Splatterhouse: The “Saw” Of Video Games

Before Saw captivated (or should I say decapitated?) moviegoers with its grotesque brand of gut-spilling storytelling, there was a video game that aimed to maim: Splatterhouse. Arriving years ahead of the Mortal Kombat controversy that inspired the game-rating system we have today, Splatterhouse was true to its name. After taking some time off – nearly two decades, actually – the franchise has slithered its way back into gaming, this time on Microsoft's MSFT Xbox 360 and Sony's SNE PlayStation 3. As an action game in the third dimension, Splatterhouse plays like a brawler. Button-mashing is welcome (though completely unnecessary), weapons are plentiful but perishable, and just when you think the last monster has been slaughtered, another one appears, waiting to take a bite out of the game's hero. Actually, hero is a very loose word to use when describing the man-beast that players control. In a nutshell, he's just a guy who wants to rescue his girl from a bunch of disgusting, flesh-eating monsters. But he's been infected (or is he possessed?) by some creature that is mutating his body, allowing him to regenerate lost limbs while surviving a massacre. The results are as bloody as one can imagine – perhaps more so if you've become acclimated to red polygons. These days, how many games truly feel like they're filled with blood and gore? It's become so common that we rarely notice the effect. That will change the moment you fire up the new Splatterhouse, a game that is literally dripping with body fluids. The arms, heads, torsos and other monster body parts can be ripped apart in a way that, up until recently, only Mortal Kombat would have done. In fact, the game takes its Mortal Kombat love one step further by offering finishing moves that allow players to enter a simple combination (push and hold the analog sticks in opposite directions; press one of the buttons when it appears on screen, etc.). During these moves, the screen darkens, the moment intensifies, and the outcome is one great big gore-fest. If the monster in question has a particularly interesting feature (such as a long tentacle hanging from his neck), expect it to be used in the fatality with amusing results. Splatterhouse isn't all about hack-n-slash combat, however. Taking a cue from Super Mario Galaxy, Splatterhouse shifts from third-person combat to side-scrolling exploration. During this phase, the game is a bit more frustrating than it had to be, since you are required to jump over several large pits. If you fall into one of the pits, that's it – you're dead. Now you'll have to restart this phase from the beginning. In addition to the main campaign, the game offers a Survival mode that gives players the chances to hack and slash their way through as many enemies as their heart desires. But the core campaign is where Splatterhouse delivers. If you love blood, if you love gore, and if you can't get enough of the hack-n-slash genre, Splatterhouse should have what it takes to satisfy your sadistic needs.