When it comes to scaring people with the medium of video games, titles such as Resident Evil come to mind.
But the majority of these focuses more on psychical shocks like a monster smashing though a window which the character is close to and attacking which is what is called Western Horror.
But when it comes to scaring people, the Japanese do it right. Whether it’s a book, film, or game, some of the most shock-intensive experiences have such as The Ring and One Missed Call have been brought to us by their creative minds.
The reason why I think it works so well is because Eastern/Japanese Horror assaults our psychology by questioning our sense of reality, but also it uses people’s fears, guilt, beliefs as well as eerie sound effects, relevant music and emotional instability to build tension and further the plot.
Which brings me to the latest offering from Team GrisGris which does what no video game has done for me in a long time which was scare me senseless.
Story
The story of Corpse Party is set in Heavenly Host Elementary School ,an elementary school that was torn down following the murders and disappearances of several students and another school called Kisaragi Academy has been built on the grounds where Heavenly Host Elementary School once stood.
One dark and rainy night in Classroom 1-A, a group of 7 Kisaragi Academy students are listening to a ghost story about the old school by Ayumi Shinozaki in which a teacher fell down a flight of stairs and died when there is a sudden blackout which makes one of the other students Satoshi Mochida scream in terror which also makes two others Naomi Nakashima and Seiko Shinohara scream in reaction.
With Satoshi recomposing himself from this scare, there is a knock on the classroom door which makes Satoshi, Naomi, Seiko and another student Mayu Suzumoto all jump in fright. Then Yoshiki Kishinuma suggests that Satoshi should check the door to which he reluctantly agrees to, but as he nears the door, a voice comes from the other side that says “Is anyone still here…?” “G o h o m e . c h I l d r e n . . .”
Then the door flies open and Satoshi falls back onto the floor and Ms. Yui Shishido their homeroom teacher walks in and the lights come back on and the whole event is revealed to have been set up between Ms. Shishido and Ayumi.
As Satoshi recovers himself from the events of the last few minutes, Ms. Shishido tells him that there is someone who is looking for him and calls the person into the classroom and it turns out to be Satoshi’s younger sister Yuka who has come to give Satoshi his umbrella since he forgot it at home.
Ms. Shishido says that it’s past seven and time for everyone to go home then Mayu starts sobbing and Ms. Shishido comforts her and by doing so reveals that it was Mayu’s final day at Kisaragi Academy and Ms. Shishido and her other classmates wish her luck and offer her some comforting words.
SakutarÅ Morishige then suggests taking a photo with everyone as a farewell gift for Mayu which everyone enthusiastically agrees and afterwards Ayumi says that there’s something that she wants to do with everyone before they all leave the school since Mayu is leaving and it’s a charm called ‘Sachiko Ever After.’
Ayumi explains about the charm and that she found it on the internet and if done right all of them would be together forever, so they stand in a circle around a paper doll made by Ayumi herself who then says that they must say “Sachiko, we beg of you” in their heads nine times as per to the number of people.
After they have done this , all of they each grab hold of anywhere they can on the paper doll and pull till it rips into nine pieces finishing the charm and Ayumi says to the others to keep the pieces of paper safe by putting them into their ID holders or wallets.
Ms. Shishido says that now is the time to pack up and head home and the others agree when suddenly there is an earthquake and the students start to panic while Ms. Shishido tells them to remain calm and get under a desk and wait till the earthquake has passed but the floor starts to collapse around them and they all fall through.
And now they are transported to another dimension where Heavenly Host Elementary still exists and is haunted by the ghosts of the school's murdered children as they try to reunite with their friends, find their way back home and survive the ghosts and other mysterious forces that haunt the school.
Presentation
The original Corpse Party was released back in 1996 for the PC-9801 and the game has seen two remakes since then. While it still retains the 16-bit look of the original, this version has new character designs for the dialogue sequences instead of the static avatar images of the older versions which now show the character’s reactions to what is happening to them and this allows the player to share the experience with the characters themselves.
While the characters and backgrounds are shown in 2D 16-bit sprite form and seem outdated by today’s graphical standards with games like Batman Arkham City and Skyrim pushing the boundaries.
But surprisingly enough, the 16-bit sprites actually help set the game's atmosphere as it does an excellent job with utilizing both shadow and lighting effects to set the mood which is a welcome change as the original game's graphics were way too bright in comparison to the dreading tone which the game was trying to create and deliver to the player.
As a nice touch the more violent dead ends don't even use graphics at all, but instead the game exclusively uses text and sound to explain the horrific deaths that befall the characters when the player does something that they were not mean to and this can range from someone getting their eye cut out with a pair of bloody scissors to being buried alive or even engaging in cannibalism.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Corpse Party is centred on exploration in which players will need to search every room to find hidden items and then figure out where and how they need to be use the item and to find the next means of progression in each of the game's five chapters.
Puzzle elements have also been thrown in such as using any of the multiple characters to solve a puzzle together, playing a cat and mouse game with the spirits that wander the halls or completing a timed task.
If you make the wrong decision or fail to complete the task or puzzle within the given time, you have to go through the entire lead-up sequence from the previous save point, which can be very annoying.
However replaying these moments again is even more noticeable considering that most of the ending sequences either good or bad last at least one minute.
Another element that adds to this game is the student ID cards that are littered throughout each of the game’s five chapters that can be collected.
While these collectables don't serve much purpose outside of giving you an idea of the other kids who have also fallen victim to the horror, it does add to the dread and seemingly hopeless situation that the characters have gotten themselves into and this also adds to the back story.
Music
The music in any horror game plays a large role in creating and maintaining the atmosphere and in Corpse Party this is no different. Early on, the music tends to repeat itself, but as you progress throughout the game, new tunes add that extra layer and reinforce the crazy circumstances that these characters are in. On top of that, there are even moments when no music is used it’s here when the game relies instead on sound effects, such as creaking floorboards, chimes, and other sounds, to keep your attention and add that element of uncertain terror.
Voice-Acting
As much as the graphics and the music help set the mood in Corpse Party, nowhere does it excel more at this than its all-star cast of voice actors which includes Hiro Shimono and Eri Kitamura who all play their characters really well. Considering that the characters they provide voices for are high-schoolers, all of their screams and the horror in their voices only add to the intensity.
Final Thoughts
From the outset Corpse Party seems like your typically Japanese-style game. All of your typical anime stereotypes are present here: the kind-but-shy male, the short-haired tomboy, the hyper "genki" girl, the serious glasses-wearing male, the young and beautiful female teacher, the younger sister -the list keeps going on. However for whatever Corpse Party does right it does have a few flaws of its own.
Due to its visual novel story structure, the game is primarily text-based. Generally there's about three to five minutes between the last save point and when a bad end takes place for some of the less severe offenders. The issue is that when the player has to reload to the last save there's no way to skip past text without mashing the X button like a madman to get back to the point that you were at before.
While it's not a game breaker it is somewhat baffling that this wasn't taken care of during the localization process as XSEED worked with Team GrisGris to modify other parts of the game and there are some buttons on the PSP that Corpse Party doesn't utilize at all that could have served this purpose. There are also a few minor character sprite colour palette issues that clash against the rest of the sprite work in the game but it only manifests itself in a few areas and really doesn't distract you from the game unless you going looking for them.
Personally I think that a couple of extras could been added like a CG mode where all of the illustrations that you see throughout the game are viewable as well as a Jukebox mode where you can listen to any of the music tracks which are both standard for visual novel games.
One other addition that I think would have been welcome here would be an Ending viewer where you could watch any of the many Good/Bad ends which the game has instead of playing through the whole chapter again just to see that one outcome.
Yet despite these issues, Corpse Party is proof how simple visuals which together with effective storytelling, relevant and haunting music and great voice acting talent can come together to create a truly unique, disturbing and unsettling gaming experience which unlike most horror games Corpse Party genuinely makes the player feel what the characters are feeling over which the now overhyped mainstream horror productions like Paranormal Activity which use cheap scares to try and get a shock out of the audience.
The overall effect that Team GrisGris and the localization team at XSEED Games were able to create with this game is nothing short of breathtaking.
The main story of Corpse Party will you roughly from six to eight hours if you manage to stay alive and avoid the numerous wrong ends and there is a mode in which ten extra chapters are available to play that are unlocked when certain endings are viewed and chapters completed.
While playing Corpse Party, I highly recommend using headphones instead of the built-in speakers as the audio of the game was recorded bin-aurally. This means that the game's audio was recorded with two microphones instead of one to create the effect of "3D" stereo sound and the feature makes for one of the most engrossing and immersing gaming experiences ever seen on a portable console.
Would I recommend this game?
In short yes,
Corpse Party is quite easily one of the very few PSP highlights of this year. It's genuinely been a long time since I've played a game that was so relentlessly brutal, bleak, terrifying or could hit me as emotionally hard as Corpse Party did.
And it is not by any means the most difficult game on the market so some people may be disappointed by the lack of challenge here.
It won't be too surprising that many people will most likely write this game off due to its aged look and for being a Japanese style horror game and the fact that its release date clashes with some of the heavier hitters that 2011 has had to offer.
But for those people who do try it out will find their money very well-spent on what is undoubtedly an truly and unbelievably fantastic and horrific gaming experience and I hope that this paves the path for the sequel Book of Shadows and many other games like it.
In my opinion, this is one party you don’t wanna miss.
Please note that this is defiantly not for anyone who is weak of heart or stomach, squeamish, or those that can't handle depictions of death as this title may mentally scar you for life
(PS) As a special here's a HD walkthough for Corpse Party which is being done by Larzuk06:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL359E0A5B2B1D6EC9&feature=plcp
