Splatterhouse for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

I shouldn't have liked Splatterhouse as much as I did. The loading times are excessive, the gameplay is repetitive, and frustrating sequences are strewn throughout the game. And yet, in spite of everything, I loved the game.

I'm not entirely sure why, but I'd wager part of it had to do with the brutal combat, which lets you rip, tear, and slice monsters into little pieces. It's really satisfying. I'd also say that the banter between Rick and the Terror Mask was always worth coming back to. Jim Cummings is great as the Mask, and it's hilarious listening to this evil artifact cheering Rick on when he murders something or mock Rick's love for his girlfriend. The Mask always comes off as a bit world-weary when he's delivering exposition, which gives the impression that the Mask is more than just a homicidal entity after all.

The side-scrolling stages are a bit rough, but ironically, the first of them is probably the most brutal, and they get a bit easier after that. While they feature a lot of cheap deaths and can be all the more frustrating due to the long loading times you'll suffer if you do die, they are quite honestly nowhere near as difficult as the stages in the first two Splatterhouses. If you don't believe me, all three classic games are there on the disc. Anyway, it was a good idea to bring about a change of pace in this way, but had the controls been tighter these side-scrolling stages would have been more fun.

Ultimately, Splatterhouse is, just like its 16-bit predecessors, more than the sum of its parts. It's gotten trashed pretty heavily by the critics, but if all you want is to punch zombies in the face while death metal blares in the background, this game is all you need.

This game is not as bad as everybody is bashing it. I never played the original, but the developers certainly tried to appeal to those players in addition to to the newer graphics. Yes, the graphics are sub-par to todays standard, but the music more than makes up for it. If you hate heavy-metal, then yes, don't rent this game, but there are some very good artists such as Five Finger Death Punch and Hatebreed that make the mindless gore-fest very tolerable and enjoyable. I never liked metal but this game made me want to download the soundtrack. It is also a very easy platinum, 2 playthroughs. Give it a shot, if anything, 6 hours and then it is back in the mail. It still delivers a solid storyline with gameplay appeal.