Splatter Piece Review (PC)

Splatter Piece takes me back to secondary school—to the art classes that, like most subjects in the eye of a pre-pubescent ne’er-do-well, were taught not so much with the intent to educate, but to keep mischievous teens from “accidentally” tipping a pot of paint over their own heads. Perhaps I just went to a bad school. Maybe, just maybe, Splatter Piece is on to something, and that it shares a common theme with the average student. Perhaps it is normal to kick over your friend’s canvas and douse them in paint after all. According to Splatter Piece, this is completely above board.

Splatter Piece is all about channeling your inner artist—an untapped talent that can create brilliant art with as little as an airbrush and a touch of gloss. It’s also about making fellow artists’ lives a little difficult; the fact that you can kick them over and douse their art with unnecessary blemishes sort of says it all. But the point of Splatter Piece is simple: create art, and hope that whatever you bring to the canvas is enough to sway the vote in your favor.

Of course, this isn’t your average art class, nor is it a kind introductory course that teaches you the basics of art theory. Rather, it’s something of a masterclass in abstract painting. Alas, you are not tracing shapes and adding bits of paint to a circle and calling it a day. Instead, you are crafting your own version of a classic piece—Van Gogh, for example. And that’s essentially all that Splatter Piece is: a multiplayer game in which several aspiring artists dabble for the crown, either to score the hearts of their competitors, or to earn the favor of the judgement system—a post-painting bit that scores each canvas on their accuracy and style.

As far as painting goes, Splatter Piece gives you all of the basic components to mimic timeless pieces of art. While not as complex as a Bob Ross session, the game hands you three brush tips, an eyedropper tool, an eraser, and a wheel of colors to switch between. In any other case, you would have all of the basic bits and pieces to create a stunning piece of work. However, as you have a time limit to create each canvas, you must use the tools at your disposal to capture as many elements and fine details as possible before the clock strikes out. But of course, you can probably imagine the atrocities that sprout from the easel here.

If you’re not splashing paint on a canvas or working through the fine details of a beloved art exhibit, then you’re ruffling a few feathers in the studio. Alongside the painting process—a segment that involves using an airbrush, a palette of colors, and a few different tools—you have a handful of set pieces to fool around with. For example, in each session you have a piece of candy that lands in the studio. If you claim the candy, then you can use it to add a few extra touches to your opponent’s piece. But, you get the idea. It’s a bit like Monopoly, only you aren’t stealing properties or sending someone to jail, but vandalizing an otherwise solid piece of art.

With a good selection of exhibits to work through and, well, destroy, Splatter Piece provides an entertaining, albeit relatively short-sighted multiplayer experience that can keep you and a few friends entertained for an hour or two, give or take. Like most PvP titles with a niche subject to hand, though, it is a game that loses its appeal as you spend more time with it. Once you sample the canvases and dabble in its painted waters, it can begin to feel a little barebones. Kicking friends is a nice way to pass the time, as is taking part in the occasional conga. But, at the end of the day, there are only so many paintings that you can mimic before the brush dries out and the fun factor dissolves.

Although Splatter Piece does come equipped with a practice mode, at no point does it ever build on its single-player features. Rather, it hands you a chance to experiment with various techniques, earn a spot on the leaderboard, and sample the exhibits before you duke it out in the multiplayer mode. Consequently, it isn’t all that good of a solo experience, as the lack of perks and progression-based milestones make it so that you have little more to explore outside of its self-contained practice mode. And so, if you are looking for a game that waxes the best of both worlds, then you might want to consider setting up your easel in a different studio.

If you’re a fan of Jackbox Games’ brief but enjoyable mini-games, then you’ll probably enjoy dabbing your brush on Splatter Piece’s canvas for a couple of hours. That being said, it’s still worth taking it all with a huge pinch of salt. While Splatter Piece does give you a nice coating of paint, it does sadly lack the full coverage of a memorable exhibit. If not for the conga infusions and the occasional mid-session curveballs, it would be a rather simple product. But hey, that’s a party game for you, in a nutshell: short, sweet, and simple.

Verdict

Splatter Piece might struggle to establish itself as the perfect Bob Ross painting in the PvP field, though it does manage to produce a thoroughly enjoyable piece of artwork that is both intriguing and hilarious to gawp at for a couple of hours or so. With friends, it is surprisingly easy to gloss over the lack of intricate details and padding and simply enjoy it for what it is. Alone, however, it is slightly tougher to turn a blind eye to the missing pieces of parchment, of which there are quite a few. But then, Splatter Piece isn’t a game that you will naturally pivot to to make a masterpiece; it’s an experience that you will, at least every once in a blue moon, revert back to to give you a well-needed chuckle.