Nintendo brought its new IPs at Gamescom
Despite the huge wait for Nintendo’s games during Gamescom, I managed to play two of the titles that sparked my interest, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker and Splatoon. Both of these games were really fun new IPs. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Sonic Boom which I also got to “experience”, but that is best left forgotten.
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
My initial thought about this was “A Nintendo platformer that doesn’t have Mario?” However, in reality Captain Toad is more of a puzzle game than a platformer. The game looks phenomenal, which can mainly be contributed to the art style, as everything looks absolutely adorable. The tiny 3D worlds feel more like you a playing with toys than a video game.
The controls couldn’t be simpler, you move Toad with the left analog stick, interact with the A button and run with the B button. The twist is that here is no jump button so you have to use the level in order to get around.
The demo had 4 different levels, each vastly different from the last. This did leave an impression that Captain Toad Treasure Tracker was more like a minigame collection, as I still haven’t grasped what will be the meat and potatoes of this title. Still they all require you to maneuver through the level to collect a star at the end.
The first stage serves as an introduction and requires for you just to reach the start at the end. All the levels are structured like the inside of a cube. The way you can rotate the camera around the whole stage and walk behind objects reminds me of FEZ where you can rotate the camera around the whole stage. You can use the touchscreen in order to hold enemies and pass by obstacles.
The second stage had you exclusively using the Wii U Controller. Toad rides in a minecart while you aim using the controller in first person, playing out like an on-rails shooter. While nothing really kills you here you can miss out on a few goodies if you aren’t fast enough.
The third boss-like stage had Toad climbing to the top of a volcano while a huge dragon constantly throws fireballs at Toad. You need to hide behind object in order to survive.
The final stage available in the demo was a haunted house. Here you used the touchscreen to move doors around. When you enter one door you exit through another, so you must use this in order to reach the top of the mansion. There are Boos that follow you around, but you can make them freeze in their tracks once you illuminate them with your flashlight.
All the stages are extremely short, taking just a few minutes to beat. Still there are hidden collectibles and secrets in each forcing you to play through them multiple times.
Splatoon
I already covered Splatoon before, but this is the first time I tried the game for myself. It’s a lot of messy fun. Splatoon is filled with constant back and forth action, as you never really know if you are winning or losing. Even if your team is leading all it takes is a single kill to lose a lot of paint covered territory.
The controls make use of the Wii U’s motion controls as you aim up and down exclusively by point up or down with the controller. Aiming left and right can be done both with motion controls and the left analog stick. This takes a lot of getting used to as many times I outright forgot how to aim up and down within all the chaotic action.
The game has a very arcade-like feel, as matches last just a couple of minutes but feel like a blast to play over and over again. While in the end my team lost both rounds I still got a cool consolation prize. In the end Splatoon is and interesting game, one that I can’t wait to try again.
On a side note, I also got to try out Sonic Boom on the Wii U and 3DS.
Poor Sonic…
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