Splatterhouse 3 is set several years after Splatterhouse 2. Rick and Jennifer have married, and now have a son, David. However, Jennifer and David are both kidnapped by the Evil One, who needs a psychic child to unlock the power of the Dark Stone. David has psychic abilities, as it turns out - and the only reason Jennifer is taken this time is to keep Rick busy while the Evil One tries to use David's abilities to unleash the Dark Stone's power. You have to go through the entire mansion to save Jennifer and David, then you have to find the Evil One and defeat him. The Mask is your constant companion on your quest - for the first time, the Mask actually talks to Rick throughout the game. The fact that the Mask is sentient also plays in the ending as well, but I won't spoil it for those of you that haven't seen it.

I'll admit I was surprised when I first popped it into my Genesis - first by the graphics, then by the change in gameplay. The graphics were dramatically improved over the first two, especially in the cinema department. I'll admit, my jaw dropped the first time I saw the opening. The digitized pictures in this were some of the best I'd ever seen on the Genesis... and were quite disturbing in spots, to say the least. The in-game graphics were also improved tenfold over the first two, as you can tell by the screenshots.

The gameplay changes were what surprised me the most. Splatterhouse 3 took a quite different approach - whereas the first two games were strictly sidescrolling action, this one had more of a quest feel to it. You now have a huge mansion to explore. The game is still divided into levels, but each one is one floor of the mansion, and quite large. To complicate things, you have a time limit to complete each stage - if you don't finish the stage by the time time runs out, you don't die - but either Jennifer or David might, depending on what stage you're in. Since the floors of the mansion are so big, and certain doors might A) only open one way or B) transport you to another part of that floor, you can get lost pretty easily. Luckily you can press start in an empty room to pull up a map of the current floor.

The other big change in the gameplay was that the game plays more like a Double Dragon/Streets Of Rage/Final Fight game instead of playing like the original two games. Besides your basic punch, you have a variety of moves and weapons you can pick up to use against the various monsters - you can do a spinning roundhouse kick, headbutt, jump kick... your standard Double Dragon moves.

Another new addition to the game is the POW meter. You pick up small blue spheres, called Eldritch Orbs, that fill up that meter. When it's full, and you press the A button... Rick's body expands and becomes even more muscular. The Mask also looks like it's become fused to Rick's body. You can do even more special moves - body slams, chokeholds, and the best one, where pieces of Rick's body literally EXPLODE out of him, take out everything standing nearby, and then go back into his body.

There are several weapons lying around that you can pick up... however, if you drop the weapon that you have (which will happen if you're knocked down by an enemy attack), a spirit will fly out and carry your weapon away to the Spirit Room, which is hidden somewhere in the level. These spirits will take your weapon when you drop it, no matter where you are, unless you pick it up first. This can be especially annoying if you're fighting a boss and this happens.

There are multiple endings to be had, depending on whether or not you save Jennifer and David. To get the best ending, it's best to take the shortest route through a stage - the sooner you reach the boss, the better your chances of defeating them before the time runs out.

Splatterhouse 3 is different enough from the first two games to warrant a serious look. Personally I prefer the setup of the first two, but there's enough that I like about 3 that keeps me coming back. If you're collecting Genesis games, and want one of the best ones out there, this is absolutely one to consider. And if you love Splatterhouse, it's a no brainer - buy it.