The Squadron of Shame HorrorCast

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Pete, Mark, Calin and Alex get together for a discussion of all things horrific and horrible, taking in Corpse Party, Home, Lone Survivor, Amnesia, Penumbra and other spooky treats.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS for all of the above from the outset.

Be sure to leave a comment below or in our G+ Community.

All music in this episode is from Corpse Party: Blood Covered.

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[Pete’s note: Apologies for the huge delay between our recording of this in November and it finally getting uploaded — real life happened a bit. Due to the long delay between recording and publishing, some things we mentioned as “coming soon” (like the sequel to Corpse Party) are now actually available. Curiosity still sucks, though.]

@redswir1 waaaaaaay ahead of ya: http://gamesareevil.com/2012/10/news-corpse-party-book-shadows-coming-europe-winter/

CAN’T WAIT.

Those of you who own a PSP, BUY THAT GAME. It’s amazing. (EDIT: and here’s why: http://gamesareevil.com/2012/09/readme-darkness-scissors-horror-corpse-party/ )

@angryjedi Starting tomorrow Corpse Party on PSP will be $10 for a couple weeks on PSN. Sony also just announced localization for the sequel.

Just played a bit of Alan Wake, can’t really say I enjoyed it, maybe I was expecting all the wrong things. I was hoping for a bit of a scare but I think Corpse Party desensitized me from any other kind of horror found in games (granted, it’s a completely different kind of game).

What I found in this game was faced a shooter with a mechanic I hate as much as cover shooting, I don’t know if it has a name, but I really don’t find any fun in this mechanic when it was in Shadows of the Damned or Red Faction: Armageddon – The mechanic of applying something onto an enemy before they turn vulnerable to take damage. Granted the game looks absolutely gorgeous on PC, though the gameplay I can do without.

Also I was playing Nehrim: At Fate’s Edge, a total conversion mod for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Basically takes all the assets in oblivion (alongside some extra stuff) and makes a completely new game out of it. Quite interesting as its free (requires a working copy of Oblivion though) and is a +60 hour game. The game, like Oblivion, is quite buggy, in fact it’s way more buggy, had the machine freeze on me twice trying to play the game. I would have carried on if it didn’t crap out, but I thought you guys might find it interesting.

Corpse Party (PSP) — Review

Pete Davison spends some time with the ghosts and tries not to cack himself.

@shingro Glad you dug Bayonetta. I love that game a great deal. I think I said back around the time of its original release that the sexuality of the game goes so far beyond “sexy” (read: exploitative) that it just stops being sexy any more and is simply what it is. You’re right, though, it’s pure fun, and unashamed of that fact.

Also glad to hear that you’re delving into Corpse Party. What a fantastic game that is. And you’re right, crazy Japanese. I really enjoyed it as an exploration of Japanese supernatural mythology as well as an immensely creepy, genuinely horrifying horror experience, too.

EDIT: May as well post my Corpse Party review in our shiny new Articles section, since we’re talking about it.

Finished Bayonetta today, and I gotta say what a crazy and wild ride.

It’s exactly what I’d want from a Devil May Cry in terms of mechanics and it could get solid marks from me on the combat, weapons, and base mechanics alone. However add into it a half dozen different gameplay types (including space harrier o_O),a store chock full of complete gameplay changers, training mode loading screens, and most importantly an ever increasing set of badass showpieces for Bayonetta to strut her stuff on and it’s about as much fun as anyone could ask for.

I think my favorite part about Bayonetta (and probably part of the reason no one seems to be able to pin down it’s place in the realm of feminine power) is that it feels like the game is just having so much fun with itself. It seems like it’s entirely comfortable in it’s own skin. I don’t think I ever saw a place where I could even suspect that something was toned down for wider appeal. As a result the game has the strongest possible flavor of what it is. Nothing feels ‘safe’ or focus tested per se. “Lets make this entire level space harrier riding on the back of a ballistic missile?” ‘Great!’ “Maybe this particular demon summon decides it wants to play volleyball with the golem and then flubs the spike?” ‘Wonderful!’ “Hey guys, I dunno, maybe we should tone this part down a bit.”
….
……..
“You’re a spy aren’t you…”
“D:?!”

and he was summarily escorted from the building

Actually the thing that sort of surprises me the most is how much love Asura’s Wrath got for being so ‘new’ in it’s over the top-ness, because Bayonetta does all of the crazyness, makes you feel like just as much of a badass, and on top of it has a wonderful combat system, full combo trees and modifiers for 6+ weapons (I’m missing one somewhere) other game modes, a shooting gallery, and a larger cadre of enemy types and bosses… and on top it it they didn’t need to sell you the ending as DLC!

You can get somewhat nitpicky, Bayonetta clearly has crazy amounts of fan service (though as you might expect that’s not a negative in my mind), Witch Time might be a tad too strong for how easy it is to get when you’re paying attention. Camera isn’t quiiiite as nimble as I might like (though I didn’t mess with any of the options either, maybe there’s a ‘snap to’ shortcut I didn’t find)

Regardless of that, it so forthright and ‘complete’ as the maximum possible it could be as an experience and a flavor that I think it’s gotta go in my personal library as one of the great successes of the PS3, and it will be a criminal shame if indeed the second bayonetta game doesn’t see the light of day.

I know at least that this is where this particular gamestop trade in chain stops, I’m keeping this game in an honored place as my top character action game. Well worth the 13$, well worth 5x that in fact. Considering the ridiculously low price, I’d say if you haven’t prodded at it before, give it a look =)

Coming Soon: Shingro’s Corner of Dark Knowledge =P After all, I’ve been so busy being a respectable individual I’ve been neglecting my duties pointing out the stuff people should give a chance, but wouldn’t think to go near in a half-dozen years =P Look forwards to it! c_c

Also: been on a recent horror kick. Ib is an interesting and ominous experience (not complete) and I’ve gone an hour or so into Corpse Party for the PSP. 2d horror does indeed work, and if you ever wanted to use those skills you developed navigating grid-based towns in FF4/6 to dodge certain death, it’s definitely in there. Felt kinda good. a caveat though, it’s MAD japanese, not in language, but in tone and mythos, so expect that.

@redswir1 Corpse Party isn’t $20, is it? I only paid £11.99 for it, which is… *checks* Oh, about $18. I stand corrected.

Regardless, it’s worth the money. There’s a surprisingly large game in there, but it doesn’t outstay its welcome. And if you’re in the mood for uncompromising Japanese horror, then it will certainly scratch that itch. It’s relatively light on the “gameplay” side of things (i.e. you won’t be pushing blocks around or solving sluice gate puzzles — you’ll mostly be walking from one place to another) but that allows the game to focus on the sole reason for its existence: the story.

As for waiting for the iOS version, I can’t imagine playing this without buttons. The App Store page for the Japanese version (incidentally home of some of the best Engrish you’ll see today) lists some rather convoluted control schemes. What would you rather do to bring up the menu screen? Press the triangle button, or “a 2 finger tap (or pinch in), lower swipe”? Also, “a sound is a full voice which raises presence!” It certainly does.

There are also a few sequences that involve you running away from something unpleasant. The accuracy of a physical D-pad was welcome in these situations.

@angryjedi For a little while now I’ve been in the mood for a dark Japanese adventure game hearkening back to the days of Siren and Silent Hill 2. Resident Evil Revelations almost started to scratch that itch, but I got a shitload of suggestions for Corpse Party, but is it really worth $20? I was gonna wait until the iOS version hit in English.

I also finally nabbed a copy of Resident Evil 2 after all these years and plan to play it sometime before 6 comes out.

Here you go: my thoughts on Corpse Party.

TL;DR: If you like Japanese ghost-based horror (think Ju-on: The Grudge, Fatal Frame) then you will dig this. A lot.

What’re folks going to tackle first on their list?

@angryjedi It seems to have gotten some great buzz, this Corpse Party. It’s on iOS or at least coming to it here, so fingers crossed for a Western release. Either way, more impressions when you’ve sequestered them, if you please!

Haven’t decided if I’ll be participating in this yet as I know there are a few titles I want to buy and catch up on. I suppose I could preemptively add them to my Pile 🙂

That aside, I wanted to share a few thoughts on Corpse Party.

Simple test: if you enjoyed To The Moon and like Japanese horror (think Grudge, Fatal Frame et al) then you will like this a lot.

Essentially it’s a sort of visual novel/adventure/survival horror presented with a combination of Chrono Trigger-style visuals, occasional anime-style close ups, full speech (in Japanese), a great soundtrack, lots of text and many endings, most of which are of the “bad” variety.

It’s one of the most evocative, unsettling, horrifying games I’ve had the pleasure of playing, and most of its scares come not through explicit gore, but through masterful manipulation of the player’s imagination. The most unpleasant scene I’ve witnessed so far genuinely made me squirm in discomfort using only text, flashes of colour and an occasional sound effect. The screen was otherwise blank, yet still managed Amnesia-like levels of terror.

The whole thing’s not very long so if you’re looking for something to play after dark on your PSP or shiny new Vita and you have no objection to a variety of very nasty things happening to anime schoolkids, check it out now on PSN. Wear headphones.