Splatterhouse 2 Review - Screenshot 1 of 2

Rick is back! After the Terror Mask from the first Splatterhouse comes back and tells him his girlfriend (Who seemingly meets an unpleasant fate in the first game) can still be saved, Rick puts on the mask again, and goes back to the remains of the mansion to locate another house nearby, which is apparently where she is located.

What follows is basically 8 more stages of Splatterhouse. The game plays exactly the same, with Rick being able to punch, jump, kick, slide kick and grab weapons to attack with. The shotgun, 2 by 4 and others return, but you'll also be able to grab some new toys such as a chainsaw. The only major difference really is that most of the stages actually take place outside instead of inside, so you'll traverse areas such as the remains of the original Splatterhouse, forests, swamps, and a pier, aside from the usual sewers, hallways, dungeons and even a laboratory.

Splatterhouse 2 Review - Screenshot 2 of 2

Like the first game, the end of each stage has its own grotesque boss, each of which follows its own distinct attack pattern. Defeat the boss for an explosion of gore (One even makes a curtain of blood droop over your screen!) and you'll move on to the next stage.

Sadly, despite the game being so similar to the first (Which you'd think would be good), there are some complaints, which can really only be attributed to the fact the game is on the Mega Drive/Genesis. The graphics, for some reason, just don't look very appealing, and the soundtrack is completely unimpressive aside from one or two tracks. The sound effects also fail to impress, and don't sound like they're supposed to at all.

Conclusion

If you can look past the presentation issues, Splatterhouse 2 is still an enjoyable game and a worthy sequel. What you really should be looking forward to is Splatterhouse 3 however - This ditched the sidescroller formula and instead is an actual beat 'em up! It was not released in Europe, but due to the Import category on the Virtual Console we think this won't be an issue.