- New Modes
The best new mode is called Salmon Run. It isn’t always available, but it rewards players with many of Splatoon 2’s new goodies. One such reward is ability chunks, you can get 2 or 4 of the same one per bonus. Another reward is exclusive gear. This gear can have 1 or 3 abilities set to it. If you get duplicate gear, it can be traded in for cash, or if it has those abilities, for 1 or 3 chunks, usually different. Drink tickets and meal tickets (meal tickets enhance experience or cash rewards for playing online matches) are also rewards. The last reward available is a large amount of cash, which is naturally helpful.
Salmon run sends four players to fight off hordes of computer controlled “salmonids”. In the process, players must gather golden eggs dropped by the boss salmonids, which have to be fought in a certain way. There is a quota of golden eggs to place in the basket.
Salmon Run gives each player one of four preset weapons. Since Salmon Run isn’t always available, the weapons change each time this mode shows up. Each shift features three waves of enemies to fight off. Each wave give the player a different weapon of the four preset options. The players have 100 seconds per wave to survive and meet the egg quota.
The points you get aren’t direct rewards. Gathering enough points per shift will give you bonuses that translate to rewards. You get rewarded for every 100 points, though it should be noted that after 1200 points for the cycle will require more points to get more rewards.
This mode is a blast. Since you are only cooperating in this mode, the worst thing any player can do is not play at all, or intentionally playing very poorly. Oddly, there are players that do this from time to time, but it is a rare occasion. Other methods of inducing grief on specific players are essentially removed, making it much easier to enjoy this mode over others.
There is a new ranked mode as well, called Clam Blitz. This mode is sort of similar to basketball, where you have to score by throwing clams into the opponents’ basket. To do this, one player needs to gather 10 clams, which becomes a power clam (it looks like an american football for some reason). This clam must be thrown into the opposing basket to break it open. When this happens, that team scores 20 points, and smaller clams can be thrown in for a brief amount of time. Each small clam scores 3 points and extends the time that more clams can be thrown in. Only one team can score at a time. Both teams must score 100 points to win. If time runs out, the team with the most points win. Overtime occurs when the losing team has at least one power clam on the field.
This mode is tricky to master, as it requires a lot of team coordination. There are also more steps required to score when comparing Clam Blitz to other modes. Long stalemates, and only one team successfully scoring is pretty common here. This may be many players’ least favorite mode to play, though I’m sure some players appreciate the unique way this mode works with Splatoon’s core game play.
So, without giving more minor details on specific differences between the two games, these are the main game play differences between Splatoon 1 and Splatoon 2. In general, I’d say the sequel is the better of the two games. Neither game is perfect for the type of game it is, there certainly are some quirks to online play (such as only 2 maps per mode that changes every 2 hours) that the game should improve on, but overall I feel there is enough here to keep a player entertained for quite a while. Hopefully this article has been enlightening.
So those are my comparisons of Splatoon 1 and Splatoon 2. Was there something I needed to add? Which of the two games do you prefer and why? What would you like to see in a possible new Splatoon game? Let me know in the comments below!
that's all games 