Splatterhouse

Developed By: Namco Bandai Games

Playable on: Xbox 360 & Playstation 3

When I think of exploitation movies, there are two things that I hope are in abundance: tits and gore. At its core, Splatterhouse is definitely an exploitation title because two things are prominent: tits and gore.

Splatterhouse is a reboot of a 1988 side scrolling arcade game of the same name. Splatterhouse tells the story of Rick and his girlfriend Jennifer. Jennifer has an interview with Dr. West (Re-Animator anybody?), a professor of Necrobiology. Rick decides to tag along and once they arrive in Dr. West’s mansion, they are attacked by some of Dr. West’s experiments. Jennifer is kidnapped and Rick is mortally wounded. As he lies dying, Rick notices a mask that tells him that if he puts it on, it can help him save Jennifer. When Rick puts on the mask, named The Terror Mask, he is transformed into a giant Jason Voorhees/Hulk rip off.

Splatterhouse is a beat em up platformer that occasionally has some cool throwback 2D side scrolling segments. The majority of the combat is hand to hand combat and weapons, such as meat cleavers and my favorite, shotguns, can be picked up. All attacks can be linked together in combos, which felt very fluid, and after an enemy is killed, Rick collects their blood. The blood obtained from fallen enemies can then be used to buy upgrades for Rick. Some examples of upgrades include parts for a larger health meter or more combos to punish the undead creatures that roam around Dr. West’s mansion. Upgrades carry over to new games to justify playing through the game multiple times.

Another addition to the combat is Berserker mode. In Berserker mode, Rick turns into a monster himself, everything turns white, with the exception of the monster’s blood, as even more is spilled at this time, and Rick’s attacks become more powerful. Getting kills in Berserker mode is extremely gratifying. However, Berserker mode only lasts for a very limited time.

The writing dialogue was quite good. Rick and the Terror Mask have some pretty funny exchanges. Rick comes off as this humble guy trying to save his girlfriend, but the Terror Mask knows what kind of power he possesses and is not afraid to throw around the “F” word or make dick jokes.

Like many other games, Splatterhouse is littered with collectibles, allowing the gamer to go look for them if he or she decides to do so. These collectibles come in the form of torn pictures. Once all the pieces are found, they make a nude or semi-nude picture of Jennifer. I am a very linear game player, I just want to run through a stage as fast as I can, not go on some collectible looking side mission. However, I looked high and low in Dr. West’s mansion looking for the pieces of Jennifer’s pictures.

Another element that I thought made Splatterhouse unique was the soundtrack. Some bands on the track listing include: Five Finger Death Punch, Mastodon, and Lamb of God. I would never listen to any of these bands on my own time, but decapitating and disemboweling various monsters to these bands felt very fitting.

One fond memory of my childhood is playing video games on my Sega Genesis and one of my favorite games to play was Splatterhouse 2. Included on the disc, unlocked by playing through the story mode, is the entire Splatterhouse trilogy, complete in all there uncut gory glory. Having all three of the original Splatterhouse games on the disc was the biggest selling point for me.

Splatterhouse is not without its faults. My biggest complaint is its load times. Even with the game installed to my hard drive, some load times lasted up to a minute and a half or two. Some of the side scrolling segments were hard for me, so it was common for me to die, and to have to wait such a long period of time to try again just felt like insult to injury.

Level design also felt very uninspired and it feels like the development team stuck to a very strict color palette of reds and blacks. I was also disappointed in the small number of different creature designs. As you progress through the game, it feels like you are fighting the same monsters through the same stage. However, some of the boss battles were really cool, specifically the final boss fight.

When we watch exploitation movies, we turn the other way with bad acting, plot holes, and sometimes bad dubbing. If can look the other way with slightly repetitive gameplay, horrendous load times, and semi-bad level design, I recommend you check out Splatterhouse. It just may become your new guilty pleasure.

7 out of 10
Trailer for Splatterhouse: