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Corpse Party

Score: 83%
ESRB: Mature
Publisher: XSEED Games
Developer: Team GrisGris
Media: Download/1
Players: 1
Genre: Adventure/ Survival Horror

Graphics & Sound:

Corpse Party is an old game that is being released again, this time for the PC. It was originally called Corpse Party: Blood Covered and we’ve seen it ported to several systems now. While the system might change, the game has remained more or less the same. It is a creepy horror game where you are trying to save a group of teens from an unknown mysterious place.

All of the voicework is in Japanese with text at the bottom of the screen. This really isn’t a problem since you can read the text and then move your characters. The text seems to be very well-translated, so it doesn’t feel choppy or awkward. Of course, Corpse Party definitely isn’t a game for children, based on the language alone. Add in some really creepy music at times and this isn’t a game for the faint of heart.

If the creepy music isn’t enough to scare you, Corpse Party will assault your vision with numerous scenes of horror. Granted, Corpse Party is a 2D game with sprite characters, but you will still be able to tell they are mangled bodies in various states of decomposition and vomit is gross, no matter how low the bit-rate. There are ghosts as well, which are pretty creepy in their own way. I think it’s the overall feel of the graphics combined with the music, because together they might just leave you a bit creeped out if you’re playing while home alone on a dark night.


Gameplay:

When you start up Corpse Party, you are given the options of five different chapters plus Extra, Victims, and Configuration. The game will let you choose to play the chapters in any order if you want, but it might be a bit confusing and possibly spoil an earlier chapter if you skip one. I am not sure if that will affect you getting the best possible endings if you play out of order. Corpse Party has multiple endings based on the choices that you make throughout the game. I would definitely recommend Chapter One first, just so you have a clue as to what is going on.

As an old legend goes, the ghost of a teacher haunts the site that used to be Heavenly Host Elementary School. Now, a new school, Kisaragi Academy, sits on the site but the teacher still haunts it, sending kids home at 7 PM. One night a group of students are there late cleaning up. Ayumi Shinozaki, Naomi Nakashima, Yoshiku Kishinuma, Seiko Shinohara, Satoshi Mochida, Mayu, and Morishige are all still in Kisaragi Academy when the lights go out right at 7 PM. They hear a ghostly knocking in the corridor, but it’s only their teacher Ms. Yui Shishido playing a trick on them. She has escorted Satoshi’s younger sister Yuka, who is there to bring Satoshi his umbrella. Since they’re all there together, the nine of them decide to do a little ritual that will bind them together as friends forever. After the ritual, it appears everything is fine, but suddenly a massive earthquake strikes.

Earthquakes are common in the area, but what’s quite unusual is that after the earthquake, Naomi and Seiko are the only two left in the room. Plus, they are no longer in their school. Instead they find they have woken up in Heavenly Host Elementary, with no visible way out. To make matters even worse, Naomi has a sprained ankle. Throughout all of Chapter One, you will be playing with Naomi and Seiko. Each chapter, you will play with different kids that were pulled into these hell dimensions.

When you first start up the game, you’ll find that there is nothing you can choose under Extra. You will have to beat a chapter to unlock the extra that goes with it. These chapters deal with some of the previous students that have been stuck there. They are much shorter, but like the main chapters, they have quite a number of wrong endings, so you’ll have to try a few times to get the right one. If you choose Victims from the Main Menu, you will be able to browse through all the name tags you have collected from the dead bodies. Finally, Configuration will let you adjust the game’s settings. This is where you can make the game window larger or even set it into full screen mode if you want. You can also adjust the various volumes here.


Difficulty:

The difficulty in Corpse Party comes from trying to get the best endings rather than trying to survive. Granted, your characters will not always survive and, believe it or not, that is the best possible scenario. I am not sure how many total endings there are (I think 33 based on one of the achievements), but every little decision you make can affect the outcome of your game. Sometimes even when you know the correct thing to do, it’s still difficult to manage. For example, in one board there is a ghost that will follow you around. If you ever face him, your crystal will crack and you won’t be able to get the good ending. This means that you need to save constantly so you don’t have to start over if you happen to turn the wrong direction.

Also, it can be difficult at times to figure out where you are supposed to go and what you are supposed to do. If you decide to look up a FAQ, you can probably beat all the chapters in a few hours. If you want to figure it out yourself, be prepared for a lot of trial and error.


Game Mechanics:

When I first started up Corpse Party, I just guessed at the keys as there is no explanation of how to play, but you can use a controller if you want. If you choose the keyboard, W is up (north), A is left (west), D is right (east), S is down (south). The Space bar talks, selects, etc. E and X both open up Character Menu. The arrow keys also work for movement. When you open up the Character Menus, you’ll see that the characters have an HP, but it really doesn’t mean anything. In Corpse Party there is no fighting; there aren’t battles of any kind. The whole game is just moving around to find things and selecting whatever decision you choose. It is a lot of reading rather than fighting.

You do need to know that you can save whenever you find a lit candle. Your data is stored on your Steam account, so if you play on multiple computers, you will still be able to continue the same game save data, which is really nice. I would highly recommend that you save and save often!

Rather than a survival horror game, Corpse Party is more like one of those old Choose Your Own Adventure books made into a game. You will do a lot of reading, then you choose where to go. Based on where you go, you will be given story options to select from. Sometimes those options change your game ending and sometimes they don’t. You really don’t know which it is until you get further on into the book... I mean game. It is a very creepy story, so if that's what you're looking for, you’ll love Corpse Party. Even though it is an old game, the tale has held up over time quite well!


-Cyn, GameVortex Communications
AKA Sara Earl

Minimum System Requirements:



OS: Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8; Processor: 1.5 GHz Memory: 512 MB RAM; Graphics: 64 MB VRAM, 3D accelerator compatible w/ DirectX 9.0c; DirectX: Version 9.0c; Storage: 4 GB available space; Sound Card: Compatible with DirectX 9.0c
 

Test System:



OS: Windows 8.1, CPU: Intel Core i7-3630QM 2.4 GHz, RAM: 16 GB, Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M, Hard Drive: 400 GB free

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