However, we must now look at the game’s flaws. All the eerie, 16 bit magic is retained and all 3 games feel really authentic. Sound is also a nostalgic blast from the past as all the sound effects and music are taken straight from the original 3 games. Either way, the gameplay never ceases to be fun and engaging and in multiplayer the experience gets twice as fun. The amount of different enemies is staggering which means dealing with each enemies specific attacks becomes a real chore. Every enemy has a unique style of attacking and a careful approach needs to be applied to all. It really feels like Rick deals some serious damage and you’ve never want to be on the receiving end of his punches. The gameplay is solid with Rick’s attacks being as satisfying as ever. This means mastering all 4 can take some time to learn as different distances from your enemy are needed for all. Each variation has their own combos, specials, throws etc but it’s interesting to note that they all have different reach. 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). 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. 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. The game’s big selling point is its’ faithful use of original graphics and sprites.

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. 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. Now that’s the confusion out of the way, what about the 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. Despite what the title suggests, this Beats of Rage MOD for the Dreamcast is not an updated port of the original Splatterhouse games.

Download splatterhouse rick