By Kevin "Berserker" Hall
Player(s): 1
This review takes a look at some of the bonus content for Splatterhouse that
is now available on Xbox LIVE and the PlayStation store. Two survival arenas
were released along with preorders - they can't be bought on either download
service at this time - and two other survival arenas can be bought for 160
points or $2.00 depending on which service you use.
The two preorder survival arenas are the Heart of the Mansion and the Hall of
Mirrors. The Heart of the Mansion starts off with a chainsaw weapon made
available to Rick from the start of the battle. The living heart of West Mansion
beats in the background while Rick fights in the arena - it has no other purpose
than being in the background. The arena itself has many sections to it unlike
the more common circular arena. The level is the exact same as the portion where
Rick confronts the mansion heart in story mode. The enemy variety is basically
the same as any other arena for the most part. The Heart of the Mansion stage
offers the player several severed arms to use as weapons much like the Wickerman
arena.
The Hall of Mirrors arena is the same area where players fight Mirror Rick in
the main story. A shotgun is available from the start of this stage and a player
will surely need it for the later waves of enemies since this arena can get just
as hard as the final arenas available with the game. There are no Mirror Rick
enemies in this arena sadly.
The two survival arenas that are available to buy on the downloadable
services are The Killing Floor and Lost Islands. The Killing Floor is probably
the most unique survival arena of all the currently available arenas - this
arena places Rick inside of a closed in white room and the room will display
every drop of blood that Rick splatters on the surrounding enemies.
The concept of The Killing Floor (making all blood stand out more) kind of
works against it however. Since all blood can easily be seen, I couldn't help
but notice how it would disappear quickly. I couldn't really "Paint the walls
red" since much of the blood would disappear in my slaughter... and it was made
more noticeable because the room was so white. The Killing Floor has a surprise
boss battle at the final wave. I won't ruin it by mentioning who it is, but it
is a nice surprise.
The Lost Islands is another new arena like The Killing Floor. It takes place
in a stone arena with broken mirrors, stone pillars and a mountain view along
the side of it. Much like The Killing Floor, it has a boss fight at the end of
it also. Instead of chests, wooden boxes will be dropped in between the waves of
enemies and boreworms will often fall into the arena in the middle portion for
Rick to stomp on to gain blood in between battles.
The downloadable arenas are a nice extension of survival arenas for a player
that is eager for more killing but all of them share one thing in common - there
is really no reason to play them after the first time through other than
enjoyment in beating your best time. They offer no extra unlockables. The
Killing Floor and the Lost Islands arenas are easily the best of the arenas
since they offer some boss fights. The Heart of the Mansion and Hall of Mirrors
arenas are more like the standard arenas already included with the game really.
The Good:
+ More Splatterhouse arenas!
+ The Killing Floor and Lost Islands have boss fights on them.
The Bad:
- No extras and hardly any replay value.
- The Heart of the Mansion and the Hall of Mirrors are really no different than
normal arenas.
Final Rating: 65%
