Thirty seconds into Splatterhouse is enough to convince anyone it’s a title worthy of the macabre name. Almost immediately you character, a tall burly fellow by the name of Rick, is going to be completely saturated in blood, and the carnage seems to follow him in and out of every room. The new Splatterhouse played like a brawler, a satisfying beat ‘em up with all the bells and whistles of a modern interface.
Smashing guys in the face is always satisfying, but I found Splatterhouse’s mechanics to be particularly appealing. While I could simply mash buttons and string together small combos, it was much more advantageous to “charge” the attack with a very clever use of the analog stick. By rotating the stick around and then hitting a button, Rick would build toward a more powerful move to dispatch a greater number of enemies. Of course it arrives with the caveat of leaving you open to attack, but such is the life of a brawler.
Another particularly interesting (or stomach turning) feature was Splatterhouse’s take in dismemberment. While it’s not uncommon for Rick to literally rip guys apart, the same pratfall awaits Rick should he perform poorly in combat. At one point Rick lost an arm, which was fine, but then I picked it up and used it as a melee weapon. Yeah. I held my own severed arm and tried to attack people with it. That was after I used Rick’s regeneration power to absorb my foe’s energy and re-grow Rick’s own arm back, which was quite necessary because Rick is pretty lethargic with just one arm.
My demo was cut short by an underperforming demo unit, but I can’t say I had a bad time with Splatterhouse. The linearity and kill room/hallway gameplay could have been indicative of the entire experience, but if the package was kept as tight as it was in the demo then I don’t think there’s much cause for concern. Splatterhouse should be bloody good time (sorry, had to).
