E3 2010: Splatterhouse - Hands-on

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Can its gore still make for a compelling experience in 2010?

Graphically, it's competent, but not amazing. At present, the frame rate takes a huge hit whenever a group of enemies die at once (must be all the flying limb physics) and with the game practically finished now, that's unlikely to change. It does look a tad last-gen, especially as Berserker Mode's black, white and red colour scheme looks almost exactly like the Wii running MadWorld.

The new game is mostly third-person 3D, although there are some nods to the old games with 2D sections, which offer some rudimentary platforming on top of the thwack 'n' slash gameplay.

If you finish the game, you'll unlock emulated versions of the first three (yes there were three) Splatterhouse games. However, they haven't stood the test of time very well.


Above: This wasn't even cutting edge when it was released in 1992

They may have large sprites anddecent animation, but the one-note gameplay is painfully under-developed. Now, call us cynics, but we have a sneaky suspicion we'll be sayingsomething similarabout the full game when it comes round to review.

That said,we certainlyenjoyed the demo. It may be deliberately button mashy and a bit low-tech, but it was 'bloody' good fun. It's likely to sell pretty well, too – few games are this focused on gore. It's a shame age ratings have come into play to deny the biggest target audience. Sick-minded kids today would love this just as much as they did in the early '90s.

15 Jun, 2010

Justin Towell
Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.