REVIEW
Review: Corpse Party is a Bloody Good Time
(PSP)
Despite the dated presentation, XSEED's latest gives the PSP a highly enjoyable stay of execution.
In a season riddled with life-changing mega-sequels, Corpse Party couldn't have arrived at a worse time -- especially on a platform so ravaged by the deadly tag team of piracy and disinterest. With its distinctly fan-made presentation and digital-only availability, XSEED's latest isn't going to turn heads like the Uncharteds and Modern Warfares of the world; though, in the case of Corpse Party, this lack of attention just might be for the best. While most of our modern gaming blockbusters seek to offer either awkwardly bloodless violence for the sake of the coveted catch-all Teen rating or Bruckheimer-esque glorification of combat, the folks at Team GrisGris obviously didn't suffer under these same publisher pressures. Corpse Party doesn't seek to cast the widest net possible with a series of escapist power fantasies that gently nudge players down a path of rewards; from the outset, the game wears its heartlessness on its sleeve, dispatching characters in ways that have yet to debut in your nightmares (but soon will). This glorified visual novel may resemble a B-tier Super Nintendo game on the surface, but nothing else I've played over the past 25 years has been so relentlessly brutal, bleak, and terrifying.Though Corpse Party looks like an ancient JRPG, trappings like hit points, an inventory, and tile-based movement only exist as lip service; the "game" portions of Corpse Party act solely as a conduit for the narrative. Like Phoenix Wright and 999, Corpse Party is a visual novel, though it looks and plays decidedly more "gamey" than other entries in the genre. Instead of transitioning from static scene to static scene from a first-person perspective -- typical of the genre -- the game employs 2D sprites and an overhead perspective, providing players with a more familiar means of input. And since you're tasked with controlling a group of defenseless teens, combat simply isn't an option; the few foes found in the game most often kill with a single touch, making their presence more disturbing than any turn-based ghost battles ever could.
It should be noted that Corpse Party's story of kids trapped in a haunted, transdimensional school shares more in common with Lars von Trier's Antichrist than the likes of Scooby-Doo. If you're looking for the lighthearted ghostbusting fare a campy title like "Corpse Party" suggests, it's recommended you look elsewhere; within the first few minutes of the game, it's made clear that those unlucky enough to find themselves trapped within the walls of Heavenly Host Elementary School starve to death, kill each other, or commit suicide -- and the evidence of these past actions litters just about every environment you encounter. The cast of Corpse Party doesn't take this setting lightly either, as most characters you meet are teetering on the brink of nervous breakdown, or well past the state of mental stability. And when death claims the innocent, don't expect tearful goodbyes, the swelling of strings, and meaningful final moments; unlucky characters in Corpse Party are snuffed out in blunt bursts of cruelty, often leaving messy piles behind.
As a story, Corpse Party is wild, unpredictable, and thoroughly gripping, though the game bits can't help but come off as dated. Given that Corpse Party originally landed on a much simpler platform and came into being through RPG Maker of all things, the lack of real player input shouldn't come as a surprise -- though it's still a bit disappointing. Most of your time in control of Corpse Party's characters is spent scouring the relatively small school for the next event scene, and when you're stuck, sometimes the only option involves visiting every room again -- just in case you missed something. Death lurks around every corner in Corpse Party, though imminent doom usually makes itself very obvious, and the game provides many save points to reload from -- should you ever find yourself the victim of an unfair fate. And the few puzzles the game throws at you over the course of its five chapters won't exactly fry your brain; for the most part, you'll be tasked with memorizing simple commands, and not much else.
Click the image above to check out all Corpse Party screens.
Though story-focused games like Ghost Trick have shown it's possible to wrap a convoluted plot around some original and entertaining mechanics, Corpse Party's lack of concern for the latter shouldn't deter you. While Team GrisGris clearly has a deficiency in game design, they should be commended for their ability to surprise and disgust with the most limited of assets. Scenes in the game featuring nothing but text and sound effects turned my stomach more than the goriest displays of current-gen technical wizardry ever have -- at times, it felt like Corpse Party was turning my own brain against me. Seeing as the game's audience exists as a niche within a niche, it's doubtful that XSEED will see a return on this gamble; but anyone interested in playing experimental titles like Corpse Party should definitely consider dropping twenty dollars on this disturbing experience, if only to help pave the path for more games like it.
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