Welcome to another edition of Retro Corner as this is the last stretch of days to Halloween. In this review we check out Splatterhouse 3 developed by Namco and released in 1994 as a Genesis exclusive and now baring a MA-13 rating. After Mortal Kombat and Doom came out, the US government required by law that any game with graphical content has to get reviewed by a rating system. On to the game, Splatterhouse 3 would change its gameplay for the first time and including many standards found in Streets of Rage. On top of that, there is an actual story to the game as several years have passed since Rick and Jennifer went through their past living nightmares. They have gotten married and had a kid named David as well as buying a mansion. However, one night the Evil One, a dark entity enter the mansion with his sole purpose of using David's hidden psyche abilities to unlock an evil power. The Evil One needs to do a ritual using David this night to get a power of darkness. The Terror Mask returns to Rick after he realizes his family is in danger and puts it on to save them and to stop the Evil One's conquest. Gameplay As mentioned previously, the gameplay was finally changed for the better. A 3D plane is now designed into the gameplay as you have more chances of invading enemies. Another change to the levels are now in a maze-like design, and the player has to get through each room to complete the stage. Along the way are these rooms that will have a weapon or a Life Book (you earn an extra life) and to warp across the level. I found no issues with this style considering most brawlers didn't have these features. Aside from the last level from Streets of Rage 3, it truly was the only game to have these features. It also helped there was a map and this made things easier to get to the boss. In each area, the player faces one to three enemies at a time and will vary depending on which area you are in. Once again, this helped the pacing of each stage as I didn't have to constantly kill several enemies repeatedly when I went back to a previous room. Another improvement involves finding power orbs randomly in several of the rooms. These would increase your strength thus doing more damage to the enemies when transformed into a bulky form. For once a power-up and the weapons actually contribute to the difficulty than to act as a novelty gore effect. One last thing about using weapons is I love the gory effects it would make just when you deliver the last blow. The bosses had better challenges as no longer are they set to a simple pattern of attacks. It also made these battles more engaging and parts of the flesh would either bleed or have some features fall off. Even common enemies would show this as well, and it was a great sign of them coming close to that last blow especially with using gore. You can do much more with Rick this time and they included several new attacks to his arsenal. I love how you can grab the monsters and either throw or give several headbutts and punches in combination. The most useful attack is performing a roundhouse kick that has Rick spin around a few times. It diffidently helped when I started getting ganged up on and clear the monsters around me. I did find a few quirks the developers overlooked during the game's development. It was a bit of an annoyance for the weapons (when dropped) to get taken away and placed in those rooms with the yellow doors. That means the player has to backtrack each time it's taken away unless you want to go back to these rooms to retrieve them. I'm sure you noticed the timer, but that doesn't really affect the gameplay in any way. Unless the player wants to get the true ending by saving both Jennifer and David. There is one last issue and at times the difficulty would spike with a few of the enemies. They would always take 75% of health or give me a one hit kill depending on how much life you had on the health bar. For once Namco looked to the competition to improve this series and follow the golden standard. Rating: 8.3/10 Graphics/Presentation It turns out that Namco took the graphics and even the presentation further then the series has seen so far. The presentation was cinematic for its time as the opening left me surprised they went into such detail. The intro used still images for the characters like Rick with the Terror Mask and Jennifer. There were several animated ghosts heads and a panning of the title in between. I also love the front shot of the mansion, and it did remind me of the first Resident Evil. Another bonus for the presentation was the scenes that played in the form of still images. There was also dialogue which came up each time you progressed through a room or level. For once, Splatterhouse actually had a story than just a short theme as seen in the previous installments. It was the best of the trilogy and there was more to the plot such as being tasked with saving Rick's family. The music was pretty good with a couple of themes that sounded like tension as you made it through each stage. That did make me feel like at any time upon entering a room a bunch of monsters were actually going to jump out to attack. The environments did come off like a haunted house, however, it was nothing like the original TurboGrafx port. Each level felt genuinely dark and eerie as even the simplest of rooms gave off these vibes. The gore is probably the best it has been and some of these rooms did a good job showcasing this along each stage. There was a room soaked in blood as a monster was dangling from the ceiling with animated twitching (the screen above). I also loved some of the background gore found while exploring the rooms. It would have either flesh-covered walls, corpses of the monsters and splotches of blood on some areas. The gory effect when killing a monster isn't absent as it returns in all its glory. Even as you beat on the common enemies and the bosses, they will show either a body part becoming a bloody mess or even fall off. Not only was this a good indication of their health but a great attention to detail. The best level is probably the fifth stage due to it being a throwback to the original game. It combined the dungeon level of the first game with the portal area from the second to create a demonic shrine. The background props from the statues of demons to even clocks and paintings really added to these environments. The sprites saw a vast upgrade from its predecessor and a lot more detail went into both their animation and appearance. It was because Namco used a better art style to render these sprites with such great detail. Of course, a few monsters have the melted skin design but for some reason, they still looked decent. Rating: 8.8/10 Features/Content The content finally got addressed for once when considering the previous entries lacked nearly everything. The usual three difficulty settings and six stages are present as its overall package. However, Namco added in an extra level known as Stage X which acts like a bonus where you can collect 1up books and power orbs while fending off monsters. Of course, there is more to this then an extra level and Namco programmed the game so you can earn three different endings. It allowed players to play the game at their own pace whether they wanted the bad or best ending. I can tell this is for speed runs as there are times in a certain level where the player has to hurry to get the best ending. I only found David and Jennifer are the only challenges that needed you to rush through the levels in 2 to 3 minutes. Another thing you could do is use the password system to see how things play out or even warp to level X for fun. It is an improvement, however, a couple of cheats would've helped give extra replay value.. Rating: 7.5/10 Final Rating Namco has come a long way since the original TurboGrafx port which brought the series to the consoles. The gameplay is vastly improved over the outdated Kung-Fu Master style from 1984. It is following many standards among the Brawler genre during that time. It may have some quirks to its design, but that was really good enough to hold its own. The graphics are the best the series saw with a decent art style and another visual jump. The environments had great atmosphere, and I love the attention of the detail that went into the little things. Even the sprites are some of the best the trilogy had to offer as no longer are their designs hindered by a bad art style. Its presentation was another thing that had a horror vibe and is well animated with even still images. The content is definitely better than its predecessors with Namco programming a speed run style for the gameplay. It does added replay value this series desperately needed with playing at any pace or quickly get through the game. SH3 is not the best in its genre but overall, it was a good way to end the series on such a high note. Gameplay: 8.3/10 Graphics/Presentation: 8.8/10 Features/Content: 7.5/10 Final Rating: 8.3/10 Very Good Source to Video: YouTube.com. (October 19, 2008). Splatterhouse 3: Opening (Sega Genesis). PickHutHG. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzPZrHOHsWo
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Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
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