| Manufacturer: | Namco |
| Genre: | Side-scrolling beat 'em up |
| Board: | Namco System 1 |
| Year: | 1988 |
It's Halloween tomorrow, so for this month's classic I thought I would talk about something spooky and what better game to talk about than Namco's controversial beat 'em up, Splatterhouse. The game was heavily inspired by teen slasher films of the decade, most notably the Friday the 13th series and the plot is as cliched as it gets. A teenage couple, Rick Taylor and Jennifer Willis, get caught in a fierce storm and take shelter in West Mansion. Little do they know crazed parapsychologist, Dr West, is rumoured to have used the mansion to perform hideous experiments, earning it the nickname "Splatterhouse". Once inside, the kids are attacked by demons, Rick is killed and Jennifer is carted off to become the monsters' gruesome plaything. The game begins with Rick being resurrected in the mansion's dungeon by a Jason Voorhees-style ice hockey mask called the "Terror Mask" or "Hell Mask" (depending on the territory). As Rick, you must punch, kick, hack and bludgeon your way through the mansion to rescue your GF before it's too late.
That might sound like a perfect excuse for a gory extravaganza, but sadly this month's game does not really
deserve to be called a classic. The truth is the only reason anybody played Splatterhouse more than a couple of times was because they got off on its pixelated horror. As a beat 'em up, it's pretty dull, but as a Halloween game, it's worth 20p for a bash.
Splatterhouse was remade in 2010 as a 3D action adventure for home consoles - and it was every bit as crass and dull as the original.
MTW
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