Corpse Party Review

The final game of this month is a special one to me, and its fan base. Its memorable, popular, and still going on. Its made me scared, made me cry, and made me laugh. It was heartwarming and awesome, and I'll say straight up this might be my personal favorite game reviewed this month. With the final day of this month among us, its time to look at the final game of this month, so get ready for the Corpse Party. Make sure to bring drinks.

This game actually has a pretty long history. Corpse Party was originally an indie horror RPG created by Makoto Kedouin. It had some strange elements to it, but it was popular, and even won Kedouin 5 million yen at a game competition, so what do I know about strange. It was remade in RPG maker in English, so if you want to experience the originals story, play that first. This version will have different scenes, different characters and just be overall better and easier to understand. Since I suck at segways, I should mention that in Japan, this game was released in chapters on the PC under the title Corpse Party BloodCovered. It was later remade and released on the PSP and iOS in one package with more content and updated graphics and voice work. This version is the one that was released in America, so it'll be the one looked at in this review. Its subtitles were stripped though, being only called Corpse Party here in America though, so to make things easier to recognize, from here on out I'll be referring to the first game as BloodCovered. Just a heads up.

The plot begins in a room with nine characters and an eyeball. Whoops, forgot to press yes to watch the intro. Yeah you can skip the intro to each of this games five chapters, and its nice to be able to shave off ten minutes in future playthroughs. But anyway, the plot begins in a room with only seven high school students telling scary stories. One scary story and prank later, the seven students, that is Satoshi, Ayumi, Naomi, Yoshiki, Sieko, Mayu, and Morshige, their teacher Ms Yui, and Satoshi's little sister Yuka, all clean up the room after the schools festival that day, and take the time to give Mayu a fond farewell, as she is going to transfer the next day. Then Class Rep Ayumi pitches an idea to make sure they stay friends forever. This is through the Sachiko Ever After charm that Ayumi found online. The way the charm works is that two or more people grab onto a paper doll, say the phrase "Sachiko we beg of you" once for each person in the group, and pull. Should you have performed the charm correctly and hold onto the scrap of paper from the charm, all people in that group will stay friends forever, no matter where they are. Everyone performs the charm, and no more than a few seconds later, an earthquake envelops the school, and reveals a hole in the floor that engulfs everyone there, separating them. The students are transported to Heavenly Host Elementary School, a school that was taken down thirty years ago after becoming the site of the grizzly murder of three children. The group of nine now must attempt to reach each other and find a way out of the cursed grounds before they fall victim to the spirits that haunt these halls, killing anyone that comes in.

The game is split into five chapters, and you'll follow different characters in each. Its a nice way to keep the game fresh and new as you advance through the chapters. Since this game was made in our friend, the RPG maker engine, you move ina grid based system being only able to investigate things. No battles here however, as this is largely an adventure game, where you'll have to explore and find items to use in order to make progress. With there being no battles, your defenseless against the forces you'll run into in this school. That goes into this games horror, but more on that later. When not looking for progress, your reading the many walls of text this game has. You'll be reading and occasionally you'll be asked to make choices. These choices are usually one or the other however, as a wrong choice will lead to a bad ending, but more on that later.

Skipping around what I usually do, the presentation looks good enough. The game uses sprites for everything which are well done. The only problem is that if you look closely, the sprites can look blurry, and you can see the black outline on them. The game also has CG for certain things, and they look great. But UK also a sucker for anime artwork so maybe its just me. The game is fully voice acted in Japanese, and it sounds fantastic. The voice actors are very believable, and it adds to the horror when things hit the fan. Many of the voice actors voiced in popular anime, and their all good picks, except for one that bothers me. Sachiko Shinozaki is voiced by Ikue Otani, who as many know, is the voice of Pikachu. I won't tell you what that means, but you'll know what it means once you play the game. And the music is good for the horror setting. Its not something you'd want on your iPod, but it'll stick while your playing the game. And special mention goes to the opening theme Shanger-La by Asami Imia. Just listen to it and imagine it'll only get better from each game out.

So now the horror. Now Silent Hill was mostly scary in your botched ability to defend yourself. Yume Nikki was scary because the things you found in each dream were up to interpretation, meaning you could make your own connections about what they mean. Clock Tower was scary because you were completely defenseless, forced to hide and run from a creature much more powerful. Corpse Party is scary because of what you don't see. Spoiler Warning, people have died here, and people will die still. And you'll never see the person dying, only hear it and get graphic descriptions of what happens. And even if you do see something, its usually only the aftermath. This really shines in the games wrong endings, where messing up results in the most brutal deaths in any game. And you'll only hear, never see. This helps make up for the graphics and adds to the horror. The descriptions leads to you making your own mental image. And I can assure you that whatever will be going through your head will be scarier than anything the game can show you.

There's only one really glaring problem with this game, and that lies after the horror of the wrong endings. Every time you die, your booted back to the title screen, and you have to reload a save. When you do this, all progress is obviously lost, and all the text is reset. There's no way to fast forward the text, so I hope you like mashing the X button for five minutes. The writing in this game is good if that softens the blow, but this bothered even me, a guy who likes reading, and it becomes even more noticeable in future playthroughs. And for the love of God, don't mess up in Chapter 5. Just don't. Trust me.

Besides that though, this game is flawless in my eyes. Presentation, Gameplay, and great horror factor. However, the repeated reading will damper the fear for first time players, and it might turn some off for the game taking a reading approach. However, if you power through that, you'll find a great example of Japanese Horror that any fan of that will enjoy. Corpse Party is available in English on the PlayStation Network for $20, and it a great asking price for this game. Its also on iOS, but that version costs $25, and is only available in Japanese, so only get that version if you understand the language, don't mind if you pay five dollars extra, and have no other option.

The Silent Protagonist has to butter up his pooper for the next game. Updates will resume on November 9th. And Seiko is the greatest character ever. Just trust me on this.

Clock Tower The First Fear Review

This is the part where I come up with the immersive clever intro paragraph, but its hard to think of one for this game. What I can say is that now that I've finished pushing my eyeballs back in from playing Pokemon X, its time to suffer severe mood whiplash and go back to playing horror games. So let's see if I can pull some of you away from catching them all and talk about the most obscure game this month, Clock Tower.

Released in 1993 for the Super Famicom, Clock Tower was one of the scariest games for the system, and was considered to be one of the fathers of Survival Horror games, next to the likes of Alone in the Dark. The game was successful to be the first game in a series of games, but despite that, Clock Tower was never officially released in the US. All other games in the series did, meaning this series has some Final Fantasy Esq catch up, but no version of this game on any system has gotten an oversea release. This means I have to use the emulator in order to play and understand this game. Over 20 years after its original release, does this game still deserve its title of the father of horror games?

The plot starts with Jennifer, an orphan, being adopted with her four friends by Mary Barrows, a wealthy woman who lives at the Borrows Mansion. She takes
the five girls to the foyer and asks them to wait there while she gets Mr. Barrows. After taking way too long to come back, though she could have just been looking for a way around all the giant holes, the girls ask Jennifer to find Ms. Barrows. She heads out to find her, but turns around about ten seconds when she hears a scream and finds all of her friends missing. Soon Jennifer witnesses a boy with a giant pair of scissors killing one of her friends, and flees. Now Jennifer must avoid the boy known as Bobby Barrows, find her friends, and escape while discovering the secretes of the mansion, and the clock tower.

This game is a point and click adventure game, where you'll walk around, use item a on item b, and eventually make progress. You don't control Jennifer directly, but rather you use the on screen pointer to click on where you want to go. Using a d-pad to control a pointer is a bit strange, but you'll get used to it soon. Jennifer walks SLOW so that happens. You can press L and R to run, but as is the logical thing that would happen if you run in what she's wearing, she's prone to tripping, and it takes a few seconds to get up after falling. And if your unlucky enough for Bobby to be chasing you, your basically as good as dead.

Let's talk about the main enemy in this game for a bit, Bobby. As a kid, he'll walk slow and menacingly, but he will kill you if he catches up. That's where the panic button comes into play. When approached by Bobby, you'll enter a power struggle with Bobby, where you'll have to mash the B button in order to stay alive. If you win, you'll knock Bobby back, giving you enough time to escape. Unless you trip. Unlucky soul. Sometimes however, you'll lose anyway because your health is too low. You see that portrait of Jennifer at the bottom? That's your health. If its blue, your all good. If its red, your not so good. If its anything in between, your only mostly good. Not that dying matters though because the game respawns you in the room that you died in with full health, basically guaranteeing a victory against Bobby in the next power struggle.

Should you not want to get up close and personal with the freaky ten year old with the giant pair of scissors, than you can hide, and that's where the true terror in this game lies. If Bobby isn't in the room, you can try to hide. With luck, he'll walk away, letting you get back to your business. But you have to watch out though, because Bobby will pick up on your tricks and look in previous hiding spots, meaning you can't be the same one-trick-pony. Sometimes however, he'll look in your hiding spot anyway, and the paralyzing horror of Bobby slowly shuffling to your hiding spot will terrify you. That's the glory in this games horror. In Silent Hill and Yume Nikki, you had a means of defense. Some may have been a little less than good, but they were good enough to get you by. In this game, your defenseless against a being much stronger than you, and theirs nothing you can do except push him back, run away, and then hide like a little girl. And besides Bobby, theirs other entities in this house, disrupting the points where you feel safe, and reminding you that in this game, there's no safe haven. And that's pretty freaky.

In terms of presentation, for a Super Nintendo game, this look pretty good. For a sixteen bit system, character sprites are good looking, and the music is good at setting the mood. The soundtrack isn't something you'd want on your iPod, but its still pretty sweet stuff. And it seems the other ports of the game agree, because the presentation in the ports of this game remain largely unchanged, with the only exception being the Wonderswan version, which makes sense science that's an 8-bit system.

Like Silent Hill there's replay value to this game through the means of multiple endings. There are nine in total, and they are mostly easy to get. What ending you get depends on what you examine in the game, which will usually lead to one of Jennifer's friends dying. Some can be achieved in the same playthrough, but most like Ending S or Ending H, will require a replay of the game. And let me tell you, Ending S makes you WORK for your happy ending. I won't say anything more, but it will be very though, and don't be surprised if it becomes a guide dangit moment.

So Clock Tower came out twenty years ago. And people still claim its on of the scariest games of its generation. And their absolutely right. Despite being on weaker technology as some bigger name horror titles, Clock Tower provides scares in a way that most recent horror games wish to recreate. And I'll say straight up: This will probably be the scariest game talked about this month. Not to crap on the next game, because I love that game, but in terms of pure raw horror, Clock Tower will definitely deliver, and it totally gets my recommendation. I just wish there was an easier way to play it in the west. This game was released on multiple systems in Japan, but the most noteworthy one is the PS1 version, which adds additional scares, and an additional scene explaining something that happens in the sequel. If you can read Japanese, this is the best version, so play it if you have the means to do it. There's also a fan made remake in the works titled Remothered. Its not out yet, so I don't have much to say about it, other than it looks pretty good. It uses 3d graphics, offers new scenes, and it just looks like it'll be great. This ones definitely worth following. Leave it to the fans yet again to do what Capcom can't.

The Silent Protagonist apologizes for the delay. Life's just been ruthless recently. Also he says "It is always scissors". That'll be evident in the next game hint hint.

Pokemon X First Impressions

So Pokemon X and Y came out last weekend. Short review: Its pretty swell. But we all knew that was how it was going to go down. I didn't expect to get the game when I did, but I did last Sunday, and I feel I've played enough to at least give my first thoughts. So here's a special mid-week update. I'm nowhere near in the position to review this game yet, as I haven't beaten it, and I want to talk about the other games first. But I might as well try to use this blog as an actual blog, and talk about the beginning of Pokemon X.

First of all, the graphics. Pokemon is finally switching to full polygons, and its a great looking game. The camera zooms out and changes position at certain points giving a sense of scale to many areas, and just shows how good this game looks. Battles are now fully in 3d, much like Pokemon Stadium, and though the battles are sort of slower than in Black and White (A problem that was just inherited by making battles full 3d) battles are still quick and good looking, though when it comes to Pokemon with fast fluttering wings, there are minor cases with slowdown.

In terms of gameplay, the core of this game is like any other Pokemon game. Go from town to town, battle trainers, catch Pokemon, gain Experience, best the towns Gym Leader, repeat. But there have been some changes. The first one you'll notice is with gaining experience. Particularly once you catch your first Pokemon and notice your starter leveling up. Yes, catching Pokemon now grants you Experience, a change which very welcome, because now your killing two birds with one stone. And on the topic of experience, there's the Exp Share. Have this baby equipped, and all Pokemon in your party will gain a share of the experience. This makes grinding for levels the easiest in the series, but this leads to the problem of difficulty. I'm about 6 hours in, and there was about only two points where I was about to lose. All other times though, I was well over leveled and took down everything in my way with no difficulty. And at many points, you'll find characters that, instead of fighting you, will act as a Pokemon Center and heal you. So as of now, I will say that this game is probably the easiest in the series.

The plot is also a lot thinner. You just moved, and the professor of this region sends you and your four friends Pokemon and asks you to find the secret of Mega Evolution. You just so happen to beat Gyms along the way, and it wasn't until about 4 hours in when I found this games big bads: Team Flare, who want nothing more than to get rich and look fabulous. There's probably more to them that I haven't seen, but that's what its like in the beginning.

As for other changes in gameplay, there's Mega Evolution. Using this in battle will change your Pokemons types for a few turns and make them much stronger. For example, a Chirazard is a Flying Fire type. After a Mega Evolution, it turns into that Fire Dragon type that we all asked for Christmas. These are really good for getting you out of a pinch, but you won't get this until after the third gym, you can only use it once per battle, and only a select few can use it, so keep that in mind.

A big thing about this game is that it encourages more interaction between other human players. If your in the vicinity of a player, the options to trade or battle is instantly available. You no longer have to go to Pokemon centers to do this, and by the first hour, I had already lost my first battle against my friend and preformed my first trade before I had even stepped foot in a Pokemon center. Your also able to make short ten second videos about yourself that other players will see, and in order to separate yourself from the other ten million players, character customization has finally been introduced. In the beginning, you'll get a choice between three basic templates, and you'll later be able to purchase clothes in order to make your unique character. Its pretty neat.

Overall, this is a solid game so far. Looks great, plays great, and its a blast to play. I would recommend this game, and I look forward to seeing how the rest of this plays out. Expect a full review sometime in this lifetime.

Did I mention you could sit on benches now?

The Silent Protagonist applauds anyone who has caught them all in this game. You are very dedicated and deserve to get paid.

Yume Nikki Impressions/Review

Dreams are strange beasts. Accessible to many, few have control. Dreams are usually under control of the mind, being as close to earth or as out of this world as it wants it to be. Few even remember their dreams, and others forget shortly after they awaken. Some have control, but many lose it. Some may be lucid, only to fall victim to the dreams control yet again.

And some may even fall into nightmares.

Dreams are the premise of Yume Nikki, a Japanese Horror Indie game released in 2003. In it you follow Madotsuki as you traverse her dreams in order to find every dream effect and...do something I guess.
This game is actually quite popular, spawning a few fan games an a LOT of fan theories and speculation. The beauty of this games horror is the strange things you'll find in Madotsuki's dreams, from strange areas to strange creatures.

This is the part where I explain more, but Yume Nikki is strange in the fact that there's basically no plot, and no objective. Sure you're supposed to find every effect, and sure there is an ending, but the game provides little in the way of explaining and giving hints, so there might as well not be. Really, your true objective is to just go around and see the strange things these dreams have to offer. To me, Yume Nikki is an experience, one that you choose to enter, and one that you choose what you get out of it. To show that, I've compiled my playthrough over several days, detailing my adventures in Madotsuki's  dreams. Save for knowing about the infamous Uboa, I went in blind. Make what you will with my stories, but hopefully these will show you if this is for you more than a traditional review.

                              Day 1

My adventure begins in Madotsuki's room. Then it immediately continues in her dreams. With very little instructions on how to progress, I grasp on to the one thing I knew prior to playing and head to the snow world. Heading to where I'm supposed to go, I set off until I run into a small girl. I try to talk to her, but rather then getting a response, I get my first effect, the snow woman effect. Thanks! Accidental progress is the best progress! Moving along, I head to the igloo that I think has the portal, but outside I see a strange creature. I get the feeling I shouldn't try talking to this one. Besides, I saw its face in the manga, and I don't get the feeling it wants to talk back. The igloo I went in turned up empty, and as a walk out, the creature is right on top waiting for me. I'm out. Running as fast as my slow legs carry me, I find the entrance to the Pink Sea. After some fiddling around here, I find the house and prepare to face my only known fear in this game. I step in and turn off the lights. And again. And again. And again. Why don't the monsters show up when I'm actively searching for them? After five minutes of trying, its time to wake up and try somewhere else.

                               Day 2

With my only known thing about this game gone and for naught, its time to go back to sleep and find more things. I enter another door and I'm immediately surrounded by weird colors and numbers. Oh no, this game knew about my fear of sixth grade math. I wander around and eventually find a few doors that take me elsewhere. Soon I find myself in a black area, with a few walls in the center. In the center of the center, I see something, but a stroll around the walls show no entrance. I intend on heading back, but I wandered too far of my path, and now I'm lost in this void. Now's not the time to meet Exdeath however, so time to wake up.

                              Day 3
After entering the next dream, I take some time to admire Madotsuki's room. I turn on the TV, and an eye greets me, staring me down. I then head over to the chair where I usually go to record the dreams, but this time, the chair keeps me captive, not letting me go. At least I can still move, albeit painfully slow. I go back into the Nexus and select a new door. In it are very strange creatures that make weird sounds when I run over them with the chair. I intend on exploring more, but this chair is so slow. It pains me to waste a perfectly good dream, but time is of the essence, and I'll lose that time if I stay on this chair. Let's try again tomorrow.

                             Day 4
With my final dream, I enter another dimension, this time with lots of black and a strange moving background. Moving forward, I find faces. Just faces. And eyes. Just eyes. And lips that gave me kisses. How sweet of them. However I couldn't find anything else in this dimension, so I work my way back to the door and enter another dimension. This one has a bunch of big weird paintings. But after some wandering, I find a creepy mouth creature moving around by a pile of blood. That can't be good. I step up to it expecting the worse, but he didn't mind. I tried talking to it and it gave me an effect (yeah remember those) that gave me blond hair. Thanks! Not too long later I find another one of these creatures this one gives me an effect that gives me long hair. Not sure if I needed to be in a dream with a magic effect to do that, but thanks anyway!  Intentions to explore the rest of the Nexus are planed, but I lost my path to the door again, so with one final pinch, I wake up and record the dreams you just read.

There's a lot to Yume Nikki that I didn't find in my playthrough, and that's why you should play it. No amount of words could describe everything you can find in this game, and like many experiences, everyone will find different things. The graphics do a good job of being simplistic but scary, and the music is well done and really draws you in. Should playing the game not appeal to you, there are other ways of seeing its story. First is the recently released light novel, detailing the story in full. I haven't read it, but I imagine it does a good job. Second is the previously mention manga, which I have read, and is very well done. Yes you'll have to wait for all the chapters to come out, and then get translated, but it really is a good way to experience the story. Yume Nikki is free on the PC however, so there's no real reason not to download the game and experience these strange dreams for yourself.

The Silent Protagonist only lucid dreamed once. And it was the only dream where he ever got killed. Bloody typical.