Splatoon

A fresh, creative take on the shooter genre built for people who don't usually like shooters, where claiming turf with colorful ink and the squid-swim mechanic create surprisingly deep, ever-shifting strategy backed by great style, music, and silky-smooth performance. The single-player Octo Valley campaign is short but fun. It is held back by a hard-to-track reticle, matchmaking imbalance, a thin launch feature set, and an inexcusable lack of substantial local multiplayer, but the core Turf War concept is so fun it nearly justifies the price alone.

ZP: core fun but anemic trappings.

Nintendo Life calls it the freshest shooter in years. Bold urban visual style, blisteringly fast loading times, excellent multiplayer maps, enjoyable offline modes as backup. Shows Nintendo can jump into the 21st century of online games. Final score held for launch verification.