With a name like SplatterHouse, you’d be forgiven for thinking you can judge a video game by its cover. Well, you probably could in this case, but thankfully there’s also a lot more than meets the eye too. The story of SplatterHouse starts off very simple – you (Rick) are bleeding to death when a magical mask you put on heals your wounds, turns you into a super human and promises to help you rescue your girlfriend from the evil Dr.West. This is pretty much all you know about the story at first and yes I know it sounds pretty dumb, but I was surprised as I grew more and more worried about Rick’s girlfriend when the story was revealed throughout the game. I think it was very clever how they turned a story that I couldn’t care less about into something intense which really made draws you in. It also thoroughly explains why the deranged Dr.West would go through the trouble of stealing Rick’s girlfriend and creating his army of crazy inhuman monsters.
- “This is gonna get real messy real fast…”
This game is like your traditional hack and slasher, but what’s great is that they added a few twists to it. The game is hard if you have no idea what to do, but I guarantee that you will get the hang of it soon enough. Once you have the controls and combos in your head it’s quite easy to develop strategies to defeat the monsters and very creative bosses that come your way. Any gamer will have no trouble in picking up this game and getting 1000 gamer score, it’s that easy to get used to but trust me when I say this game can still give you a decent challenge. The ending in case you were wondering was not perfect, it brings up so many questions but also makes room for a sequel.
The game lives up to its name tenfold. It has more blood in it then I have ever seen in a video game (at least in Australia…). The look of the blood spread across the floor as your character swinging an enormous lead pipe is something that has to be seen. The bodies are pouring out blood especially when you use a finisher on them (if you have a weak stomach it’s better to look away). Whilst on the subject, the weapons in SplatterHouse are enormously big and just make it more fun to use them. All the weapons look pretty basic but are all very destructive never-the-less. The scenery, however, looks very dark and illuminating, setting the mood very well, not to mention areas with nothing but flesh all over the walls (nice and spooky). The thing that really stood out, though, was the cut-scenes. The cut-scenes were very well done and fluid in their execution, but I was blown away with the detail in the last few – they were some of the best I’ve ever seen in a video game, obviously Namco took their time to make the ’em memorable.
- “Well your a big fella aren’t ya?”
The one thing that sticks in your mind is the game’s awesome soundtrack. I don’t know if it’s just me but I love every single song in the game and I have listened to them countless times. They’re not only catchy but are perfect for this type of game – there’s nothing I love more than slashing up Zombies with a machete listening to heavy metal music. The sounds of the weapons are pretty cool too, I almost feel bad for the enemy when smacking them silly with a lead pipe because it really does sound painful. I have to say, though, my favorite character in this game has to be the Mask and that’s because of the voice actor (Jim Cummings). He does a terrific job playing the <ask and being an absolute maniac that just loves blood and carnage. He also has a sick sense of humor that made me burst out laughing even though the jokes were very dark. Jim Cummings did an excellent job bringing this Mask to life and adding more fun to the game. You better get used to it to because he is very talkative and will never shut up (that’s a good thing in my opinion).
One thing Namco did was pay homage to the older SplatterHouse games by changing to a side-scroller every now and again. Don’t worry though, it doesn’t take the fun out of the game – I found it even more fun watching all the bodies splat on the screen. It was a nice tribute to the ol’ school games and just goes to show that going back to basics can still be a fun experience. If you don’t own any of the older SplatterHouse games you’re in luck because this game comes will all 3 of the original SplatterHouse games as unlockables. They’re real easy to unlock and I’m sure everyone can agree with me that this is a very good deal, it is essentially 4 games in 1. Be ready for a challenge though because the previous games in the series are quite hard.
- “Something tells me he might be enjoying this a little too much…”
Personally, I was looking forward to this game all year and I am very happy to inform you that I was not let down. I’m sure that any hack-‘n’-slash gamer would love to get their hands on this and I strongly recommend it. It’s not perfect, no game is perfect but I think this game comes very close to it and I will remember it for many years to come.
