Thursday 7 February 2013

Game review: Corpse Party: Book of Shadows

Title: Corpse Party: Book of Shadows

Year: 2011

Platform: PSP

What is it about: Roaming around a haunted school aimlessly, waiting for your turn to die.

Genre: Horror

My review: Welcome to the sequel to Corpse Party: Blood Covered (also known as Corpse Party: Repeated Fear), which is a game I condemned to no end in my review. If you haven't check that out, please follow this link here.

The storyline in this game is pretty much the same, except they had made a few twist to it. It actually started off at one of the wrong ending of the original game, whereby the time is reversed and the characters are to perform the Sachiko Ever After charm and end up in the accursed Heavenly Host Elementary School once again. The fear repeats itself. So in other words, all the dead characters in the previous game are resurrected only to die again in a different, more sadistic way.

This game makes me appreciate the previous one. Yes, it is that bad. Although more gory than the first installment, this game lacks the essence of horror. Also, they completely changed the gameplay into that of a visual novel. Meaning, now you can't even run from ghosts or solve puzzles. The paths you take in this game depends solely on the decisions you make after given several choices. Boring.

Worse still, I really can't keep track on time in this game as it keeps jumping between the past and present. At times, you go all the way back before the Heavenly Host incident, where you'll get a load of what's going on in some of the characters' normal life. again, boring. This game seriously lacks the fear factor even though they made a new approach by making the sound in the game three-dimensional. I have to admit, the 3D sound effect is very cool.

There are two things I really dislike about this game. First of all, more people will die here, even though they didn't die in the first game. Some of them die in the same way they should have in the wrong ending of the first game. Sucks huh? Sometimes these characters die because of the stupid decisions they make that is obviously going to kill them, and you are to watch their impending death helplessly while facepalming all the way.

Second and worst, this game is a cliffhanger like I've never seen before. This game just ends abruptly in the middle of an event which doesn't suggest anything except that there will be a sequel. Well, it damn well be one. Otherwise, I'll be mad. Not just me, even the seiyuu of this game's characters will be mad too. Don't believe me? Check this out. That is the Soulful Testimony by Asami Imai who voiced Ayumi Shinozaki.

In conclusion, this is one game which is beyond disappointing. And here I thought the previous Corpse Party game was the worst. I have no idea how they could possibly come out with a game this bad. Anyway, I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed and wait for another sequel.

Rating (out of 10): 0