Splatterhouse (2010)

Recommend for fans of: Splatterhouse series (Obviously), Evil Dead series, & H.P. Lovecraft.

In the late 80s through the early 90s the Splatterhouse games were incredibly violent (for the time anyway) beat’em up sidescrollers with solid gameplay and interesting designs. Splatterhouse (2010) is a remake/reboot that tried and sadly failed to bring the cult classic series to the mainstream. Here is the Good, the Bad, and the Neutral:

Good

*Excessive Gore-I’ve played a lot of violent games but I’m pretty sure this is the most violent I’ve ever played and I’d be willing to bet it gives the “Mortal Kombat” franchise a run for it’s money.

*Rick Taylor-A likable protagonist caught in a bad situation who works as a good foil to the Terror Mask.

*Jim Cummings as the Terror Mask-Rick Taylor may be the protagonist, but the Terror Mask is the star of the game.

*Brutal Satisfying Combat

*Tons of Nods and Throwbacks to the Original Splatterhouse Trilogy

*Interesting Story

*The Original Splatterhouse Trilogy is Unlockable

*Diverse Level Design

*Dr. Henry West-At the beginning of the game West appears to be your atypical mad scientist villain, but in the later stages of the game is transformed into a rather tragic figure with whom the player sympathizes with.

Neutral

*Splatter Kills-These epic bloody QuickTime events are cool at first but after a while they get a little tiresome; the exception being the Boss Fight Splatter kills. On the other hand, completing one fills a slot on your blood meter which gives you an edge in combat so at the very least it’s advantageous to use these.

*Lackluster Platforming-Certain objects glow white to show Rick can jump on them and when this feature works it works, but when it doesn’t it can get a little frustrating.

*Boss Battles-While the majority of Boss Battles in the game aren’t bad per say, many of them don’t feel that challenging or that memorable. The ultimate disappointment is the Final Boss Fight if you can call it that, which amounts to fighting a couple waves of standard enemies and a QuickTime event. The two exceptions to this rule are Biggy Man and Mirror Rick. Both of them have great introduction sequences and are memorable not only for looking cool but for how their respective fights are quite varied in addition to great soundtrack blaring in their respective backgrounds.

*The Cliffhanger-This is neutral because while the game does leave room for a potential sequel, we’re unlikely to ever get one due to lackluster sales.

Bad

*Poorly Explained Mechanics/Bad Tutorials-Controls are so badly explained in the beginning if the game that even an experienced gamer like me died multiple times. The ability to heal isn’t even available to use until it is explained. I eventually gave into the frustration and started the game on easy mode and having finished that I’m confident I could play through normal mode with no problem, but the so called “Tutorials” were virtually no help.

*Long Load Times

While Splatterhouse (2010) is far from a perfect game, I have to say a lot of remakes/reboots could learn a very valuable lesson from this title. That lesson being a remake/reboot should capture the spirit of what made the original great in the first place and try to improve upon it. Gamers are continually amazed at how many remakes/reboots fail on both accounts. Splatterhouse (2010) was made for the fans and while it has some lingering problems due to its trouble development, this title is a love letter to the franchise that deserves to be rediscovered by fans and casual gamers alike.

Rating: ★★★