Friday Night Videos: “It’s Only a Game…It’s Only a Game…”

Long before finally getting my hands on Splatterhouse (thanks to the Virtual Console) the very thought of this game scared the shit out me.There was something about the ads for it that ran in those old issues of Gamepro that did a great job of making it feel like you’d regret ever sitting down to play it.

Hey, turns out they were kind of right!

Unfortunately, the only thing that comes close to terrifying about the game are some shitty controls and flash animation quality graphics. But at least they managed to get the tone right. True to its name, you control a Jason Voorhees wannabee as he splatters his way through several levels crawling with monsters “inspired” by classic horror flicks. I guess I can’t deny that the game doesn’t carry with it a certain charm even though I’m 90% sure that it probably only stems from the fact that I’d wanted to play it for so long.

To be totally honest, I’ve never managed to actually complete this thing. I’m not sure if that’s because of how damn hard it is or because after the first level you already know how the rest of the game is gonna go. Very repetitive. Still, while I can’t really recommend it in general -- for anyone like me who grew up on a healthy diet of cheesy slasher flicks from the 80’s, Splatterhouse serves as a mildly amusing novelty.