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'{{Infobox VG |title = Splatterhouse |image = [[File:Splatterhouse.jpg|256px]] |caption = European box art |developer = [[Bottlerocket Entertainment|BottleRocket]] (until 2009), [[Namco Bandai Games]] |publisher = [[Namco Bandai Games]] |composer = [[Howard Drossin]] |distributor = |designer = |version = |released = {{vgrelease|NA=November 23, 2010}}{{vgrelease|EU=November 26, 2010}} |genre = [[Beat 'em up]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamepro.com/microsoft/xbox360/58096/info.shtml|title=''Splatterhouse'' Information Page|publisher=[[GamePro]]|accessdate=2008-06-02}}</ref> |modes = [[Single-player]] |ratings = {{vgratings|BBFC=18|ESRB=M|PEGI=18+|ACB=MA15+<ref>http://www.classification.gov.au/www/cob/find.nsf/5b6ebdff7f5b9a24ca2575ca00062226/6c3075bc31c24bd2ca2577b300581790?OpenDocument</ref>}} |platforms = [[PlayStation 3]], [[Xbox 360]] |media = [[Blu-ray Disc]], [[DVD]] |requirements = }} '''''Splatterhouse''''' (スプラッターハウス, Supurattāhausu) is a [[beat 'em up]] video game developed by [[Namco Bandai Games]] for [[PlayStation 3]] and [[Xbox 360]]. It was released in North America on November 23, 2010 and in Europe on November 26, 2010. It is a remake of the original ''[[Splatterhouse]]'' which was released in 1988. ==Gameplay== ''Splatterhouse'' is combat-oriented with Rick fighting various monsters in either hand-to-hand combat or with makeshift weapons, such as wooden planks and meat cleavers. Rick is able to attack his enemies with super strength and rip them apart. He can also chain attacks together into [[Combo (gaming)|combos]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.nothingbutsoftware.com/2009/01/splatterhouse-the-goriest-game-ever/ |title=Goriest Game Ever }}</ref> Rick can lose limbs,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.1up.com/media/03/6/4/2/lg/397.jpg?r|title=Rick missing an arm|publisher=[[1up.com]]|accessdate=2008-11-10}}</ref> but is able to grow them back over time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.1up.com/media/03/5/5/1/lg/129.JPG?r|title=Rick growing it back?|publisher=[[1up.com]]|accessdate=2008-11-10}}</ref> Arms can be used as clubs to fight enemies. Throughout the game, Rick can collect blood from defeated enemies. Collecting a certain amount will allow the player to unlock new moves and perform special attacks. Players can find journals documenting Dr. West's history while photos of Rick's girlfriend serve as a breadcrumb trail to follow. He can perform "Splatter Kills", extremely gory finishing moves. There is also a platforming element with jump nodes to keep instant death falls to a minimum. The game also comes with the original ''[[Splatterhouse]]'' arcade game, ''[[Splatterhouse 2]]'' and ''[[Splatterhouse 3]]'' as unlockables.<ref>[http://us.splatterhousegame.com Official Namco Splatterhouse Web Site]</ref> ==Plot== Jennifer Willis was invited to the mansion of the strange and eccentric Dr West to perform and interview for their campus newspaper in which Dr West has residence. Accompanying her is her boyfriend Rick Taylor since it is revealed they have a date directly after the interview in which Rick plans to propose to Jennifer. Upon entering Dr West commands his demonic minions to kill Rick and Kidnap Jennifer. The game opens to Rick waking on the floor in a pool of blood wearing a talking mask. The mask and Rick, who was at the brink of death, have made a deal in which the mask will help Rick retrieve Jennifer from West in exchange for the carnage and blood the mask lusts for. The mask is able to imbue Rick with demonic powers comparable to West’s Minions such as near invulnerability, bodily regeneration, sociopathic tendencies, and a knack for hand to hand combat. In exchange the mask demands to be fed the blood of Rick’s enemies. Through the first stage of the mansion it is found through West’s record keeping that he is MUCH older than appearing and has served at the University multiple times under different aliases as his own descendants. In this mansion West has performed demented rituals and experiments to a dark race he refers to as his masters. He uses the bodies of his victims, who consist of students and town populous, to construct servants and bodies for his masters to inhabit and control. Through the discovery of hidden phonograph recordings it is learned West is apparently following orders from the demons in order to complete a deal for resurrection of his dead wife Lenora. During a meeting at the end of the mansion stage Rick and West come face to face only to have West be shocked at who he sees. He is surprised the mask is working for Rick since he could not figure out how to unlock it’s powers for himself earlier. As West sends forth one if his monsters to dispatch of Rick Jennifer takes the opportunity to stab West in the head. West promptly shrugs this off, pulls the knife from his head and drags Jennifer through a portal, unknowingly followed by Rick and the mask. Arriving in an unknown wasteland of burning landscape, crumbled cities and demonic enemies the mask tells Rick the monsters are a collective race known as the corrupted who use servants like West to invade and consume worlds. During a fight Rick enters an area where he is shocked to see the destroyed head of the statue of liberty. It is here the mask reveals they are roughly 30 years into earth’s future where Rick failed to save Jen and the corrupted have devoured earth’s life. The mask tells Rick there are 12 eclipses happening through out time and if Rick fails to save his girlfriend before she is sacrificed at the final eclipse West will unleash the corrupted and the world will end. From world to world and portal to portal it is revealed that West was at one point in the distant past a very prominent Dr who used his skills to heal people but during an outbreak of cholera he became to distracted to notice his own wife contracted the disease and died. In his depressed state he became consumed with the thought of being able to bring her body back and kept her preserved in a room of his family’s mansion. It was then the corrupted began appearing to him as angels and offered him the dark knowledge to bring her back, in which he succeeded, partially. Her body was alive but her mind was mad. He was forced to keep her locked in a basement and feed her flesh. He knew of her danger when one day she escaped but promptly returned to the mansion with the blood soaked doll of a child. His guilt began to over run him and he went more insane. Meanwhile Rick and the mask still venture forward and back in time through portals dismembering enemies and using their blood to enhance their own strength until they land roughly 100 years in the past. Here a younger more respected version of Dr West rides horseback up a hill to his home town of Arkam. With much haste he reaches the peak to see the giant visage of a Wicker man in the distance with Lenora trapped in the head. The townspeople have captured her and condemned her to burning for being a witch. It is presumed she escaped once more and the people knew she should have been dead. In the distance rick and the mask also see Lenora in the wicker man but mistake her for Jennifer. The two heroes rush from separate directions to a common end intending to save their love. Rick battles corrupted as Dr West prays for divine intervention but is only answered by the corrupted who finally show him their true form as monsters by sacrificing the angry mob in flames to allow their own entry. Rick finally reaches the wicker man and after battling the demons climbs to the top to save Jennifer/Lenora who also shows her true resurrected form as a hideous rotting zombie and attacks Rick. After Defeating her he is guilt stricken until the mask points out the dead body is wearing a wedding ring and is not Jennifer. The two heroes make their way forward through a portal just as young West Arrives and vows revenge on the town who crucified his love and the masked man (Rick) for stomping her ass into the dirt. The prior connection to West Knowing Rick is now made and West gives complete devotion to the corrupted, spending his extended life filling his mansion with deadly sacrificial artifacts from worldly travels to assist his goals. Reaching the future again and landing in a dilapidated theme park of horrors the mask begins to reveal its past. Once held prisoner by the corrupted for ten thousand years it finally escaped to our world where they followed and found Dr West. The Mask is trying to stop the corrupted to avoid being captured and it is assumed West’s association with the corrupted is why the mask would not function for him. The mask was then placed in a sarcophagus in West’s mansion until Rick fell upon it. With now a mutual need for each other the mask set itself free to Rick. Finally reaching the twelfth realm of the final eclipse Rick pursues West at all costs being constantly antagonized by both West and the Mask. The mask wants the corrupted stopped and West wishes them free to cleanse the world of life and suffering. Reaching the alter Rick appears before West and rips his arm off before he can kill Jennifer for the sacrifice, and easily casts him to the side. Believing he has finally stopped the corrupted he approaches Jennifer but is surprised to see the Corrupted are still pressing through the realms and entering Earth. It is here the Mask Reveals its true intentions. “It doesn’t take one sacrifice or ten sacrifices but ten thousand to free the corrupted and you Rick have been my executioner. I want these sons of bitches here so I can finally get my revenge for ten thousand years of imprisonment, and when they’re laying dead I want them to see my face and KNOW it was me who brought them DOWN!” The entire time the mask was performing it’s own ritual to have it’s final duel with the Corrupted who appears and a giant entity made of every corpse Rick defeated fused together. After its defeat Rich cuts open it’s chest and rip its core out defeating the corrupted for good but allowing one mysterious entity to escape their world and enter Jennifer’s body undetected. When Rick attempts to remove the mask it is still fused to his face and refuses to let go on the condition their deal has not yet been completed and he needs to “check his girl”. Walking up to her on the sacrificial alter they embrace as West still living calls to her as his Lenora. A close up of Jennifer’s face shows pitch black eyes as she thanks Rick for her safety, upon which the game concludes HOPEFULLY leading into a sequel as this game was amazing NO MATTER what any critic whined about! ==Development and promotion== In early 2009, BottleRocket revealed that [[Namco Bandai Games]] had made the decision to cut the developer from the project, and had already taken back their console development kits. With no other projects or funding on their plate, BottleRocket was effectively shuttered as a result. Namco Bandai Games explained that the move was due to a "performance issue." The project was handed over to the internal development team at Namco Bandai Games who had recently completed ''[[Afro Samurai (video game)|Afro Samurai]]''. Weeks later, it became known that Namco Bandai Games hired members of the original development staff from BottleRocket to help finish the game.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.joystiq.com/2009/05/02/bottlerocket-confirms-work-on-splatterhouse|title=BottleRocket confirms work on Splatterhouse|author=Jason Dobson}}</ref> The game's story and dialogue was penned by comic book writer [[Gordon Rennie]]. [[Howard Drossin]] composed original scores and the protagonist Rick Taylor (in his non-possessed look) was modelled after him. ''Splatterhouse'' was featured on the cover of ''[[Fangoria]]'' issue #295 in June of 2010. This was the first video game ever featured as a central cover on the horror magazine. The cover featured custom artwork by Dave Wilkins (the game's Art Director), and the article featured an interview with the design team by Fangoria's lead video game coverage writer Doug Norris.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fangoria.com/index.php?id=982:first-look-fangoria-295-cover-and-contents&option=com_content&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=167|title=First Look: FANGORIA #295 cover and contents!|author=FANGORIA staff}}</ref> ==Reception== Response to the game was mixed. [[Eurogamer]] gave ''Splatterhouse'' 6/10, stating "Splatterhouse is only reasonably good at being the classless procession of shock and bad taste that it wants to be."<ref>http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-11-22-splatterhouse?page=1</ref> Dread Central gave ''Splatterhouse'' 4.5/5, stating it "is most likely going to be considered the premiere horror game of 2010."<ref>http://www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/splatterhouse-video-game</ref> [[Cheat Code Central]] gave it a 3.9 out of 5 criticizing its platforming levels, voice over work and texture quality, but saying fans of of the old franchise will enjoy it.<ref>http://cheatcc.com/ps3/rev/splatterhousereview2.html</ref> [[Gamespot]]'s Kevin VanOrd scored it a 4.5 out of 10, claiming: "All the gore in the world can't disguise Splatterhouse's laundry list of clumsy mechanics." He criticized the camera, load times, glitches and cheap deaths, but praised the story and the inspired artistic touches. [[IGN]]'s Arthur Gies scored it 4.0 out of 10. He said that: "Some occasionally slick visuals and funky design is undermined by camera and framerate problems and enemy variety that dries up halfway through." ''[[Fangoria]]'' gave the game a 3.5/4, praising the overall fun gameplay and stating the game "defines its own genre of horror gaming," separating it from [[survival horror]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fangoria.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2804:qsplatterhouseq-video-game-review&catid=55:video-game-reviews&Itemid=186|title=SPLATTERHOUSE (Video Game Review)|author=Doug Norris}}</ref> Micah C of [[Blistered Thumbs]] gave the game a 7/10, saying "Splatterhouse is a ridiculously violent, tasteless romp full of gore and sprinklings of Jennifer with her clothes off, and every single moment of it is incredibly fun."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blisteredthumbs.net/2010/12/splatterhouse-2010-review/1/|title= Splatterhouse (2010) Game Review (Video Game Review)|author=Micah C}}</ref> Well Tyler Turel gives this game an 8 out of 10 as the ONLY negative aspect of it was the insanely long load times after death. I began to wonder if it was truly needed or the developers were just punishing us for dying! "Splatterhouse is a ridiculously violent".... What did you expect from a game called SPLATTERHOUSE!? Its like getting the movie "pretty woman" and concluding it was too much a chick flick!!!!!! ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *{{Official|http://www.splatterhousegame.com}} {{Splatterhouse series}} [[Category:2010 video games]] [[Category:Beat 'em ups]] [[Category:Horror video games]] [[Category:Namco Bandai games]] [[Category:PlayStation 3 games]] [[Category:Video game remakes]] [[Category:Xbox 360 games]] [[fr:Splatterhouse (jeu vidéo, 2010)]] [[it:Splatterhouse (2010)]] [[ru:Splatterhouse (игра, 2010)]]'