or squeezing out of square-shaped holes in a tower, now square-shaped themselves, like fish popping out of tuna cans... We even see a hefty one, scooting around on a comically undersized unicycle. They've fully embraced the bizarreness, and it's
beautiful!
- Everything seems more detailed, creating a stronger sense of place. Like for example, there's a full-blown beachfront property set on a bright blue sea with intricate boardwalks running along it. The world of Octo Valley is still abstract, but Splatoon 2 strikes a better balance, it seems, in terms of defining each stage's "personality" within it. This includes the great atmosphere in the dusky-looking stages.
- Everything seems more ACTION-PACKED. The super-sized geysers demolishing stacks of bowling balls; the rails you grind along while jumping and shooting; the rolled-up carpets you can shoot to unroll and flatten enemies; the Banzai Bill-esque missiles and snipers and gatling gunners all firing at the protagonist; the duels with the Octoling in ink-splattered black-light arenas.
It just looks FUN. And now that we have access to pretty much the full arsenal of weaponry (rather than just the Splattershot, or with the amiibo, the Roller and Charger), I think they'll create each more fun scenarios built around the many different play-styles available in this game. The variety should be pretty impressive this time around. Splatoon 1's Hero Mode was excellent, not overstaying its welcome but offering lots of bite-sized variety that was fun and replayable. I think Splatoon 2's Hero Mode will be
even better.