Let me begin this by saying if you have a problem with freak mutants, being possessed by a demonic mask, a ton of vulgarity and more blood than every human on the face of the world combined has ... then you should probably look somewhere else. Now, if you are into that type of thing (AND I AM!), then look no further than Namco Bandai Games’ Splatterhouse. This has everything in it that a horrible nightmare does, but better. If you were to take every single horrible dream you have ever had and roll them up into a playable game, then you would have the same conclusion as Splatterhouse. The Mature rating is not that farfetched.

Splatterhouse’s story is inspired by a madman/genius by the name of Gordon Rennie, and if you do not know who he is, go and look him up! Don’t get me wrong when I say this — because I loved the story — but I did find it confusing sometimes. In the end, though, they usually filled me in, with some sort of comedic line.

There are a lot of awesome things to mention about Splatterhouse, and one of them is the gore. It has been a long time since the gaming industry has seen a complete gore-fest. Hopefully the industry will take notice of this game, because the more the gore, the better the experience. Why would I say something like that? For starters, the gore is the concept of Splatterhouse; the bloodier the outcome, the more you can get more combos, etc. Also, there are a lot of tools at your disposal: 2x4s, pipes, a bat with nails, chainsaws and even using the enemies themselves, plus more. It was like the developers said, “We are going to make a game based around blood” and then built around it.

In the beginning of the game, you will notice a very unique aspect. The main character Rick gets his arm chopped off, and the demonic mask known as the “Terror Mask” regenerates it for him. You will notice this in combat throughout the game because dismemberment does happen. For me it seemed to happen all too often — mainly from these annoying little dog-looking things — name escapes me — that want to gnaw on my face. That is OK, though; I want them to get close. I will grab them and throw them to the other side of the room! What is even better is you can see the rebuilding of bone, muscle and skin. It is a great feature to a very good game.

In the press release, it says “Diverse environments with H.P. Lovecraft-influenced style are coupled with a world-class heavy metal soundtrack and custom music score, keep the tone tense and eerie.” I agree with all of it, the levels are very well-designed, and the soundtrack is great. I have to say killing some enemies while listening to Five Finger Death Punch was insanely awesome! As a note as well, I was chucking some of these little dog things, and all of a sudden, the world just went into slow motion. What is this I am hearing? NO WAY! Mastodon! Well, it didn’t happen exactly like that, but I am sure you get the picture. Splatterhouse has an epic soundtrack with the likes of Mastodon, Five Finger Death Punch, Lamb of God and The Accused.

Overall, get Splatterhouseif you are into insane amounts of gore and have or are OK with the mouth of a trucker. No, scratch that; get it because it is a really great game that will keep you hooked for hours. I have not found a single thing in it that I have not liked in some way, shape or form. Namco Bandai got a fan out of me for this one.