Finally a Splatterhouse tread!
I beat the game (12 Chapters) and have completed 4 of the survival arenas. All together I have put in roughly 12-13 hours of gameplay and love every minute of this game. I'm trying to get the Platinum which is something I've only done with one other game, Batman Arkham Asylum. That tells you how much I enjoy the game. I am going through each chapter again to find the photos of Jen before I start a new game on Brutal.
There is so much blood in this game it's hilarious. The VO actor that voices the terror mask is the guy who voiced Darkwing Duck in the cartoons. He is awesome and delivers the best 1-Liners when you perform Splatter Kills. My favorite one liner is "I say good day sir!!!" There are parts of the game that just made me sit there with a WTF expression on my face. The WTF moment came when I Splatter Killed this giant monster by ripping it's spine out through it's butthole (not even joking) while the Mask delivers a one liner "I've seen plenty of sphincters in my day..and they're all the same.." There is also some really great Heavy Metal music that plays throughout 80% of the gameplay. About 4-5 different times the game turns into a sidescroller platform as a throwback with the old school music that is just pure win. You unlock the original 3 games by completing Phase 2, Phase 4, and Phase 8.
Combat is all Brawler. There is nothing that resembles hack n' slash like GOW3 but the boss battles do remind me of GOW being epic and full of QTE (Quick Time Events). You upgrade your moves and weapon durabilty. I suggest getting full health and blood gauge as soon as possible because the game is really hard (Normal is actually Hard) like Bayonetta. The best thing about the game is you can carry over a Game+ with everything you unlocked and start a new difficulty. Thank goodness.
The story is actually good. It really does try to be ambitious and the guy who wrote the script is behind the Judge Dredd comics from what I've read. I was expecting something simple and cliche but they went in another direction that was satisfying.
There are some technical issues I've ran into. There was a huge bug in the 3rd survival arena where I couldn't run in any direction or recieve damage from any enemies. I had to exit out of the game and went back and everything was normal. The game also freezed in the 2nd Phase (The Doll That Bled).
Also I get really tired of QTE (Quick Time Events) to defeat bosses and perform Splatter Kills. I had to put up with them in GOW3 and here it's just as numerous. Also the Heavy Metal Music and the voice of the terror mask get really low and almost completely mute when performing splatter kills which sucks. You can tell they probably needed more time on development but the games qualities outweigh these issues for me.
Splatterhouse is a mix of God of War 3 and Madworld with your character being like the Hulk. The graphics are ver Borderlands and during "Rage" mode everything turns black, white and red like Madworld. I loved the original Splatterhouse games so this was a must buy for me. If you are on the fence about getting it then wait for the game to drop to around $40.
I really hope they turn this into a trilogy which Namco said they wanted to do.
9/10
i've been waiting 3 goddamn years and was so worried it was gonna get canceled. 
