When comparing Splatoon 2 vs Overcooked 2, the Slant community recommends Splatoon 2 for most people. In the question“What are the best party games for the Nintendo Switch?” Splatoon 2 is ranked 8th while Overcooked 2 is ranked 14th. The most important reason people chose Splatoon 2 is:
Most modern shooters are all about lethal weaponry, gore, death, and getting the most kills, but Splatoon 2 steps away from this formula. You use paint guns and brushes to color the map and the opponents, but it's never about going just after the opponents. Even if you manage to take someone out, they're never killed, but turned into paint, which is a natural defense mechanism of the game's playable race – the inklings. As a result, Splatoon 2 is a friendly, but at times highly competitive, battle that's well-suited to any member of your family.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Family-friendly shootouts
Most modern shooters are all about lethal weaponry, gore, death, and getting the most kills, but Splatoon 2 steps away from this formula. You use paint guns and brushes to color the map and the opponents, but it's never about going just after the opponents. Even if you manage to take someone out, they're never killed, but turned into paint, which is a natural defense mechanism of the game's playable race – the inklings. As a result, Splatoon 2 is a friendly, but at times highly competitive, battle that's well-suited to any member of your family.
Pro Highly accessible team-based gameplay
Even though Splatoon 2 rewards skillful play, having accurate aim is not as important as it is in most third-person shooters. This is mostly because it's a game about territory control, requiring you to recolor areas of the map to win, so you can contribute to your team's victory by just shooting the ground and walls, which is something most players can do without any practice. As a result, Splatoon 2 can be more accessible and less stressful for beginners and players that aren't very good at aiming, making the gameplay more enjoyable in the long run.
Pro A really fun co-op mode
Splatoon 2 has its own horde mode called Salmon Run, where you and up to 4 other players fight off waves of Salmons while collecting their golden eggs. It's fairly challenging, requiring you to properly utilize your weapons, learn salmon types and their abilities, and understand how to best cooperate to survive till the end. This can lead you to a lot of intense, sometimes unfortunate, and sometimes even funny moments throughout a match that might keep you wanting for more.
Pro Excellent for short play sessions
Each multiplayer match in Splatoon 2 lasts only about 3 minutes, with about 1 minute of wait time between each match. This can be very useful in cases when you have some spare time, but can't afford to play a long match. It's a nice change in an era dominated by competitive multiplayer games that force you to commit more than 30 minutes per match.
Pro Great multiplayer level design
While all multiplayer levels have gorgeous visuals, featuring very detailed urban landscapes, their most noteworthy aspect is their adequate size. They're just large enough that a match doesn't feel like a claustrophobic shootout that ends in less than a minute. And they're small enough that you encounter opponents very often, reducing time you spend purely on running to get back into action. It's a design choice that keeps the gameplay focused in most cases, making it a more enjoyable experience as a whole.
Pro Simple to pick up and learn
Whether you played the first Overcooked or not, Overcooked 2 is easy to figure out right from the get-go. The recipes for each dish are familiar even if you're not much of a chef, so you can remember which raw ingredients you need as you make your way around the kitchen and work with your co-op partner(s). Once you play a few rounds, you should have a good handle on things, helping you focus on getting everything done as quickly as possible from there on out.
Pro Hilariously fun couch and online co-op for up to four players
Playing Overcooked 2 with friends is the best. There's so much going on at once in the kitchen, with barriers moving in your way, hazards popping up like cars in the middle of the road separating the two halves of your area, and ingredients, dishes, and half-prepared dishes to move from one place to another. Working together and communicating with your friends through couch co-op or online play is a constant stream of laughter and excited shouting as you mess up, learn, and hopefully get things done. If you don't have anyone to play with, then you can hop online for matchmaking instead.
Pro Fast and frantic cooking action
Overcooked 2 is really fast-paced and keeps you on your toes. You play as a chef in a crazy kitchen with a ton of things going on all at once, with you mixing, preparing, and cooking in between the chaos of moving platforms and environmental obstacles. There's a time limit constantly ticking down at the bottom of the screen; finishing your tasks on time or ahead of schedule earns you a better score in the end. Tossing ingredients to your teammates across the kitchen, or across the moving platforms or obstacles like bodies of water, is a fresh new addition in this game that wasn't in the first Overcooked, making things even faster this time around. It's such a manic yet well-done mix of many different genres and ideas that all come together in the best ways.
Cons
Con The horde mode is on a schedule
Despite being the most popular multiplayer mode in Splatoon 2, Salmon Run is on a schedule, sometimes having gaps of up to 2 days between each appearance. It's not as bad as it was upon release, but it can still be quite aggravating when you can't play Salmon Run when you finally have the time for it.
Con Can be incredibly frustrating
Trying to work at such a fast pace with so many obstacles and general mayhem going on at once can wear on you after a while. There's a lot to keep track of at once, and it's easy for things to spiral out of control as your mistakes pile up. If your group isn't doing well and you're running out of time, you might find yourself losing your patience with your team and yelling at them. This might not be the game for you if you don't have a team that's willing to be patient and cooperative with each other, even when you're not doing so well during a particular round.
Con Single-player isn't as fun as co-op
If you only want to play alone, then Overcooked 2 might not be the best game to pick. All the fast-paced fun from co-op mostly comes from communicating with your team and trying to pull off your task together before the time runs out. You control two characters at once while playing alone, but this still lacks the team-based chaos that makes the game so addicting. You could instead go online for matchmaking, though you might get paired with people who don't want to talk or work as an actual team.
Con The controls are a bit sluggish
There's something about the controls that feels heavy and deliberate, and not necessarily in a good way. The feeling goes against the fast-paced nature of the gameplay that demands you in one place and then the next. If you played the first Overcooked, you may notice the difference right away. This change shouldn't be too much of a hassle, though it's still noticeable.