Nerdy, weakling college student Rick Taylor lies dying on the floor in the lobby of the massive West Mansion. His girlfriend Jennifer has been kidnapped (the plot of every beat-em-up ever) by the maniacal Doctor West. A mask topples out of a nearby sarcophagus, it speaks to him, promising an extension to his life, and, more importantly, revenge. Upon donning the mask, Rick is not transformed into a green-faced party animal in a yellow suit, but a muscle-bound raging hulk ready to take on any monsters the West Mansion has to offer. There's plenty of splatter, and plenty of house, so, if nothing else, it certainly lives up to the title.
Fortunately there IS a lot more to enjoy. Splatterhouse is probably the bloodiest game of all time and is a great beat-em-up, but it does begin to wither by your third play-through. The gameplay is very. very similar to that of Batman: Arkham Asylum, though nowhere near as polished. And a lot of Rick abilities are similar to that of Alex Mercer from Prototype. It's no secret that the game had a troubled production. Bottle Rocket Games was fired (and rendered defunct as a result) by Namco around early 2009, and it took Namco's in-house team nearly a year and a half to fill in the rest. The game still feels rushed and unfinished. The biggest problem lies with the fact that the game does not install to your PS3, but merely loads off the Blu Ray disc. This creates very, very long loading times that will REALLY drive you mad. Aside from that, you'll have an absolute ton of fun with Splatterhouse.
Pros:
Great script. Great dialogue/characters. Nude pictures of Jennifer. Lots of satisfying blood and gore. Contains the arcade version of the original Splatterhouse as well as Splatterhouse 2 and Splatterhouse 3, which were exclusive to the Mega Drive and extremely hard to come by. It's worth buying for these two alone.
Cons:
Extremely long loading times. Graphics are only in 720p. Some really cheap deaths (wouldn't be such a problem if it were not for the loading times). Seriously...the loading times are a killer. THIS GAME REALLY SHOULD HAVE INSTALLED ONTO THE PS3!!!
Graphics B Sound B Gameplay B Lasting Appeal B+
