Splatterhouse 2

Splatterhouse 2: Electric Boogaloo, with more blood.

In keeping with the blood gore and violence of the previous review, I thought it might be nice to take a little trip back to West Mansion with the further exploits of Rick, the Terror Mask and the ongoing mission to save Jennifer from the infernal reaches of the darkest pits of flesh-covered hell, that is Splatterhouse 2 on the Megadrive (....genesis).

What's different from the last outing you ask? Why should I pay it any heed I hear you cry out from your definitely not blood-stained gaming these days? Because... well it's more of the same to be perfectly honest. Though if you tone down the graphics of the arcade version and slap in a few more levels and a few more dynamic situations within the levels themselves, you've the essence of what is a fairly typical sequel going from Arcade to Megadrive/Home machines.

Not as graphically appealing, in more ways than one.

You control (P)Rick (Heh, classic) once again as he dons the infamous Terror Mask and pretends even less to be Jason Voorhees while he walks menacing through the game punching out anything that's even remotely misshapen of the fleshy variety as he meanders from point A to point B and leaves a spritely trail of blood, guts, gore, pus, ichor and bodies in his wake. This game really does push the limit (at the time) of what is meant by a violent video game nasty and in doing so has gone all out to have (at one point, certainly) the blood running down the screen. In fact, I even took a screenie of it.

See, told you I took a screenie.

This is after you walk along a stream floating with dead Screaming-Mimi's, punch your way through infected fish waters, drown a few hapless enemies and then wander into a shed (why?) in the middle of nowhere for what I presume is simply because Rick never worked out how to move in the foreground and background before the third game! Once inside you get accosted by various gardening implements before using one of those weapons (Get the chainsaw, ALWAYS) to attack abortions hanging from ropes and hooks, then a giant flesh jaw head thing (I... can't think of much else to say on it) before it naturally, explodes into a shower of pulped flesh.

This is just ONE level, most of the others are far worse.

No... really? Never would have guessed that.

Bosses that explode intestinally, churn up into little blood piles, eye-screaming explosions, wither and die away, head melt, ignite, have their eyes skewered with large impalements and a whole host more violent things you can do with Prick's amazing abilities to walk through the undead and unholy armies and solving everything with a few left-handers.

Good job that almost everything is either made of exploding flesh or has a glass jaw as Rick himself is one slow bastard these days. His lumber gait is made all the more obvious with the drop in animation and graphics but having said that, he's still huge and more than an imposing figure on the battlefield. What is lost in detail is made up for in size. Though that also adds to the challenge as you'll find yourself unable to avoid various attacks and enemies because you're such a big target (lay off the food, fatty)

One of two left levels, this one is the harder and it's on level 2.

Story wise, you learn a little more on the start of each level and the game basically has you trying to save the girl by punching the fuck out of everything. Hands, monsters, more monsters, bosses, more monsters, but not that giant blue behemoth... don't touch him. Then having a slight twist of having to kill a monster that escaped from "hell" for want of a better word which hurls disembodied heads at you before becoming a batwing creature and trying to speed slam you while you're... you guessed it... punching it.

Rick has the low kick and the slide attack as well, but to be honest, it's all about punching. Some monsters will approach too low for the usual and if you manage to hit anything with the slide then you can credit yourself with doing double damage but if the enemy survives it, you'll be standing up straight into them for an instant damage. Not so bad perhaps but you've usually got just 4 hits and most bosses can tank damage or have multiple forms. 

The action rarely ever lets up in this game. Even quiet spots require something to be punched.

Despite the drop in graphics from the arcade to the console, the music for the system is a lot more varied than the previous game and the tone and pace of it much more suited to the game than the arcade's attempt. Boss battles are usually more intense and frantic while levels are slightly slower (depending upon the level), lift music is a lot more interesting when you're being assaulted by monsters and escape music really adds to the urgency of having to flee from a large squid monster or a collapsing house. It helps, it adds and it fits (mostly) to the game.

The big question for the players is, can you cope with the change from the original game to this in quality of graphics and a slightly more wooden game play set of mechanics? If you can then it's likely you'll enjoy this too otherwise the downgrade might be too drastic, in which this sequel begins to smell like it was rushed out the door or the ambition might have been to release this in the arcades, couldn't' find an appropriate backer so ported it to the Megadrive only to be forced to reel most of the content back JUST to fit onto the cart.

BOO! Yeah I got nothing really to add here.

Overall, it's the weakest game of the initial trilogy and I totally didn't rush this review at all on the last minute of Wednesday to meet my own arbitrary deadlines. There's just so little different from the arcade to this game.

Silent Hill 3

It's going down hill soon in Silent Hill. Like a vertical drop rollercoaster.

Now I know, some people will disagree with me and some people will agree with me on this, but that's never really been a concern, just something I know and felt like stating. Yes it's a stalling tactic because I'm still thinking up what to write about while typing this out. But Silent Hill 3 is worthwhile playing. Yes I know, I've not reviewed Silent Hill 2 but I need a while to revisit that one before I go all out in the next few reviews and such. This however is a more overlooked game because it's compared to the previous one in the series while the first game seems to be nodded to and referenced and recognised but never really accepted outside of Silent Hill 2's grand (supposed) presence.

Taken as a game by itself, Silent Hill is about one girl's struggle with the pressures of society personified by an evil fucking town with large monsters. She also may or may not be the reincarnation of God... or A God at least. That said, actually... That's all that really needs to be said.

Not the best of days to have a breakout of blood.

One thing you will notice with this game is that it's very empty of people. Which comes as an odd contrast to the introduction which has our protagonist happily chatting to her father in a burger bar (he's on a phone) until she goes to leave and is stopped by a fat man in a dirty Macintosh (the clothes, the other Macs are just as dirty) before bottling the encounter like a coward and hiding in a toilet. After escaping through the window it all goes downhill from there to Silent Hill.

Silent Hill, a lovely town with a gorgeous hotel overlooking a lake that will likely kill you before you can do any real sight-seeing amongst the fog. Or darkness. Or both.

Oddly enough, this guy isn't a direct threat to you.

What you're basically set up with for the first half of the game is getting your protagonist home while traversing through a mall, a train station, a building site for a condemned building (in more than one sense of the word) and then home before actually getting to the titular town itself where more angsty bombs are dropped and curses uttered.

The game makes sure it's as eerie as ever with changes in setting from going back and forth between an empty looking normal place, to looking like hell changed the fire and brimstone for barbed wired and chain link fencing. While you're navigating various locations you'll occasionally find yourself looking at what would be Dante's realisation of Hell if he was more into metal than fire and ironic tortures. All of which are used to give you the idea that something is not quite right.

It all serves a purpose. I'll be damned if I know what thoug.

But it's never explicitly stated, but certainly alluded to, that whether you're really going through these changes and seeing an alternative, possessed, location. Or if you're being forced to see it in a form of hallucination brought about through other means. Do you really see hell and the monsters? Or are you visualising these things. This also brings into bearing the point about the monsters themselves. Each monster is in some way a personification of a fear that typically plagues the demography of the protagonist. A theme that usually carries through the games (until a point at least...). In this particular game, the theme is around fears that teenage girls might have. Relating to cancer (huge fat things, with fat growing on their fat), split-headed dogs (ok some people fear dogs), walking penii (I can't think of a better way to explain them but the sexual allegory is made there) Lots of monsters based around phallic imagery really, or trying to stick things into our heroine in a sort of penetration/rape reference. Seriously though, one boss basically is a huge (think London Underground Tube Train sized) dick with teeth.

Oh and there's some fears around pregnancy in the game too.

Rhyming slang about being Brown Bread probably isn't appropriate here.

But while that's the hidden bonus for those that look deeply into the why and wherefores of a game, it's not the key focus. There's plenty of running around, finding maps and checking which doors are broken and can't be used and which ones lead you ever deeper down the rabbit-hole that is Silent Hill. Filled with references to multiple pop-cultural situations and occasionally poking fun at the world, in particular with theme park mascots. Robbie the Rabbit never looked so... soaked in ichor before.

Actually I do prefer my mascots, dead.

If you think this looks bad, be prepared for it get worse.

The problem with the game is that the puzzles are either too easy or ridiculously difficult, combat can be a cakewalk or in the higher settings, mandatory to avoid and boss fights can go on for far too long with little hope of victory. Playing in easy mode makes everything almost like paint-by-numbers for the puzzles while playing in hard mode will force you to recollect and understand the order of Shakespearian works, deciphering cryptic poems relating faces to keypads and a very dark and disturbing twist on the "Who Killed Cock (heh) Robin" Nursery Rhyme. A nice touch with some of the puzzles is that they change and aren't really the same on any two playthroughs. Such as key codes which have to be found using specified methods rather than just looking it up online. Mainly because you'll encounter a key plot point or item during the hunt for the answer.

There's very little in the way of subtlety in this game either. If something odd is going to happen, you're always going to be in a position where you HAVE to see it, usually through cut-scenes, but even when playing in the game normally, the camera will be positioned often in a way where you can't avoid the weirdness. Case in point, climbing the long ladder in the crossover from one hospital to another. You will basically have one of the creatures of Silent Hill shoved in your face for you to watch like it is some form of living-art exhibition. Almost like the game designers are slapping you in the face with the obvious and waiting for you to take the time to acknowledge it. A problem with a lot of big money games nowadays that force you to observe everything they've done because it cost them money.

[The blogger was chastised greatly for making a "tap that" reference]

What it does that is creepy, it does very well. The reflection in the mirror being one example, the entire Borely Haunted House and the usual descent into madness that is the crossover from normal world into the demonically possessed world (for the most part) while sometimes it's a more subtle approach than blaring an air-raid siren and other times it's smacking you in the face with cock than a 'bring your own rooster' convention. It does mark however the change in the nature of the Silent Hill games as it is, but I'm side-stepping here.

As far as plot and progression goes, you encounter a nutcase who preaches about God and basically follows you home. Sounds like my Sunday evenings back from the local pub. While they claim they're your nemesis, nothing is really done about it until the mid-point in which it goes from them following you to you hunting down them. Plot wise it's a little stop-start and that's mainly because it can take a LONG time to navigate around the game's "dungeons" and get to the key points that start to unravel the main plotline. Though there's plenty to do at the same time with small sub-plots but these are only encountered along the way as a sort of distraction between the main interests on what is a very long and otherwise dry tour from start to finish.

Big, mean and the first enemy you fight. It's also a normal enemy.

Grabbing a submachine gun never seemed to scream "survival horror" either. Though I rarely use the guns, I prefer the melee and with that end up becoming the monster and just going kill crazy happy on the baddies.

3 Different endings await but gameplay-wise there's little difference between one play and another. You could go for the Alien based ending, which is entirely nonsensical but funny all the same, and does require you playing the game dressed up and powered up like something out of Sailor Moon, but it's still amusing. While the other two canonical endings are just the "You did well" and "You killed a fucktonne of things" (by the metric load) which gives you the good and evil bastard endings. Quite the drop from the multitude of endings in the first few games and even the later ones too by that standard.

Come at me, Sis.

It's linear, it's not too complex and the subtle hidden details are laid bare for all to see. It's a real no-brainer of the series that requires little knowledge before the story and about the entire series if you want to play it but within it there's enough there to make you guess what's around the next corner and what's going to happen in the endgame. Fans will enjoy it, hardcore fans will be left feeling unfulfilled by it and to everyone else it's a horror game with some gross out factors and the paranormal stuff will leave others confused as to what the rules of the games reality really is.