Last year, I reviewed the first two Splatterhouse games as part of our annual Halloween series of articles. It was an unorthodox style of review, as I simultaneously analyzed both games, and we typically would review each game separately. The reason for this was really just because the first game's brief duration and the similarity between the two titles. Splatterhouse 3 on the other hand is substantial enough to warrant a full review.
Splatterhouse 3 picks up a few years after the end of the prior game. Rick is now married to Jennifer, and they have a young son named David. Free from the Terror Mask's influence, Rick has become quite successful in his career, and they live in a rather stately mansion. The game begins as monsters suddenly begin swarming their home and Rick is forced to wear the mask yet again, in order to be strong enough to defend his home and his family.
I think the idea to set the game in Rick's home, instead of some random haunted house, was a cool move. There's an undeniable feeling that the stakes are heightened by having the responsibility to get these hellspawn and ghouls out of your home. For most people, your home is a sacred space of safety and positive feelings. To see nightmarish monsters jumping off your dining room table or tearing apart your son's toys would be horrible. Rick also has the unthinkable level of stress to get through all of these creatures to save both his wife and his young child. This was an effective choice that elevates the tension that you would come to expect from a horror game.
Something that legitimately shocked me is that the game has several different potential outcomes centered around whether or not you're able to get to your family before the timer runs out on the stage. These are incredibly dark alternate endings that you can easily reach by accident, if you're not able to navigate to the stage's boss in time to save your wife and/or son. You can potentially lose either Jennifer or David, or possibly even both, if you can't reach them in time.
From a game design perspective, it feels somewhat obvious that they set it in a mansion to make use of Rick having to wander through lots of rooms. Instead of being a straightforward 2D side-scroller, Splatterhouse 3 is designed so that you're following a map, almost like Metroid and fighting your way through dozens and dozens of rooms to try and find the boss of the stage. This maze-like structure adds a sense of stress, like Rick is getting lost in his own large home, desperately trying to get to his family. Unfortunately, most of the rooms are extremely similar in design, and there's essentially no
decor or furniture or anything that makes it feel like you're walking
through someone's home. They could've put far less rooms in the game, and added more detail to the remaining rooms, so that you can get a real sense of where you are in the home and where you're headed.
So far, I've really only been able to praise the game. It innovated on the prior Splatterhouse titles in some major ways that add a sense of depth to the game that was absent in its predecessors. Regrettably, I need to basically drain any enthusiasm that I've expressed for the game. The combat of Splatterhouse 3 is unforgivably bad. This is a beat-em-up title, like the other Splatterhouse games, so you're constantly fighting enemies. The biggest issue is the repetition of it all. Rick feels much weaker in this game than he did in the other games in the series. Every single enemy takes well over a dozen hits to kill, and you're often fighting three or four of them at any given moment.
Past Splatterhouse titles frequently gave Rick access to weapons, but for some reason they are incredibly rare in this game. The core gameplay loop of this game will drive you nuts within a few minutes. You are having to fight through countless identical rooms and hallways, battling the most annoying, gross enemies, and having to punch and kick every single one of them like fifteen times to kill them. If you can finally find a weapon, you can take down enemies much quicker, but God forbid you get hit while you're holding the weapon; you'll immediately drop it, and then an invincible, flying creature will flutter across the room and steal the weapon and leave with it. The poorly designed, repetitive, mindless combat completely killed the game for me.
Enemies do occasionally drop health for you, as well as small orbs that fill a power meter on your screen. Once that power meter has been filled, you can transform Rick into a monstrous, hulking, muscle-bound figure who can destroy monsters incredibly quickly. You'd think this might be enough to save the game, but alas, they ruined that potential as well. If you transform Rick into his powered up form, he will lose the power up as soon as you finish the room that you're currently in, and you'll be forced to find the orbs all over again. If you do end up playing this game, I recommend saving the power-up form for boss battles. If you thought having to punch a random enemy fifteen times sounded excessive, base form Rick will have to hit a boss probably forty times to kill it for good.
I really enjoyed the first two Splatterhouse entries, and I was looking forward to playing Splatterhouse 3, but this game was an absolute slog. The potential of battling through Rick's home to save his wife and child was a cool idea, but it was so poorly executed. The mansion and the timer add a great sense of stress and tension to the game, but the wildly frustrating, unsatisfying combat killed any fun I might've had with the game. Hardcore Splatterhouse fans might find some fun here, but I can't recommend it.
VERDICT: Not Recommended
Reviewed on Genesis
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