It’s great to see a franchise as old as Splatterhouse get a reboot. I spent a while today with the playable E3 demo and while I wasn’t quite blown away, I can confidently say I’m looking forward to playing through this one later this year.
So the premise in Splatterhouse is that your girlfriend is kidnapped and with the help of this strange talking mask, you are given the power to fight through hordes of demons and other gory enemies. I’m confident the story will be deeper than that, but that’s what I got out of it at this point.
Anyway, in the demo I played the combat was all brutal melee. Quick and powerful fist attacks along with throws were the main methods of attack, yielding tremendous amounts of blood and gore. The name couldn’t be more fitting as this is one bloody game.
I really couldn’t tell where I was in the story or even what type of building I was in. It had sort of a warehouse/industrial feel to it, with lots of small, swarming creatures to pummel around. The controls were alright, but they didn’t seem completely polished, which is understable at this point. I also could not make out any solid combos or special attacks or abilities, but those could certainly be something added later or possibly something I missed.
Graphically, Splatterhouse has a cel-shaded look to it. This gives things a certain visceral gloss or sheen to it that works well for the organic look that the game is going for.
All in all this is looking like a pretty good reboot of a classic old TurboGrafx title. I don’t forsee it winning any game of the year awards but it’s certainly worth a look for third person action fans.
###
