⏰ In a rush? Don't worry, I gotchu'! ⏰
What Works:
✅ Compelling Storyline: Corpse Party: Blood Drive excels with a gripping narrative, filled with unexpected, grim, and exciting moments across ten chapters and seven extra chapters.
✅ Effective Descriptive Writing: Highly descriptive and graphic writing enhances the horror experience, capturing the player's attention and driving the story forward.
✅ Freedom of Exploration: Offers player freedom to explore levels, adding depth and engagement beyond traditional visual novels.
✅ Unique Visual Novel Elements: Combines traditional visual novel features like long descriptive text boxes and alternate endings with RPG and survival elements, providing a unique gameplay experience.
✅ Rich Horror Atmosphere: Despite some visual shortcomings, the macabre artistic direction and the haunted setting of Heavenly Host Elementary effectively contribute to a chilling atmosphere.
What Doesn't:
❌ Confusing Series Entry: Releasing the final part of the Heavenly Host Elementary saga on the Nintendo Switch without the previous titles can confuse new players and disrupt narrative continuity.
❌ Unintuitive Navigation: The labyrinthine school grounds and lack of a map make navigation stressful and frustrating, often leading to aimless running and memorization challenges.
❌ Lacklustre 3D Presentation: The use of chibi style 3D models detracts from the horror elements, making character deaths and some sequences less terrifying and more laughable.
❌ Poor Alternate Endings: Many alternate endings are simplistic and underwhelming, often reduced to a few text boxes or basic 3D graphics against a black background.
❌ Repetitive Gameplay: The game's longevity is padded with repetitive door-to-door searching and key item hunts, which can feel tedious and detract from the overall experience.
🎮 Corpse Party: A Legacy Revived
The Corpse Party series, contrary to popular belief, has been around for years. It started as a solo project in 1996 and has undergone numerous iterations since then. Besides the video game format, it has expanded into various other forms of entertainment, including anime series, manga, and even films that delight the series’ most dedicated fans. However, XSEED made a decision that, at the very least, raises some eyebrows: releasing this title for Nintendo's hybrid console. It's not so much the release itself that's confusing, but rather the fact that this entry is the final and third part of the Heavenly Host Elementary saga, which began with the first Corpse Party. Fortunately, despite this blunder, Blood Drive has done a decent job with the narrative, showcasing small moments solely for context that help to understand some of the important events from the previous two iterations of the saga.
🧩 Blood Drive: Horror Meets Visual Novel
Highlighted as a video game with themes of adventure, horror, and survival, Blood Drive identifies itself as a visual novel different from other offerings in the market. However, the traditional elements of this genre, long descriptive text boxes and alternate endings, are still present. What differentiates Corpse Party from the rest is the freedom given to the player to explore the levels, combined with a light infusion of RPG features (such as managing health points and switching between other characters), along with survival elements, such as the careful collection of crucial items for progress and the conscious use of them. Another aspect marked as a technical improvement but proving to be a downside is the presentation of 3D models and environments. Since the characters are styled in chibi format (a Japanese caricature style that depicts something exaggeratedly small), some sequences, like character deaths, are laughable and woefully not terrifying at all. For a title whose main attraction is horror, this decision takes away much of the chilling atmosphere found in the first game of the series.
🏫 Exploring Heavenly Host Elementary
Anyhow, a large part of the action takes place in the previously mentioned Heavenly Host Elementary, a place haunted and mysterious like other games in the series. However, despite the impressive and macabre artistic direction, navigating the school grounds is stressful and frustrating (for the wrong reasons) due to its labyrinthine nature. It's understood that, due to plot context, the player is supposed to feel lost and desperate, mirroring the characters’ feelings. However, this approach doesn’t always translate into good gameplay. Much of the game's longevity is attributed to incessant running from door to door (often with enemies in between), trying to find something to finally propel the narrative forward. In many instances, for example, after discovering a key item, the game simply relays the message, "somewhere you heard the sound of a door opening" despite said door being several metres away. Given that there is no map or similar solution, Corpse Party: Blood Drive expects the player to memorise the building's layout or draw their own map.
📚 Story-Driven Success
However, what truly matters and saves this title from a worse rating is the story it carries. There are ten chapters filled with unexpected, grim, and exciting moments (plus seven extra chapters!). Just as a good novel compels the reader to turn the page, Blood Drive captures the attention of its players. Combined with highly descriptive and graphic writing of all the experienced situations, the story ends up being the cog that makes all other mechanisms work. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the various alternate endings. Many are just three or four text boxes detailing the events against a black background, while others feature the aforementioned 3D graphics.
📝 Conclusion: Story Over Gameplay
Aside from some poor gameplay and graphical representation decisions, both the story and writing are the lifeblood of Corpse Party: Blood Drive. Without this aspect, the game would hardly be the body and soul of any party.
🌟 M I S C 🌟
◻️ 🌳 Visit my Linktree for more content.
◻️ ⚠️ Review originally written for FNintendo (defunct website) and published on November 5th, 2019.
◻️ 🙋♂️ Explore more reviews written by me.
◻️ 🎮 Discover Nintendo Switch video games I've played.
◻️ ✍️ Reviewed in European Portuguese.
◻️ 📜 Review Number 005
✨ F I N ✨
What Works:
✅ Compelling Storyline: Corpse Party: Blood Drive excels with a gripping narrative, filled with unexpected, grim, and exciting moments across ten chapters and seven extra chapters.
✅ Effective Descriptive Writing: Highly descriptive and graphic writing enhances the horror experience, capturing the player's attention and driving the story forward.
✅ Freedom of Exploration: Offers player freedom to explore levels, adding depth and engagement beyond traditional visual novels.
✅ Unique Visual Novel Elements: Combines traditional visual novel features like long descriptive text boxes and alternate endings with RPG and survival elements, providing a unique gameplay experience.
✅ Rich Horror Atmosphere: Despite some visual shortcomings, the macabre artistic direction and the haunted setting of Heavenly Host Elementary effectively contribute to a chilling atmosphere.
What Doesn't:
❌ Confusing Series Entry: Releasing the final part of the Heavenly Host Elementary saga on the Nintendo Switch without the previous titles can confuse new players and disrupt narrative continuity.
❌ Unintuitive Navigation: The labyrinthine school grounds and lack of a map make navigation stressful and frustrating, often leading to aimless running and memorization challenges.
❌ Lacklustre 3D Presentation: The use of chibi style 3D models detracts from the horror elements, making character deaths and some sequences less terrifying and more laughable.
❌ Poor Alternate Endings: Many alternate endings are simplistic and underwhelming, often reduced to a few text boxes or basic 3D graphics against a black background.
❌ Repetitive Gameplay: The game's longevity is padded with repetitive door-to-door searching and key item hunts, which can feel tedious and detract from the overall experience.
🎮 Corpse Party: A Legacy Revived
The Corpse Party series, contrary to popular belief, has been around for years. It started as a solo project in 1996 and has undergone numerous iterations since then. Besides the video game format, it has expanded into various other forms of entertainment, including anime series, manga, and even films that delight the series’ most dedicated fans. However, XSEED made a decision that, at the very least, raises some eyebrows: releasing this title for Nintendo's hybrid console. It's not so much the release itself that's confusing, but rather the fact that this entry is the final and third part of the Heavenly Host Elementary saga, which began with the first Corpse Party. Fortunately, despite this blunder, Blood Drive has done a decent job with the narrative, showcasing small moments solely for context that help to understand some of the important events from the previous two iterations of the saga.
🧩 Blood Drive: Horror Meets Visual Novel
Highlighted as a video game with themes of adventure, horror, and survival, Blood Drive identifies itself as a visual novel different from other offerings in the market. However, the traditional elements of this genre, long descriptive text boxes and alternate endings, are still present. What differentiates Corpse Party from the rest is the freedom given to the player to explore the levels, combined with a light infusion of RPG features (such as managing health points and switching between other characters), along with survival elements, such as the careful collection of crucial items for progress and the conscious use of them. Another aspect marked as a technical improvement but proving to be a downside is the presentation of 3D models and environments. Since the characters are styled in chibi format (a Japanese caricature style that depicts something exaggeratedly small), some sequences, like character deaths, are laughable and woefully not terrifying at all. For a title whose main attraction is horror, this decision takes away much of the chilling atmosphere found in the first game of the series.
🏫 Exploring Heavenly Host Elementary
Anyhow, a large part of the action takes place in the previously mentioned Heavenly Host Elementary, a place haunted and mysterious like other games in the series. However, despite the impressive and macabre artistic direction, navigating the school grounds is stressful and frustrating (for the wrong reasons) due to its labyrinthine nature. It's understood that, due to plot context, the player is supposed to feel lost and desperate, mirroring the characters’ feelings. However, this approach doesn’t always translate into good gameplay. Much of the game's longevity is attributed to incessant running from door to door (often with enemies in between), trying to find something to finally propel the narrative forward. In many instances, for example, after discovering a key item, the game simply relays the message, "somewhere you heard the sound of a door opening" despite said door being several metres away. Given that there is no map or similar solution, Corpse Party: Blood Drive expects the player to memorise the building's layout or draw their own map.
📚 Story-Driven Success
However, what truly matters and saves this title from a worse rating is the story it carries. There are ten chapters filled with unexpected, grim, and exciting moments (plus seven extra chapters!). Just as a good novel compels the reader to turn the page, Blood Drive captures the attention of its players. Combined with highly descriptive and graphic writing of all the experienced situations, the story ends up being the cog that makes all other mechanisms work. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the various alternate endings. Many are just three or four text boxes detailing the events against a black background, while others feature the aforementioned 3D graphics.
📝 Conclusion: Story Over Gameplay
Aside from some poor gameplay and graphical representation decisions, both the story and writing are the lifeblood of Corpse Party: Blood Drive. Without this aspect, the game would hardly be the body and soul of any party.
🌟 M I S C 🌟
◻️ 🌳 Visit my Linktree for more content.
◻️ ⚠️ Review originally written for FNintendo (defunct website) and published on November 5th, 2019.
◻️ 🙋♂️ Explore more reviews written by me.
◻️ 🎮 Discover Nintendo Switch video games I've played.
◻️ ✍️ Reviewed in European Portuguese.
◻️ 📜 Review Number 005
✨ F I N ✨
dookie
I had heard bad things about this one, but I went in with an open mind. It, unfortunately, was as bad as I'd heard. The story is a really lackluster follow up to the previous Corpse Party games, and after a certain point stops being any kinda horror and just feels like your typical shounen or JRPG plot. Don't get me wrong, love a good "chosen one saves the world" from time to time, but that's not what I want from this series. The newcomers feel pretty out of place for the most part, and the whole story has things ending off worse for the core five than at the start.
Gameplay wise, it's clunky, annoying, and tedious for the most part. I can understand wanting to do more than just the "walk around and figure it out (with occasional chases)" of the previous ones, but this was not the way to do it. If you wanna be tormented by shadow people chasing you down to beat the fuck outta you, I'd recommend mixing alcohol and benadryl, it'd be more fun. And those floor hazards are just a pain in the ass. Achievement hunters, be prepared for a pain in the ass.
Anyway, I don't have a good conclusion, but neither does this game, or the Heavenly Host saga as a whole, so it's only fitting.
Gameplay wise, it's clunky, annoying, and tedious for the most part. I can understand wanting to do more than just the "walk around and figure it out (with occasional chases)" of the previous ones, but this was not the way to do it. If you wanna be tormented by shadow people chasing you down to beat the fuck outta you, I'd recommend mixing alcohol and benadryl, it'd be more fun. And those floor hazards are just a pain in the ass. Achievement hunters, be prepared for a pain in the ass.
Anyway, I don't have a good conclusion, but neither does this game, or the Heavenly Host saga as a whole, so it's only fitting.