The game not only forces you to spam a hard-to-pull-off move so you can get rid of the enemies faster and make it on time but also uses the resource of making the protagonist so weak that even a small lamp can send him flying through the stage, having to wait for him to regain consciousness and making you waste more time.

Half a star because the sound design is very cool.
Half a star because that teddy bear boss is pure nightmare fuel.
And a last third-half star because I have definitely seen worse.

As a beat 'em up, it takes an interesting departure from the likes of SOR2 by being non-linear and having multiple endings. The music is also great, and the iconic gore factor this series is known for is in full effect.

That being said, the gameplay itself is hideously unbalanced in the North American release. It quickly becomes "spin kick to win", and when you become Monster Rick, it becomes "tentacle r*pe to win" (I don't know what the move is called but it's the same motion as the spin kick). You almost have to be using these moves 24/7 if you want any chance of success, as the enemies are incredibly overpowered and even early one some are capable of robbing an entire life from you in one or two hits.

It's fine enough for a once over, but the original Splatterhouse is a far better game in almost every category. Shame that never got ported to the Genesis...

The first thing you notice when you start playing this game is that it feels great, super great actually, like a proper beat em' up and unlike the previous two games, that alone makes the experience ten times more enjoyable already...

Only to be hit with the single biggest flaw of this game, the timer. I already don't like timers much but I can manage, and having different endings depending on wether or not you reach in time is new for the series and not bad in paper. The problem here is that time goes too fast, enemies can take many hits to kill and actually avoid you, bosses in particular are infuriating since they just circle you wasting your time, but worst of all is that whenever you get hit and fall you have to go though a time consuming animation of Rick slowly getting up and shaking his head (he only need to look at the camera and go "yeowch" at that point) and it's even longer if you lose a life.

It's truly a shame because it plays so good and it could be the most fun in the original trilogy but that only flaw with the timer pushes it back a landslide.

Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 6: Namco vol 2

I honestly wish Evercade would have multiple regional versions of games because if this was the Japanese version you'd be seeing a slightly higher score here. I say slightly, like half a star more since im not a maniac and at its core, its still a rather average beat-em-up which finally has broken free from its drab flat level design and has the occasional fun monster design and SPEEEN KICK. It has its moments basically, i'll give it that.

Just good lord the international version of this game is way too mean spirited for its own good. Both in the difficulty department and in the time limit department. Also the cutscenes look like absolute shit I have no idea why they went with photorealism when the game graphics are goofy as hell.

Experiments with some things and ends up quite different than the previous 2 games with mixed results.
This play more like a traditional beat 'em up than the last 2 games, which some people may like and others may not. I personally found it to be fine, though by the end of the game, it became kinda monotonous due to the low enemy variety.

The game is a lot more toned down and loses the vibe and atmosphere the previous 2 games had.

The stages are not linear and there are multiple way to reach the end stage boss. You have a map, but I feel like this wasn't implemented in the best possible way due to the multiple endings system.
Basically, you have a time limit, but you don't lose if it runs out, the story just changes and depending on which stages the timer did and didn't run out, and you get one of four endings.
This would be fine if you've already played the game and have a basic idea of the routes, but here it just adds a need to rush the levels, because you don't want to get the worst ending. And be prepared to be quite frustrated if you decide to rush by picking the shorter routes, because they aren't generous with the items you can pick up nor with the idea of fair difficulty.

While I enjoyed my time with the game, there is stuff that could've been executed much better and I don't think I'll be replaying it.

What Splatterhouse initially started out as was a rough and tough, yet still satisfying horror-themed beat-’em-up that had plenty of gory action to satisfy any fan of horror, along with the simple, yet effective combat right beside it that kept the player going. However, when it came to Splatterhouse 2, the series fell into a state of stagnation. While it certainly wasn’t a bad game by any means, it did absolutely nothing to enhance or change up the gameplay of the original title, going for the “more is good” formula, which in this case didn’t necessarily help things out for it. So it was clear that, if this series was going to keep splatting away, there needed to be something done to shake things up, or else people will move onto other titles. Thankfully, Now Production thought the same thing, and thus, just one year later, we would be given the next unique installment in the series, Splatterhouse 3.

Much like the other games in the series, I hadn’t played this one before doing so for this review, and I thought going into it that it was gonna be more or less the same experience as the last two games, except with updated visuals and the like. However, instead, I was given a game that heavily updated the way you play one of these games, while keeping things relatively similar to the other titles to remind you that you are still playing a Splatterhouse game. While it wasn’t much, this ended up working extremely well in its favor, as I would definitely call this game the best of the original Splatterhouse trilogy. It isn’t too different from your typical beat-’em-up of the 90s, aside from the blood and gore, and it definitely has its issues, but for what it’s worth, I did end up having a bloody good, albeit frustrating at points time with the game.

The story this time around is a little more complex than the previous two, detailing what happened to Rick between this and the last game, but it primarily focuses on how his wife and kid, Jennifer and David, are set to die by the hands of monsters, so it is up to him to once again slaughter the beasts and the Terror Mask once and for all, which works well enough for the plot, and there are even cutscenes with digitized actors that detail more of what is going on, so that is nice. The graphics are pretty good, looking pretty similar to the last two games, but still having that some gory look to it, while having the most impressive sprites and cutscene images in the series so far, the music is fairly basic for this kind of game, not really being anything too special, with no real tracks standing out, but it isn’t bad either, the control is fairly similar to the previous titles, although you are now capable of pulling off a lot more moves that I will get into later, so that is cool, and the gameplay is also fairly similar to the previous titles, but given more depth and range to make it more accessible and fun.

The game is a horror-themed beat-’em-up, where you take control of Rick once again, go through a set of six different levels throughout the floors of your mansion, defeat all of the different bloodthirsty, disgusting and terrifying creatures that have swarmed the place using all manner of attacks that you can pull off, gather plenty of different health items, power items, and weapons to help you slaughter the vicious beasts that lay before you, and take on several grotesque bosses that will definitely provide a challenge, testing how good you are with your reflexes and combat skills. In many ways, it is essentially the same as the previous two games, but in many other ways, this game takes that basic formula and evolves it into a much better experience. Not to mention, it also has plenty of the same blood, gore, and guts that fans have come to love from the other games in the series.

First off, there is actually a Z-axis this time around, where you move around the stages in a way much more akin to a typical beat-’em-up, rather than being stuck going from left to right. It isn’t any different then any other game of the genre, but hey, I’m just thankful that it is here at all, as it allows for much more room for you to do anything in. And speaking of much more room, this game is also completely non-linear. Yeah, you are strongly encouraged to go a specific route, which is what you will mainly be doing for most of the game, but you are able to fully explore the mansion you are in, going to many different rooms and defeating all sorts of baddies in the process. It isn’t much, but hey, the option being there at all is nice to see.

In addition to this, Rick is now able to perform a lot more moves then he previously could. You can still punch and kick like your life depends on it, but now you can pull off several special attacks, throws, grabs, and all the stuff you would typically see in a beat-’em-up, but once again, just having these abilities at all in this game is much appreciated. Adding onto this is the addition of a Power Meter you have, where upon filling it up, you can then transform into a much more monstrous version of yourself, able to deal out much more damage and pull off some freakish special moves that help out greatly when the moment calls for it. Not gonna lie, it isn’t the best Super Mode I have ever seen in a game, as it isn’t as reliable as it could be whenever you use it, but it can still be useful at points, especially against bosses. As for the combat itself, it does feel pretty satisfying to pull off, with crunchy sound effects accompanying you whenever you beat up whatever freak in your way, making you feel powerful as you keep defeating more goons.

One of the biggest changes this game introduces, however, would be with how you progress through the levels, and how the plot changes. For every stage in the game, you are given a specific objective, such as saving your wife or your son, and depending on how well you do in completing this task not only changes what happens in the plot, but it also determines what ending you get in the end. For example, in Stage 2, you have to defeat this Giant Boreworm to help save your wife from getting devoured by a boreworm, told to you in excruciating detail. If you succeed, you manage to save her of course, but if you don’t, she ends up dying and transforming into a mindless beast, and she will stay dead for the remainder of the game. This choice of story progression allows for a lot of replay value, seeing what different kinds of story paths you can take and how you can get all four of the endings, which is always great to have.

A lot of changes to the formula are nice to have, yes, but none of them can hide the fact that the game still has several issues worth addressing. While it does update the gameplay formula into something more accessible and familiar for players, it ends up becoming more generic as a result. It plays pretty much like your typical beat-’em-up, except for the fact that it is spooky and gory, and if you aren’t sold on either of those elements, then you won’t be getting much here when compared to other similar games in the genre. That doesn’t mean it is bad, but if you are sick of beat-’em-ups, this game won’t help that feeling go away. Not to mention, it gets pretty fucking hard as you keep going, and while there are difficulty options that can help give you an easier time, it still manages to get pretty ridiculous as you keep going, especially in Stage 5. Also, the second phase of the final boss can eat my dick, it is so frustrating.

Overall, despite a lack of change to the genre and the difficulty really getting in the way at times, all of the changes and improvements made in this game definitely make this the best entry in the Splatterhouse trilogy, and makes it a pretty good game to play through. I would definitely recommend it for those who were fans of the original Splatterhouse games, as well as those who are fans of beat-’em-ups in general, because this game still keeps the gory, spooky nature in tact, while still being a good time for those willing to face the demons head-on. Nice to see that we ended off this trilogy with a bang rather than a whimper. Although, it is rather embarrassing that none of these games came close enough to the same level of quality that Wanpaku Graffiti had. That is just sad.

Game #445

After finding Splatterhouse 2 disappointing, I'm glad to say I liked Splatterhouse 3 a bit more.

Splatterhouse 3 plays more like a Capcom beat-em-up compared to the other games in the series. Rick has some pretty basic combos now, and can also grapple and throw enemies. What sets this apart from other brawlers is that there's a map now of multiple interlocked rooms in the mansion. This means there are multiple branching paths you can explore as you make your way through each area.

With that said, you'll probably want to pick the shortest route across the area with the help of the in-game map, since there's a timer as well now. If Rick takes too long to beat an area, he's more likely to encounter one of the several bad endings of the game (which frankly are pretty unnerving for the time).

I think the transition Splatterhouse makes to a very bloody Final Fight brawler works. The only caveat here is a think the Japanese version is the one worth playing, as the international version makes the game harder and more annoying in general (the JP version is much more forgiving in terms of the time limit).

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. If Splatterhouse 3 decided to not make any changes to the formula then people would complain that it was "another game just like the first two, no one asked for this!" but because there were some significant gameplay changes you're bound to have people crying that it "doesn't feel like a Splatterhouse game".

The overall feel is the same grotesque romp of absolutely annihilating monsters as our beefcake protagonist, Rick, but the play is much more typical beat 'em up. The monsters have more life, Rick has more moves, and everything is a bit more intense.

Think Double Dragon if it were a horror movie.

I played the Japanese version, and that seemed to remedy the strict time limit. On top of that, the input for a space-making roundhouse kick was changed to something simpler.

I really like the gimmick of having to find the boss room through a maze-like set of rooms. But I never really felt compelled to explore due to the time limit. If you finish a stage fast enough, you can even get additional lives.

Otherwise, it's not amazing. The visuals and atmosphere are fantastically grim, but it's ultimately a bog-standard brawler that doesn't have much else going for it. The upside is that there are multiple endings for your performance, and most bosses are difficult, but fair enough as to not be frustrating. You could do worse.

Gratuitously fucking miserable, and it extends to more than just the plot. Each level has a time limit that doesn't necessarily kill you if you fail to reach it but rather your wife and then child will get killed off in the story, and it really rubs it in your face if you fail to save them. The problem is that the timer is also insanely strict, forcing you to plan out your routes as you'd go along. But when you do, you usually want to make the shortest route, right? What would seem to be the shortest routes in each level are filled with ridiculously annoying enemies with way too much health, turning them into the longest routes. How the fuck is anyone supposed to know that? Are you punishing me for planning ahead when you prompt me to?? Why??

I got the worst ending. I only completed the first level in time, and even there I had just 13 seconds remaining. I really don't think I would care as much normally, but for being so uninituitive and throwing so many enemies that take years to kill (they start reusing the stage 1 boss as a regular enemy in stage 2, by the way) it sure does punish you hard for failing to come through in time. I guess it could be worse? I guess it could kill you when the timer reaches zero? But it's not really about if it could be worse, it already is just so aggravating the way it is. Maybe it's like this in order to incite you to replay and make it through faster, but it really doesn't make me want to when the gameplay is already so unsatisfying compared to many other beatemups.

Splatterhouse kinda sucks overall. The presentation doesn't really make up for how agonizing and tedious it can be, and for whatever reason as they improve the presentation the gameplay gets worse, resulting in a trilogy that starts out just passable and steadily decreases in quality. Maybe I had to be there? Maybe I could've been playing one of the many better beatemups at the time? I don't know, man. If it isn't really clear, this game pissed me off. I think I should just lay down or make some food or something.

All the prohibitive difficulty you remember from Splatterhouse 1 and 2, now with a time limit, and bosses who deliberately waste your time to boot!

I'm just going to quote a bunch from the FAQ I used because it's funnier than me:

"The difficulty is just at the right curve. Getting there is pretty easy to accomplish, so read on. If you get discouraged, play the first 2 to get really discouraged."

"Pause: Stops game. Good when you need to drink something or go to the bathroom."

"A beat em up without enemies would be like a resident evil game without the zombies. It can't be done."

"There are 4 possible endings: Jen and David live, Jen and David die, Jen lives/David dies, Jen dies/David lives. Don't expect anything Spielbergian from these. They're about as long as a between-level cinematic, which needless to say isn't long. In fact, the cinematics between the levels is better than these piles of crap. The good ending is the worst and most boring. Kill your family for a real man's ending."