When I heard one of my all time favourite arcade games was getting the “3D/Next-Gen” make over I was a little concerned. Back in the late 80`s this over the top gore-fest was a breath of fetid air among a collection of cutesy platformers and beat-em ups. Nowadays every other game contains some horror or dismemberment so how would it hold up?
My memories of standing for hours, pumping 10p after 10p into the arcade machine are precious ones so I didn`t want to taint them with a sloppy remake. Unfortunately it seemed my fears were well founded, but after glancing over a few reviews words like “lazy level design” and “repetitive combat” were not enough to put me off.
Luckily I tend to rent games these days, rather than buy them, (unless they are worth keeping), so I added it to my play list and thought I would give it a go, what did I have to lose?
I have to admit, after playing through huge games like LA Noire, Red Dead Redemption and Assassins Creed a “switch your brain off”, game was just what the doctor ordered. Running from room to room, ripping apart various monsters was no effort on my tired grey matter, I didn`t have to solve puzzles or hunt out those illusive collectables from an expansive world map. It was simple gameplay and the irritating platform sections and bad camera I could live with, it is a short game after all.
I suppose being a game artist I should comment on the overall graphics and design. I think they actually did a decent job of the design, again some things could have used a polish but the creatures and main hero, Rick, obviously had some time spent on them. Touches like the damage to Rick and how he regenerates his torn flesh and missing limbs were quite cool…and of course all the blood and guts are cool too. I have to say though I was not a big fan of the “toon shading” look they applied to the models.
All games these days have hidden gems to collect to extend the gameplay, and earn the player achievements or trophy’s, and this game is no different. What shocked me initially was what you were collecting, and the fact there was very little hunting involved. This is an 18 rated game, so I was expecting some gore related collectables, something clever…but no, what the designers chose to do was make you collect naked photos of your girlfriend.
Now i`m not opposed to the odd naked breast in a game when it makes sense, but these seemed bolted on, as an after thought. Its almost as if the developers had no confidence in the game itself so decided to appeal to the young adolescent male demographic, with the promise of a digital copy of Playboy as a reward for playing through the game. Whats more, these photos are torn into three or more parts, with the “rude” sections being the last pieces you collect…prolonging the tease/agony?
I`m sure plenty of you have played through the game and found, well ambled over these collectibles and see nothing wrong with them. I just think the team behind this remake could have spent the time tidying the controls, level design, camera, voice acting rather than resorting to soft porn to get people to play the game.
So, on reflection Splatterhouse isn`t a bad game, its just not the rebirth I was hoping for. Its in no way perfect, but if you want something where you don`t have to think, you see lots of gore and the odd boob then go rent it as I did, i’m glad I didn’t buy it.
If nothing else you get to play the original arcade games too, but I guess you can get these online, and playing them now doesn`t seem as cool as it was back in the 80`s.
