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SPLATTERHOUSE REVIEW
10 years ago
Since this is the Halloween season I thought to I’d give you a review of the remake of the 1988 cult video game classic that came out 5 years ago on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 SPLATTERHOUSE.
The franchise was inspired by horror classics from the 70’s and 80’s such ‘Night of the Living Dead, The Deadly Spawn, Evil Dead, Poltergeist and of course Friday the 13th as the main characters mask looks an awful lot like Jason Voorhees in the 1st game though in this game he is more jacked up like the hulk. I wasn’t a fan of this design choice when I saw the back of the case in 2011 but the way the game play is and the way Rick kills enemy’s makes you understand why they went with this design.
Let’s begin with the story. It’s a twisted love story about Rick Taylor and his girlfriend Jennifer Willis who visits the mansion of Dr Henry West who is a parapsychologist and Jenny wants to write a school report about him (you’d think they’d find it suspicious that the doctor who studies the paranormal wanted to see them in a dark scary forest in the middle of the night but whatever plot convenience). Soon after they enter the mansion they soon discovery that the doctor has other plans other than a school report as Jennifer has been abducted by monsters and Rick is left for dead in a pool in his own blood, then comes the Terror Mask which offers his assistance if Rick puts him on and is willing to help Rick as long as Rick helps the mask in return.
At this point the game starts and you’re already introduced to the berserk mode at which point you’ll be invincible and anything around you is as the Terror Mask would say ‘FUCKED’ as he splashes there blood all over the screen though all that blood on screen is really distracting at times!
Speaking of the Terror Mask I’d like to point out that the voice actor is ‘Jim Cummings’ one of the most famous cartoon voice actors in America who has done roles such as ‘Darkwing Duck, Don Karnage (yea furry fans go nuts), Razoul from Disney’s Aladdin, Shreks Captain of the guards, Winnie the Pooh and Tiger too, the Ammunition gun shop owner in GTA 5 ect. He delivers a very stellar performance and show cases a more graphic and darker side to himself as he drops plenty of f-bombs, sadistic speech of how he loves his enemies mutilated and some sexual slander towards Rick’s girlfriend just to get on his nerve (reminds me of an ex friend of mine). Guess Jim’s releasing all the tension that builds up from working with the likes of Disney and such though at the time his kiddy side shows which kinda ruins the evil tone of the game. Guess he was chosen for a more comedic role as the Terror Mask where’s the text in the original games suggest that the Mask is more serious than funny (more on that later). The voice acting in general is excellent which really brings you into this games gory world.
Game play wise is pretty solid though it does explain game mechanics poorly so you’ll have to watch online playthroughs to get a head start on the game. There are also glitches, sounds issues, awkward platforming sections, camera angles and of course LOADING TIMES!!! Yes if you die during this game you’ll be stuck with a long 40 second loading screen with you just looking at in game animations of the monsters as you impatiently wait to get back into action and believe me with the bullshit moments that occur in this game you’ll be pretty sick of them after a while. This should not hinder your enjoyment though as once you understand the controls and get grips with the mechanics it becomes a solid action game that really grips you till the end.
Combat consists of light punch, heavy punch, jump grab, role, block, sprit, mask move modifiers which are enhanced versions of your normal attacks when you press the corresponding attack button and Left trigger for Xbox and L2 for Playstion and then there’s berserk mode for when you have 3 pints of blood in your blood meter or higher you can transform into more monstrous version of yourself which makes you invincible and will paint the walls red with your enemies BLOOD! Remember I mentioned this earlier about you being in berserk mode at the start well this is what that part was getting you ready for but unlike the 1st time you have a limited time to use it and when the blood meter reaches zero Rick will revert back to normal so you better kill the harder enemies on screen quickly or you’re in trouble. You can also use the blood meter to replenish your health by pressing Right Trigger and B on the Xbox 360 pad or L2 and circle together on the Playstation 3 pad. You fill the blood meter by just beating the holy hell out of your enemies, killing them and squishing bore worms you find in jars, boxes ect. The more blood in your blood bank the better off you’ll be. Another way to build up your blood meter is the Splatter kills. You’ll notice your enemies will have a green aura around them when they’re half dead and a glowing red aura indicating there nearly dead at which point you should press the grab button and you enter a quick time event where the background goes black and Rick will mutilate and tear apart his enemies in the most gruesome and yet satisfying way (I know that sounds cruel but in this game you build evil intentions when you die so many times). Also when you kill the tentacle headed monsters with the club arms during a Spaltter kill they sound like there saying ‘WOH OH’ and I think that’s a funny of saying ‘There fucked’ (fucks a popular word to say in this game BTW).
The music consists of groups such as ‘Lamb of God, Five Finger Death Punch, The Accused and my favourite ‘ASG’ who sing the end theme ‘Dream World’ and it really suits this games grim and violent atmosphere though when the game shifts into 2D platforming sections the music changes to 80’s style horror as a throwback to the 1st 2 Splatterhouse games (again more on that later)
The graphics are great with grim lighting effects and gruesome designs such as the blood soaked halls of the ‘Meat Factory’ to the creepy surroundings of the ‘Scream Park’ to the evil looking monsters you face. The human characters have a more exaggerated look to their designs like a cartoon unlike the digitized images in the 3rd game which made me believe that Namco would go for a more realistic look to the characters to suit the horror atmosphere of the game but in its own defence it creates a nice comic book look that makes the gory nature of this game more unique though at times the animation can be a bit choppy and some characters are too shiny and that can get very distracting.
The story is an excellent retelling of the 1st games story which gives more depth to the plot than the original. Elements like who are Rick and Jenny, who is Dr West, where the Terror Mask came from and who are the corrupted and other facts are explained through the games in game story and the journal of Dr Henry West where you unlock a page every 5 percent of the game you complete.
Another side quest is unlocking photo’s of Ricks girlfriend that are scattered throughout the game which as the playthroughs on You Tube say are too hot for You Tube as you often get revealing and nude shots of Ricks girl.
Even when you finish the main story you get added features such as the survival mode and as an added bonus for fans of the series the original 3 games that started it all bar Wampaku (‘naughty’ in Japanese) Graffiti which is a shame because as it was only on the Famicon/Nintendo in Japan and that would have been all 5 Splatterhouse games in one but I won’t lose sleep over it.
I actually played the 2nd game on the Mega Drive (or Genesis in America) 23 years ago from a video store called ‘Hurdy Gurdys’ which rented Mega Drive consoles at the time. Mortal Kombat was in the media in 1993 but this was the 1st time I saw blood in a console game (1st time I saw blood in a game was the arcade version of Golden Axe in 1989).
This game not only reunited me with the 1st graphic game I’ve ever played but also introduced me to the original arcade game from 1988 (only on the Turbo Graphics 16 game before hand) and the 3rd game which never came out in Europe (I’m Irish you see). That alone made purchase of this game essential for me and believe me even though these are old games and tame compared today’s games including the remake there still very gruesome and not for kids.
Gameplay for the 1st 2 games consist of 2D platform beat em up action as you fight your way through waves of gruesome monsters to save your characters girlfriend Jennifer. Remember when I said this game can have bullshit moments well the original games have worse ones from quirky jumps, awkwardly placed enemies and the fact the game brings you to the back to the start of the stage if you lose all your lives.
The 3rd game is no different for even though it plays more like Final Fight and Streets of Rage the enemies can often kill you with 2 hits and the fact you’re on a timer to determine what ending you get adds to the frustration and if you can’t do the spin kick or guts burst in monster Rick form (the origin of berserk mode) you’ll never finish this game. It would help if the game told you the moves as there very hard to find online though the spin kick as normal Rick is back forward attack and I think the guts burst as monster Rick is forward back forward attack but I’m not sure.
However this should not discourage you from purchasing this game especially if you’re a fan of this franchise or a fan of 70’s and 80’s horror movies, death metal, gore or an action fan altogether.
Final verdict, this is an excellent action game and fine tribute to Splatterhouse franchise with a few glaring issues but not big enough to prevent you from purchasing this game. Buy it because you’ll never get a better deal or another new Splatterhouse game any time soon.
Also don’t judge this game on what IGN said as obviously they only played this for 2 hours and gave up on it before getting the grips with the controls and mechanics.
If you want to hear the video that inspired me to get this watch ‘Happy Video Games Nerd’ review the 1st 3 games, a comparison to the Turbo graphics and arcade version of Splatterhouse and the remake which I’ve review on his page ‘Stopskeletons from fighting’
Here’s a link to his videos.
Spaltterhouse 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfkDRnuaYVw
Spaltterhouse 2 & 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E532ORgkTZM
Splatterhouse arcade vs Turbo Graphics 16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIJ5zrG8G44
Splatterhouse 2010 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpVmk9Hi-ek
The franchise was inspired by horror classics from the 70’s and 80’s such ‘Night of the Living Dead, The Deadly Spawn, Evil Dead, Poltergeist and of course Friday the 13th as the main characters mask looks an awful lot like Jason Voorhees in the 1st game though in this game he is more jacked up like the hulk. I wasn’t a fan of this design choice when I saw the back of the case in 2011 but the way the game play is and the way Rick kills enemy’s makes you understand why they went with this design.
Let’s begin with the story. It’s a twisted love story about Rick Taylor and his girlfriend Jennifer Willis who visits the mansion of Dr Henry West who is a parapsychologist and Jenny wants to write a school report about him (you’d think they’d find it suspicious that the doctor who studies the paranormal wanted to see them in a dark scary forest in the middle of the night but whatever plot convenience). Soon after they enter the mansion they soon discovery that the doctor has other plans other than a school report as Jennifer has been abducted by monsters and Rick is left for dead in a pool in his own blood, then comes the Terror Mask which offers his assistance if Rick puts him on and is willing to help Rick as long as Rick helps the mask in return.
At this point the game starts and you’re already introduced to the berserk mode at which point you’ll be invincible and anything around you is as the Terror Mask would say ‘FUCKED’ as he splashes there blood all over the screen though all that blood on screen is really distracting at times!
Speaking of the Terror Mask I’d like to point out that the voice actor is ‘Jim Cummings’ one of the most famous cartoon voice actors in America who has done roles such as ‘Darkwing Duck, Don Karnage (yea furry fans go nuts), Razoul from Disney’s Aladdin, Shreks Captain of the guards, Winnie the Pooh and Tiger too, the Ammunition gun shop owner in GTA 5 ect. He delivers a very stellar performance and show cases a more graphic and darker side to himself as he drops plenty of f-bombs, sadistic speech of how he loves his enemies mutilated and some sexual slander towards Rick’s girlfriend just to get on his nerve (reminds me of an ex friend of mine). Guess Jim’s releasing all the tension that builds up from working with the likes of Disney and such though at the time his kiddy side shows which kinda ruins the evil tone of the game. Guess he was chosen for a more comedic role as the Terror Mask where’s the text in the original games suggest that the Mask is more serious than funny (more on that later). The voice acting in general is excellent which really brings you into this games gory world.
Game play wise is pretty solid though it does explain game mechanics poorly so you’ll have to watch online playthroughs to get a head start on the game. There are also glitches, sounds issues, awkward platforming sections, camera angles and of course LOADING TIMES!!! Yes if you die during this game you’ll be stuck with a long 40 second loading screen with you just looking at in game animations of the monsters as you impatiently wait to get back into action and believe me with the bullshit moments that occur in this game you’ll be pretty sick of them after a while. This should not hinder your enjoyment though as once you understand the controls and get grips with the mechanics it becomes a solid action game that really grips you till the end.
Combat consists of light punch, heavy punch, jump grab, role, block, sprit, mask move modifiers which are enhanced versions of your normal attacks when you press the corresponding attack button and Left trigger for Xbox and L2 for Playstion and then there’s berserk mode for when you have 3 pints of blood in your blood meter or higher you can transform into more monstrous version of yourself which makes you invincible and will paint the walls red with your enemies BLOOD! Remember I mentioned this earlier about you being in berserk mode at the start well this is what that part was getting you ready for but unlike the 1st time you have a limited time to use it and when the blood meter reaches zero Rick will revert back to normal so you better kill the harder enemies on screen quickly or you’re in trouble. You can also use the blood meter to replenish your health by pressing Right Trigger and B on the Xbox 360 pad or L2 and circle together on the Playstation 3 pad. You fill the blood meter by just beating the holy hell out of your enemies, killing them and squishing bore worms you find in jars, boxes ect. The more blood in your blood bank the better off you’ll be. Another way to build up your blood meter is the Splatter kills. You’ll notice your enemies will have a green aura around them when they’re half dead and a glowing red aura indicating there nearly dead at which point you should press the grab button and you enter a quick time event where the background goes black and Rick will mutilate and tear apart his enemies in the most gruesome and yet satisfying way (I know that sounds cruel but in this game you build evil intentions when you die so many times). Also when you kill the tentacle headed monsters with the club arms during a Spaltter kill they sound like there saying ‘WOH OH’ and I think that’s a funny of saying ‘There fucked’ (fucks a popular word to say in this game BTW).
The music consists of groups such as ‘Lamb of God, Five Finger Death Punch, The Accused and my favourite ‘ASG’ who sing the end theme ‘Dream World’ and it really suits this games grim and violent atmosphere though when the game shifts into 2D platforming sections the music changes to 80’s style horror as a throwback to the 1st 2 Splatterhouse games (again more on that later)
The graphics are great with grim lighting effects and gruesome designs such as the blood soaked halls of the ‘Meat Factory’ to the creepy surroundings of the ‘Scream Park’ to the evil looking monsters you face. The human characters have a more exaggerated look to their designs like a cartoon unlike the digitized images in the 3rd game which made me believe that Namco would go for a more realistic look to the characters to suit the horror atmosphere of the game but in its own defence it creates a nice comic book look that makes the gory nature of this game more unique though at times the animation can be a bit choppy and some characters are too shiny and that can get very distracting.
The story is an excellent retelling of the 1st games story which gives more depth to the plot than the original. Elements like who are Rick and Jenny, who is Dr West, where the Terror Mask came from and who are the corrupted and other facts are explained through the games in game story and the journal of Dr Henry West where you unlock a page every 5 percent of the game you complete.
Another side quest is unlocking photo’s of Ricks girlfriend that are scattered throughout the game which as the playthroughs on You Tube say are too hot for You Tube as you often get revealing and nude shots of Ricks girl.
Even when you finish the main story you get added features such as the survival mode and as an added bonus for fans of the series the original 3 games that started it all bar Wampaku (‘naughty’ in Japanese) Graffiti which is a shame because as it was only on the Famicon/Nintendo in Japan and that would have been all 5 Splatterhouse games in one but I won’t lose sleep over it.
I actually played the 2nd game on the Mega Drive (or Genesis in America) 23 years ago from a video store called ‘Hurdy Gurdys’ which rented Mega Drive consoles at the time. Mortal Kombat was in the media in 1993 but this was the 1st time I saw blood in a console game (1st time I saw blood in a game was the arcade version of Golden Axe in 1989).
This game not only reunited me with the 1st graphic game I’ve ever played but also introduced me to the original arcade game from 1988 (only on the Turbo Graphics 16 game before hand) and the 3rd game which never came out in Europe (I’m Irish you see). That alone made purchase of this game essential for me and believe me even though these are old games and tame compared today’s games including the remake there still very gruesome and not for kids.
Gameplay for the 1st 2 games consist of 2D platform beat em up action as you fight your way through waves of gruesome monsters to save your characters girlfriend Jennifer. Remember when I said this game can have bullshit moments well the original games have worse ones from quirky jumps, awkwardly placed enemies and the fact the game brings you to the back to the start of the stage if you lose all your lives.
The 3rd game is no different for even though it plays more like Final Fight and Streets of Rage the enemies can often kill you with 2 hits and the fact you’re on a timer to determine what ending you get adds to the frustration and if you can’t do the spin kick or guts burst in monster Rick form (the origin of berserk mode) you’ll never finish this game. It would help if the game told you the moves as there very hard to find online though the spin kick as normal Rick is back forward attack and I think the guts burst as monster Rick is forward back forward attack but I’m not sure.
However this should not discourage you from purchasing this game especially if you’re a fan of this franchise or a fan of 70’s and 80’s horror movies, death metal, gore or an action fan altogether.
Final verdict, this is an excellent action game and fine tribute to Splatterhouse franchise with a few glaring issues but not big enough to prevent you from purchasing this game. Buy it because you’ll never get a better deal or another new Splatterhouse game any time soon.
Also don’t judge this game on what IGN said as obviously they only played this for 2 hours and gave up on it before getting the grips with the controls and mechanics.
If you want to hear the video that inspired me to get this watch ‘Happy Video Games Nerd’ review the 1st 3 games, a comparison to the Turbo graphics and arcade version of Splatterhouse and the remake which I’ve review on his page ‘Stopskeletons from fighting’
Here’s a link to his videos.
Spaltterhouse 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfkDRnuaYVw
Spaltterhouse 2 & 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E532ORgkTZM
Splatterhouse arcade vs Turbo Graphics 16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIJ5zrG8G44
Splatterhouse 2010 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpVmk9Hi-ek
