Despite what the title suggests, this Beats of Rage MOD for the Dreamcast is not an updated port of the original Splatterhouse games. They are in fact 3 new beat-em-ups created from the games’ existing sprites and backgrounds all with the focus of kicking arse in the style of the third title. Now that’s the confusion out of the way, what about the games?

I’d like to start with the good points before the bad because I find it very difficult to be critical about fan-games as I’m always very grateful for them. This is because without them, the Dreamcast would have died a long time ago and it’s always fantastic to see people taking it into their own hands to keep the Dream alive.

The game’s big selling point is its’ faithful use of original graphics and sprites. Not only is everything you loved about the original games still there, they’ve been used in a way to create entirely new and coherent stages keeping everything fresh.

Presentation is top notch with easy to navigate menus, well crafted cut scenes, great life displays for both your player and the enemies as well as a much needed tutorial teaching you every character’s attacks and special moves. 4 different ‘Ricks” are available for play; there’s Rick from Splatterhouse, Skull Rick from Splatterhouse 2, Rick Taylor from Splatterhouse 3 and Mutant Rick which is Rick’s super-form from Splatterhouse 3 (I can’t help but think that Rick Astley would have been a cool secret character). Each variation has their own combos, specials, throws etc but it’s interesting to note that they all have different reach. This means mastering all 4 can take some time to learn as different distances from your enemy are needed for all.

The gameplay is solid with Rick’s attacks being as satisfying as ever. It really feels like Rick deals some serious damage and you’ve never want to be on the receiving end of his punches. Every enemy has a unique style of attacking and a careful approach needs to be applied to all. The amount of different enemies is staggering which means dealing with each enemies specific attacks becomes a real chore. Either way, the gameplay never ceases to be fun and engaging and in multiplayer the experience gets twice as fun.

Sound is also a nostalgic blast from the past as all the sound effects and music are taken straight from the original 3 games. All the eerie, 16 bit magic is retained and all 3 games feel really authentic. No complaints in this department.

However, we must now look at the game’s flaws. The big problem I have is the repetition. Despite 3 games being available, they’re all incredibly similar because the same characters are available for each 3. This makes each 1 of the 3 games precisely the same to play.

“You said all the stages were different”, I here you say. Well yes, to a certain degree. But they all play exactly the same! Move to the right (or left if you’re playing ‘Journey Through Hell) and beat the crap out of each swarm of enemies to move onto the next one. Rinse and repeat. The stages could have included some sort of gimmick to make each one more unique but it’s only the graphics and sequence of enemies that ever change. Playing it for lengthy periods of time becomes more of a chore than a game and this ultimately ruins the experience.

This can obviously be excused if you and your mates are looking for a bit of mindless violence but at the end of the day, there are a lot of other games that achieve this and do it better. Splatterhouse Trilogy is just a matter of style over substance. As a Dreamcast fan you have to give the developers credit for making what is essentially a new Dreamcast game. I’m certainly happy it’s here and it’s free, but it still feels like a little more effort could have gone into making the game less of a repetitive trudge.

Download the game here: DOWNLOAD ME.

Burn the game with this: DISCJUGGLER ME.

Written by Lewis “Sonic Yoda” Clark 05/02/2009