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Lateral thinking with seasoned technology. It's a philosophy established by Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi, and one that you can attribute much of Nintendo's success to. It turns out it's a philosophy that's just as potent when it comes to software. Splatoon takes the somewhat tired premise of an online shooter and, with a little creativity and large, literal splashes of colour, makes for a shooter that's bursting with potential. Splatoon doesn't look like a shooter, of course, and it does everything it can to fool you into thinking it isn't one. There's violence, but it's firmly of the cartoon variety - playing competitively in Splatoon is only ever as menacing as taking part in a food fight that's gotten slightly out of hand. There's that colour, too, liberally sloshed around each map as teams lay claim to territories - and it's by staking territory that you win or lose matches, rather than through the number of scalps you've claimed.
Look beyond that, though, and there are cute little spins on shooter staples: there are toy town takes on grenades, sniper rifles and shotguns, there are unlockables, perks and load-outs tied into your progression and, although Splatoon's coy about it, there are even super-weapons that act like kill-streak rewards, allowing players who are excelling on the battlefield - or simply those able to stay alive long enough - to briefly unlock an exquisite new toy.
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