The Haunted Hoard: Splatterhouse 2 (Genesis/Mega Drive)
When I played the original Splatterhouse arcade game I was disappointed to find that a game with a heavy horror atmosphere that was undermined heavily by its reliance on luck-based difficulty and memorization. However, while that title was developed for the arcade where there was no one policing fairness and the developer’s goal was to get as many quarters from players as possible, games released on home consoles only had to worry about making that first sale that gets them through the door. A purchasing decision is often more informed than walking up to an arcade machine and putting a few quarters in, so Splatterhouse 2 conceivably would want to make sure it played well so game magazines would review it favorably and people would do more than just rent it for a weekend. For that reason, I was willing to give Splatterhouse 2 a shot after its predecessor burned me, the fact it has a password system to return to whatever level you left off on already seeming to bode well for its prospects.
Splatterhouse 2 is the kind of game that gives away a big detail from the previous game, that being that the muscular mask-wearing hero of Splatterhouse wasn’t able to save his girlfriend Jennifer from the horrors of the titular mansion. For months after his failure Rick was haunted by his loss, but soon the same supernatural mask that granted him his powers before tells him Jennifer can be saved and helps him go back to the house to try and revive her. From there, Rick is once more made into a killing machine capable of splattering undead creatures with his bare fists or whatever he can find on hand, many of this side-scrolling action game’s regular enemies going down to a single good hit.
Luckily Rick doesn’t need any complicated attacks to take down his foes since the burly brawler has very few to pick from. A single forward punch is powerful despite its simplicity, but sometimes he’ll need a crouching kick to hit enemies that crawl across the ground like disembodied hands and fanged worms. Jump kicks mix movement with an attack approach, this particularly useful against the abundant purple creatures whose bladed arms give them a range advantage if you try to go for a punch but their own propensity for leaping makes approaching without an attack dangerous. Rick’s sliding kick is a bit of a rough option to pick though despite being his strongest move. You need to jump in the air and then hold diagonally down and your attack button at the right point in the jump, the action requiring good timing to pull off and not leaving you in the best spot whether it works or not. The slide kick will carry you far and sometimes throw you right into danger, so you really have to have a good idea of what’s up ahead before you try and execute this risky gamble.
Rick’s normal movement is a bit slow and his bulk often works against him, many enemies the perfect size to just barely be jumped over if you were running forward and jumped right before you’d be touching them. It’s easy to bump into foes as you come down from a jump, Rick only having four hearts to a life so every hit is definitely felt. You must cautiously press forward to avoid the many little ambushes or sudden appearances waiting for you ahead, Rick too big and pokey to really respond to a quickly approaching threat. You can sometimes pick the right attack to get out of an unexpected bind, and luckily the slow approach to progress does mean you can have a better chance of acting in time, although if it’s a new enemy type or a new boss attack you’re just going to have to guess and hope you picked the right action. Splatterhouse 2 does overcome one of the issues the first game had though, there seeming to be almost no luck-based moments in the entire experience. Sure, if you don’t know the attack pattern of a boss like the spike-firing squid you’ll probably die to it figuring it out, but there is a rhythm to it to discover and conceivably you could have picked the right options to last long enough to see it, although with some foes like the final boss it’s highly unlikely you’ll dodge those moves organically before losing to it repeatedly.
Memorization is, unfortunately, back in full force in the sequel, but thankfully there’s nothing as absurd as needing to shuffle shotguns to have a good chance of taking on Biggy Man like in the original. Weapons here are always a treat that can help you, shotguns great for clearing out enemies ahead but the limited ammo not so important, especially since boss monsters don’t let you bring in weapons from outside the fight. You can get a cool tool during the battle though like a chainsaw, and during regular play picking up a large stick is perfect for smashing a horrible creature into the wall for a gooey kill worthy of the Splatterhouse name. No amount of bone clubs can make up for the trial and error action still in effect though especially during moments like riding the elevator while objects fall in too quickly from above to be reacted to. The approach to design isn’t helped much by Rick’s body size either as it can be hard to tell if he’ll be able to safely clear a spike pit or leap over some enemy without grazing them.
The style in Splatterhouse 2 is easier to appreciate than in the predecessor though now that you can at least rest assured progress won’t be stymied by random factors. Dark grimy locations are common as you enter and exit the house in your quest to revive Jennifer, dank sewers and putrid swamps placed to break up the exploration of dark hallways and the quiet library. The environment brings its own dangers like ram’s heads in the house that barf acid onto the floor and specimen tanks in the library that burst open to unleash the monsters within, but the creatures themselves certainly steal the show. Some like the floating ghost faces are a tiny bit goofy despite their anguished expressions, but once they posses you and reverse your controls you’ll regret ever thinking little of them. In the same level as those faces are some grotesque looking walking corpses whose features have been distorted by death to a truly creepy degree, the game actually managing to scare me when they would run in from the left side of the screen with unusual speed as a truly effective bit of horror.
Bosses like the giant purple face with pulsing eyeballs and a gooey texture definitely continue what seems to be the game’s main aesthetic of lumpy fleshy creatures that look malformed or mutated. The box art’s goofier takes on some of the creatures certainly do not do justice to how disturbing some of the monsters can get, the room where you fight four blood red babies particularly grisly. Certainly anyone wowed by the presentation in the first game will find it just as strong in the sequel and the attention given to the designs and aesthetics certainly pay off with some memorable creatures and legitimately unsettling sights, but actually fighting those fearsome foes unfortunately feels rigid and reliant on repetition to truly have a chance of moving forward to see some more scary sights.
THE VERDICT: Splatterhouse 2 was wise in dropping the original’s reliance on luck, but while enemies always behave in a consistent manner here, learning that is going to come at the price of dying to new monsters and bosses over and over again. Rick is a big fellow whose attack and movement options aren’t always the best for responding to a new situation, and even when you do know what you’re up against sometimes it requires a properly timed jump to clear without losing your limited amount of health. The mansion is wonderfully realized both in terms of its atmosphere and the appealingly horrific designs of the creatures who inhabit it, the game even able to throw in actual scares instead of just shocking sights, but the action wears thin as the game relies too much on drawing out its length by setting up scenarios where you’ll need to repeat sections to actually figure them out.
And so, I give Splatterhouse 2 for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive…
A BAD rating. It’s much easier to appreciate the artistry behind the atrocities Rick has to fight his way through in Splatterhouse 2, the abandonment of luck-based factors making it easier to actually get involved in a fight or push through a troublesome section. The game does still like to throw an already attacking new foe at you as a way of teaching you what they do, a fine way to build up frustration as you can’t really react too well on the fly with the stiff character you’re playing as. Rick is a powerful guy whose attacks are satisfying to hit with thanks to the gooey bursts of blood and slime or how easily certain foes break apart when hit, but many foes are there to catch you unawares initially and punching the same shambling creatures to try and get to something new that hopefully won’t set you back doesn’t keep up the excitement. Bosses do a good job of showing their patterns once you’ve been hit a few times trying to even see what the attacks are and it is satisfying to overcome them, but the appeal of seeing what strange new terrors lie ahead is dampened some when you realize you’ll probably get hit by something you had little chance of replying to properly on the way there. The password system does make it easier to leap back in and keep trying, but it does feel like a lot of the appeal of getting further is the monsters rather than the gameplay.
Splatterhouse 2 plays fairer than its predecessor but also feels a little cheap in that it is possible to technically do everything perfectly without taking damage but realistically you have to learn through death and failure to have a chance of making progress. In this game about brutally bashing your way through gross and twisted creatures it feels like a lot of odd limitations are placed on that thrilling premise, and while a game putting up a fight isn’t a problem, having to practically study what’s ahead doesn’t make for compelling play. An enjoyable hard game gives you the tools and room to actually reply to the trials it puts before you, Splatterhouse 2 hits you with something and tells you not to be hit by it next time if you want to have a hope of beating this stylish yet still disappointing horror game.