Definitely not a game for everyone, but for those willing, Splatterhouse is deep, brutal fun.
Rick Taylor, a University slacker, may have had the worst day ever. A planned visit to an old manse belonging to self-proclaimed necrobiologist Dr. Henry West goes horribly awry after his girlfriend Jennifer Willis (whom he was about to surprise with a marriage proposal) is violently abducted, leaving him struggling in a pool of his own blood and inching closer to his seemingly inevitable death. A broken sarcophagus reveals the existence of a strange mask from an ethereal dimension---a profanity-spitting artifice that immediately communicates with our hero through extrasensory means. Known as the Terror Mask, it promises to save Rick's life by granting him enormous power capable of defeating the horrific monstrosities and the necrobiologist holding Jennifer captive. In return, Rick must satisfy the Terror Mask's inconscinable lust for blood by tearing his enemies limb from limb using any means necessary and letting the mask drink gleefully of its contents. Upon placing the Terror Mask on his face, Rick enters into a bloody contract; transforming his puny frame into a hulking mutated cross between Jason Voorhees and Lou Ferrigno. Together, both he and the Terror Mask must cut through ungodly abominations big and small, travel through interdimensional worlds found in the expanse of the West manse, save Jennifer from a horrific fate and terminate Dr.West with extreme, violent prejudice.
The gameplay is a straight-forward, knuckle-dusting platformer filled to the brim with ghastly environments and lots of ugly creatures to pound into a delightfully bloody parfait. With the Terror Mask supplanted firmly on Rick's facial node, he's given not only the outermost physicality of a Apollo-esque bench presser on radioactive steroids, but also a repertoire of different attack maneuvers and brutal finishers. The game's stages, broken up into individual chapters, are morbidly dark and disturbing by nature, taking place inside the West mansion and in hellish worlds beyond that; including a ruined New York city, a meat factory, a decrepit amusement park complete with killer zombie clowns; among other things. However, there really isn't a whole lot of exploration to be had---as the point of each stage is getting from point A to point B, killing anything and everything standing in your way. While it might have been nice if Splatterhouse placed a greater degree of emphasis on exploration given the immediate environments that are just begging to be explored, the stages are good enough in length to keep the player busy, and skirmishes against monsters occur often enough to keep them on their toes. In some instances, the stages pan into classic side-scrolling view that pays homage to the arcade game---a nice touch for purists who remember the original source. Unfortunately, there are certain moments where that the player meets their fair share of cheap deaths during specific platforming situations that force an instant game over, returning them to their last saved checkpoint and crippled further by arbitrarily long loading times. To be fair, you never have to worry about starting levels all over again unless you want to.
Speaking of combat, the player will employ various attack techniques to deal with the increased threat of monsters and other unholy creatures. Standard punches are available on the outset, and you can usually pulverize most enemies by flurries alone. But they aren't nearly as interesting or satisfying as those interactive cinematic finishers that involve literally ripping enemies into shreds and using their body parts as weapons afterward. Unlike most games that have similar gameplay mechanics, Splatterhouse makes the player feel the immediate strain of pulling heads and limbs away from their unfortunate hosts by implicating the use of analog sticks. You'll thrust both sticks up when you're tearing the heads off shoulders, thrust the analogs in opposite vertical directions to separate jaws, and pull both sticks horizontally to gnarl off appendages suchs as arms, legs and tongues. It really is a pretty neat system; a more realistic and exciting alternative to just simply pressing a button on cue like in most other games. The only drawback to this is that the player will often forget to pull both sticks as required ; the onscreen cues aren't always crystal clear in the midst of an attack, and if you mess up, the enemy will very likely throw you off and replenish a fraction of his health. But the time window to pull off a successful finisher is somewhat forgiving, so it isn't always likely that you're going to make a mistake anyhow.
For an added edge, Rick has access to a variety of weapons interspersed throughout each and every level. From the classic 2x4s of the original arcade game, to lead pipes, cleavers---even a shotgun---there's no shortage of these indispenable tools, but there is a durability limit that determines how often you can use them. Expendable as weapons are, they can prove extremely powerful against waves of attackers and mete out incredible damage to bigger enemies before breaking. In fact, some of these weapons are probably a little too powerful for their own good, but you'd be a fool not to take advantage of this boon at every opportunity if it means saving your own behind. In a gruesome twist, it is also possible to use your own torn-off limbs (which occurs through heavy enemy attacks and temporarily weakens your character) as weapons, and they're pretty powerful in their own right. Weapons are an invaluable asset to gameplay when it gets to the point where fists and decapitations are not enough, and a noteworthy homage to the arcade game.
And if that weren't enough, Rick has another brutal power at his disposal---the power to change into an even more menacing form that grants temporary invulnerability, increased strength and increased blood multipliers. Taking the obvious page from Splatterhouse 3 on the Sega Genesis, Rick can employ this savagely monstrous form at any time depending on how much (or how little) he has stored up in his Rage meter, and the game offers an interesting bit of flexibility in going about that. He can either change outright when his Rage meter reaches a quarter or more and put to full use his limited window of opportunity for a voracious bloodbath, or tap a little into its frightening strength at any time (so long as it isn't completely empty) in brief spurts during normal combo attacks. This said flexibility, when melded with all other previously mentioned combat aspects, is an added incentive to Splatterhouse's formula, and keeps it from being formulaic or derivative.
No matter which methodology you employ in disposing of your enemies; be it weapons, fists and bare hands, you will absorb blood points for the Terror Mask in not only satisfying its own sick desires, but contributing to your physical character development. Blood points received from killing monsters can be spent on unlocking new attack moves as well as provide helpful benefits such as an increase in weapon durability, life and Rage meter bonuses. Whereas most games have you slaughter enemies for the sake of violence, Splatterhouse hands you a viable, strategic purpose in literally drawing first, second and third blood from each and every creature you brutally execute. Furthermore, the player will also have a chance to go on a scavenger hunt, looking for fragments of photos of Jennifer sprawled throughout. Not only to they make notable additions to an in-game photo album, they serve as bread-crumbs for player to follow in their pursuit of Jennifer, and have interesting little stories to tell despite their suggestive nature. All of this gives the game a surprising amount of depth and a decent nod to its replayability factor, for it may take repeat trips through individual chapters (or a bout through higher difficulties that reward more blood points) to fill the entire board (earning the Trophy associated with it) and find every photo (which also unlocks a Trophy.)
In addition to the Story portion of the game, Splatterhouse also has a Survival Mode for added replay value. Here, the player is thrown in one of several, selectable static arenas and harrassed with 20 waves of monster groups that will ultimately determine their overall survivability. These Survival challenges will grow increasingly difficult as you progress, but the initial rewards you get for your trouble are Jennifer photos you cannot find in the main game and notches to your completion status. If that weren't enough, you can also unlock all three of the classic Splatterhouse games---the arcade port of the original Splatterhouse and both its Sega Genesis-exclusive sequels. The Genesis games suffer from sound inconsistencies and irregular music pitches, but for the most part, they're emulated well. (One important note; due to legal reasons, Splatterhouse 3 may not exactly be the same as you remember it.) It stands to reason that the original arcade Splatterhouse is the most notable bonus of the package.
Technically, Splatterhouse is a fitting visual and auditory expression of everything that mandates the horror-movie genre---with red being the predominant color all throughout, and it's not hard to see why. Bleak hallways, blood-stained walls, evidence of human experimentation; it's all here to full effect. The music is mostly made up of licensed tunes featuring heavy death metal that includes Mastodon, Five Finger Death Punch, Cavelera Conspiracy and High on Fire; to name a few. Love it or hate it, it all definitely fits the mood and theme of the game appropriately, and the violent lyrics are just right.
It's pretty safe to assume that Splatterhouse is not for everyone. Copious amounts of blood and gore, disgusting creatures of every definition, vulgar language and other unsavory elements that I dare not mention run the gamut of everything that galvanizes the game's mature and violent framework, but if you're willing to step into these harrowed halls, you'll discover a solid game that will keep you quite entertained with its surprising amount of depth and absurdly fun combat. Even if you're the least bit curious or are wont for some insanely violent video game fun, Splatterhouse is a house worth checking out.