Along with
their hit shooter, Splatoon 2, Nintendo also launched their highly anticipated Nintendo
Switch Online App. Since its announcement earlier in 2017, excitement,
speculation, and apprehensions had been surrounding the Switch Online App.
Well, on July 21st, critics and fans finally got their hands on the
app, and all of our fears about it became reality. The app just has so many
problems pertaining to how it handles in-game voice chat. However, it has to be
noted that it isn’t all bad. With the Switch Online App also came SplatNet 2,
which has been better than any of us could have imagined. Let’s jump into the
details of what makes this app both terrible and great all at the same time.
Voice Chat
Let’s get
the bad out of the way fist. When Nintendo announced the Nintendo Switch Online
App, it was assumed that the primary feature of it would be in-game voice chat.
Since day 1, Nintendo was met with ridicule over their proposed app, just because
it required an additional device to do what competitor’s built into their
systems. Many of us, though, gave Nintendo the benefit of the doubt and waited
to see what the app would be like upon release. Well, now that time is here,
and it is just as bad as any of us could have imagined. Does voice chat work
through the app? Yes. Does it work well? Absolutely. In fact, setting up
in-game voice chats is pretty easy and intuitive, and works pretty reliably. In
my experience with the app, the performance is not the problem, it’s the
execution. There are ridiculously unnecessary inconveniences that Nintendo has
forced upon their fans when using their app for voice chat.
The biggest
of the inconveniences, by far, is the fact the app must be open at ALL times,
or you will be disconnected from your chat party. This is infuriatingly
frustrating, as closing out of an app to do something as mindless as responding
to a text or googling a question is habit. Not only is not allowing players to
talk while the app is in the background inconvenient, but having to have the
screen on is a huge battery drainer! When you already have a system with less
than stellar battery life, the last thing you want to do is drain your phone
battery as well! These are the head pounding moments when we all just
simultaneously think, “Why, Nintendo?”
Like I
mentioned, the voice chat is not all bad. If you are willing to conform to all
of Nintendo’s bizarre demands and give your phone’s full attention to the app
as sacrifice, then everything else should run very smoothly, like any other
in-game party chat would. So, I have to give props to Nintendo for this. The
problems that the app have are infuriating as a consumer, but should be a
relatively easy fix down the road. This helps me to keep hope alive that this app
might become a viable choice for voice chat in the near future.
SplatNet 2
Now let’s
get to the good stuff, the really good stuff. SplatNet 2 is a companion service
for Splatoon 2, which is built into the Nintendo Switch Online App. While just
one singular part of the Switch app, SplatNet 2 feels like a full-fledged app
in it of itself. Honestly, all other video game companion apps should take note
of this. It is that good. Offering nearly all player stats for details such as
weapons used, game modes, wins and losses, etc… SplatNet 2 is any detail
oriented gamers dream come true. The Splatoon 2 companion also offers schedules
for upcoming maps/modes for turf war and ranked/league battles. This allows
players a way to keep an eye on a detailed schedule of when their favorite maps
and modes will be available without having to repeatedly turn on the game to
check. This has made Nintendo’s insistence on 2 hour long map/mode rotations
feel much less of a hassle and actually somewhat fun!
Small but
neat features can also be found in SplatNet 2. One such feature includes the
ability to enter an in app shop in order to purchase exclusive gear that is
instantly transferred to your in-game profile. The ability to compare your
lifetime ink coverage to real life landmarks is trivial, for sure, but helps to
give a greater sense of continuity to separate modes, matches, and gameplay
sessions. There is a ton of stuff to find in SplatNet 2. The amount of detail
you can find on individual stats is amazing, especially when coupled with the
small, aforementioned bonuses the service offers. This almost single handedly
excuses any mistakes Nintendo may have made with the Switch Online App, in my
opinion.
Verdict
While
Nintendo may have not hit a homerun with the voice chat side of their Switch
mobile app, it is still competent enough to function as viable option for
chatting with friends in game. There are no doubt huge hurdles within the app
that make the experience more of a burden than a pleasure, but at least it
seems to be a step in the right direction. Where the app really shines,
however, is with SplatNet 2. Offering detailed player and weapon stats, along
with adding charming bonuses, SplatNet 2 is the epitome of what a video game
companion app should be. While the app is not yet what it fully needs to be, I look
forward to where Nintendo will take it. Hopefully other online game companion
services, such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and ARMS, will come to the app in the
future. For now, I give the voice chat part of the app a 4 out of 10, and
SplatNet 2 a 9 out of 10. Therefore, I give the overall current experience on
the Nintendo Switch Online App a 6.5 out
of 10.
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