Splatterhouse: A Retrospective!

[Jonny#5]

Splatterhouse was a late find for me. I had a SNES when I was a kid, so I never got a chance to try these games until I was introduced to emulators, and I remembered this one creepy ad for Splatterhouse 3 I saw once in a Batman comic. Having gone through all of them, I can say that the first 4 games were brilliant, especially with the use of gore and how they worked with the limitations of the 16-bit era.

Sadly, the new one had a lot going against it. The creativity was abit lacking, and the non-stop heavy metal music killed whatever creepy mood the game tried to provide. Also, the over-use of quick time events and the lack of enemy diversity made the 2010 game a chore to finish. I actually found myself enjoying the 2D parts alot more, especially with the 16-bit styled music. I happen to agree with Joe Musashi when he said that the writing of the Terror Mask was all wrong. I imagined a cruel entity that constantly egged Rick on to commit more monsterous actions, not some lame joker that swears too much. If Namco makes another one, I hope they go back to the creepy mood and eject the comedy.