Splatterhouse (2010) Disappointments, Things that could of been.

Hey, me again.

Listen, I was wondering if you guys had any disappointments about Splatterhouse (2010).

Like, boss fights you wanted to have. Weapons that you wanted to use. Certain non-boss monsters you liked. Maybe even songs that should of made it in.

Personally, I wanted to fight that Wicker Man boss in the graveyard or that giant burning body in the cathedral.

And I guess "Splatterhouse" by Koffin Kats could of been in the game as like a credits song or something. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=porDVazt02c

What about you guys?

I really, really, really, wanted to fight that big Cthulhu looking monster in the water tank right before the Robo Ape battle. I also would of liked a better end "fight".

Yeah, that would of been pretty cool.

BTW, if you look carefully, they never gave the thing legs.

I thought so too at first, but occasionally when you pass by the tank everything disappears and only the character model is visable-it doesn't have legs, but it does have large fins/flippers (makes sense for an aquatic creature, even a Spawn Of Cthulhu).

I'd like to see what everyone else wants to see-a climatic battle against Demon Jennifer. Not having that in the game strips the remake of the original's seminal moment (and also results in a rather lame ending). That would take the game from a 9 to a 10 in my opinion. I'm still holding out hope for some 'big Splatterhouse news'.

As far as weapons-well, a cordless drill would have been nice!

Somewhere, someplace, you can fight the Wickerman-he was a boss in the original Bottle Rocket build of the game and there's video footage of Rick fighting it.

What's that 'giant burning body in the cathedral' you're speaking of? For some reason, it's not ringing any bells...

I was always disappointed by the lack of overall classic enemies from the games, and would have liked to have seen more of them appear. With some of the new enemies, I can't help but think they resemble or could be new versions of older foes. For example, that giant red snake, could that be the new giant boreworm? And those things that killed Rick when he entered the mansion, could they somehow be the new Top Heavy enemies? Those thin clawed enemies somewhat resemble one of the zombie enemies that Master Dead summons in the arcade game. It's fun to think about if nothing else.

Another thing I was definitely disappointed by was that only one boss has a side scrolling fight, and it lasts about 5 seconds. :(

EDIT: Oh, and welcome to the board 'Saverior! :cheers

It was in one of the Bottle Rocket trailers. I can't find it, though. It's the one that shows most of Rick's deleted attacks, and he raises his arms at the end for some reason.

Personally, I would like to play the BottleRocket version. Looks more brutal. Like, Rick can shove a machete down a zombie's throat and it tries to rip it out, and then the thing falls down dead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A20gNdDyjiI

Thanks Heretic9.


You're right, there could of been more side-scrolling areas with really strong enemies. Maybe not bosses, but atleast a Mirror Rick or two.

There was definitely a few things that seemed to have been left out in the retail, now that I've gone back and looked at some of the older trailers on my PC. I saw what appeared to be the Wicker Man as a boss, a giant tentacle looking monster with some clowns, as well as some moves that I'm pretty sure aren't in the finished product., including a move where Rick slams his fist into a downed opponents gut and kills them and a move where he makes claws erupt out of the ground around him sort of like the Splattersmash. He also does a move where he holds an enemy up and basically chokes them and then breaks their neck, another where he seems to jump in the air with an enemy in his arms and then slam it down, as well as some enemies that don't seem like they stayed in the game. Like those weird crawling cenitpede looking fuckers who climb on the walls and shoot little worms at Rick and some kind of four legged monster with huge teeth that looks kind of like one of William Birkens forms from Resident Evil 2. One of the early stages looks like it had.. A plane in it? I saw what appeared to be the wing of a plane! Maybe he was in some kind of hangar.

It's too bad none of this made into the finished game.

Alot of that stuff was from the Bottlerocket days. I agree, there is some stuff from that build I wish would of survived into the finished game, but the bad outweighed the good. Bottlerocket's build was less Splatterhouse and more Mark of Kri 3 staring Rick Taylor.

I had a talk with Dave Wilikins, the guy that did the concept art, and he said that's not the only thing they deleted. One of the enemies would of been, get this, Nazi Zombies.

:lol

Apparently, Hitler had an interest in Lord Thule, and set up a mini-cult in a nazi base. Something happened and the base got forgotten.

Fast forward to the 21st century, Rick comes across these guys. And, as an added bonus, they could of used guns. In fact, some of the enemies in the BottleRocket beta could of used weapons. I distinctly recall seeing a clown zombie (Chuckles) holding a baseball bat. And the Abhore was going to have a scyth or something.

That was one thing that kind of threw me off about the one we got. Why did 99% of the non human enemies have a weaponized hand?

I saw those clowns. Ironically some of the negative reviews used images from the unreleased game on their websites, and that was one of the images. I always found it funny that they used those images, almost as if they didn't actually play the game far enough to realize those enemies were never in the game! Dumbos.

:shrug

Same reason why Jason ain't Jason without his mask? Or why Lovecraft has a bunch of "indescribable" monsters, yet he uses 20 adjectives when talking about the thing?

I had the same exact thought!

I would actually have to play through the game again to give you any thoughts in detail. I haven't played through it since December, and while I definitely will again at some point, I couldn't possibly remember enough about it at the moment to list anything major - other than my name being misspelled in the credits, of course.

Although for those of you interested in the concept art Dave came up with, here you go:

http://splatterhouse.kontek.net/add_2011/z...ins-d33h8rj.jpg
http://splatterhouse.kontek.net/add_2011/e...ins-d33kxej.jpg
http://splatterhouse.kontek.net/add_2011/m...ins-d33kwxl.jpg
http://splatterhouse.kontek.net/add_2011/z...ins-d33k0v7.jpg
http://splatterhouse.kontek.net/add_2011/d...ins-d33k0oa.jpg

I admit, I actually kind of want to see those Nazi zombies in action now...

:shrug

Same reason why Jason ain't Jason without his mask? Or why Lovecraft has a bunch of "indescribable" monsters, yet he uses 20 adjectives when talking about the thing?

I dunno maybe but when I think back save Biggy and to a certain Extent Demon Jen; most enemies just had claws and teeth I suppose that might be kinda boring but when you have several different monsters and they all have whips/bludgeons/clubs with spikes protruding from their forearms it gets kind of silly if you ask me.

I'm not hoping to get flamed for this, but I've always felt that Bottlerocket should have stayed on as the developers. Even if the style of their game deviated from the true Splatterhouse aesthetic, Bottlerocket was still a very good game developer with a couple of solid action games under its belt. As long as the final game was fun and technically proficient I would have been happy. Prototype, for example, had a terrible sense of style with an obnoxiously bad story and bland visuals, but the core gameplay was solid and really goddamn fun. I'm sorry, but Namco destroyed the new Splatterhouse when they took it away from Bottlerocket. Dan Tovar did an admirable job putting the remains of the game together with the time and resources he did, but it doesn't change the fact that Splatterhouse should have either been his project to begin with or left with its original developer to finish. In the end, the final product is a glitchy patch-work game that I will not pay $60 for. Flame me or correct me, I welcome either one.

You won't get flamed, but you might have a lot of people disagreeing with you.

Like me. Sorry Scissor, but I just can't agree that Bottlerocket should have stayed on. Not to be a smart-ass, but just how much attention did you pay to the development? What Bottlerocket was making hardly had anything at all to do with Splatterhouse. They were taking a big shit all over the series. Had Namco allowed them to stay on, they would have been laughing stocks. The stuff Bottlerocket was pulling would have made Namco look like idiots. Besides, they didn't completely fire the Bottlerocket team if I recall correctly, they kept a few of them.

I also disagree that the game is a "glitchy patch-work game". The glitches I encountered were low in frequency and mostly minor. On top of that, it's not even 60$ anymore. The price dropped faster than Charlie Sheens IQ.

I'll tell you what destroyed the game. Namco and their lack of support. Splatterhouse practically had to sell by itself running on word of mouth.

Well, that's my two cents.

What's with people making fun of Charlie Sheen these days, anyway?

I have to agree that SOME things from BottleRocket should of been cut out. For example, I heard that Rick could raise his own undead army to fight against Dr. West's. Kinda stupid if you ask me.

But some of the attacks, the enemies and the graphics should of stayed. Just look at a BotltleRocket Teratoid and compare it to the final version. If you ask me, the BottleRocket version looks nastier.

I thought the "punch him so hard he vomits over everybody" attack was funny as hell.

And the gore looked WAY better than the final version, especially Rick after getting hurt.

Heretic9> I paid as much attention to the game's development as any other Splatterhouse fan did. I agree that it didn't look like the SH we love, but I was still confident in the game because Bottlerocket had Mark of Kri under its belt. As long as the final product was a fun and well-polished game I would be happy with it.

One thing that really confuses me is that all the stuff that Bottlerocket did, the stuff that the hard-core SH fans hated, is STILL IN THE GAME. Aside from being slightly retextured, all the stuff we saw in the initial BR pics and videos made it into the final game. The lizard men, the Castlevania-esque architecture, all that stuff the fans hated is still there but covered with more slime. I don't get how an added layer of filth was enough to make the game okay with Namco and the fans.

It's because he's winning and full of tiger blood...And because he's gone bat shit insane.

Somewhat true. A fresh coat of paint goes a long way though. They reskinned the lizard men as well as a lot of the other enemies, so they at least looked like they belonged in a Splatterhouse game, as well as cutting out some of the more bizarre stuff. I can't agree though that Bottlerocket staying on would of made a better game. Fun, maybe. But Splatterhouse isn't Mark of Kri. It wouldn't have felt very much, nor look like a SH game, and that's a big part of it for me. I found the final product very fun and I'm as happy as a clam with it.

I can actually confirm that it's still carrying a $60 price tag at the Wal-Mart I work at, with one copy left. I think it's still $60 at K-Mart too, but I can't confirm that.

Oddly enough, the other Namco titles that came around this time like Enslaved all dropped down to $20-30.

Like 'King said, the enemies DID stay in but they were given a makeover. Although some of them still don't fit in that well with Splatterhouse, most of them look much more appropriate.

One thing to keep in mind is that no one claims that Bottlerocket didn't do some things right. The stuff that remained in the final game were the things Bottlerocket were doing right, not the stuff they were doing to fuck up the series. To get my point across, all I need to say is "Rick Taylor: Pro Skater".

Oh yeah, and if Kung Fu Man is right, then I stand corrected. I could have sworn the prices had went down.

@ Heretic9

Rick could of ridden a skateboard in the BottleRocket version?


I still support the BottleRocket designs of the enemies for two reasons.

1) It would make more sense as to how Rick could reconise Mark and Dan if they were wearing the same clothes as the last time Rick had seen them. But in the final game, all the zombies look exactly alike.

2) Once again, the design of the Teratoid looked pretty badass.

I can actually confirm that it's still carrying a $60 price tag at the Wal-Mart I work at, with one copy left. I think it's still $60 at K-Mart too, but I can't confirm that.

Oddly enough, the other Namco titles that came around this time like Enslaved all dropped down to $20-30.

I dunno about everywhere but Gamestop has it online for 39.99 and it looks like it still has a code for the terror mask statue if you buy it from them FWIW.

Well there was a joke image floating around with Rick on a skateboard, but the remark I made stems from the way Bottlerocket seemed obsessed with making Rick into a pro skater. There were some early screenshots with "Rick Taylor: Pro Skater" going around, not to mention the fact Bottlerocket seemed to be trying to make Rick look "cool". Which wasn't necessary, Rick doesn't need to be cool. He just needs a 2X4 and a few zombies.

This was part of Bottlerockets problem. They didn't have the best interest of the series in mind. They just kept putting shit into the game regardless of whether or not it fit the Splatterhouse theme or had anything at all to do with it.

The enemy designs were actually very good, but the problem wasn't that they weren't good, the problem was that they didn't look like they belonged in the Splatterhouse series. The new team did their best to fix them by redesigning them to look more grotesque and Splatterhouse, but to me some of them still don't quit fit. Still, they did their best given the situation.

The price it seems is still up in the air. I've personally not seen it anywhere for 60$, but I have no reason to doubt Kungfuman so I dunno. I see it selling for about 20$ on Amazon, in brand new condition, not to mention reports a few monthes ago on the gamefaqs boards saying that the price dropped... So it seems the price for the most part has dropped.

My only gripe is that Rick's voice isn't altered when he fuses with the mask. In all three originals, either when hit, dying, or chanting, he has a reverbed effect in his voice. That always sounded awesome to me. I understand we have voice actors now(Jim Cummings being my favorite Dr. Robotnik) but it hit home with me not to hear a truly grizzly sounding death moan.

I can understand that.

But Rick was supposed to be an average joe turned badass. And I guess they chose that voice to remind us that despite the gore and muscles, Rick is in there somewhere, fighting to keep control of himself.

One thing I didn't like is that most of the enemies were just re-skins of a certain type and give a few different attacks. Like the Slaughterhouse Forgotten is the same Student Forgotten, except it can use a meat cleaver against Rick.

I would of like to fight a type of enemy that latched onto Rick and drained his health, like the old-school Boreworms. Or maybe something that could turn intangable. Or something like the Master Dead, and kept raising the dead until you killed it.

I was watching the 10 or so videos on the Splatterhouse press assets CD (I LOVE my new muscle laptop!). Half of them were Bottle Rocket vids, and it turns out the giant burning body that bursts through the cathedral was the Wicker Man after he had been set aflame.