Riddled Corpses EX Review
In your heeead......zombie, zombie

Overview

 

Riddled Corpses EX is a port of the previous PC/Steam Release ‘Riddled Corpses’ that was originally developed by Diabolical Mind. Billed as an ‘Anime Twin Stick Shooter’ and ported by the extremely talented Fabrice Breton of COWCAT, EX comes with added bells and whistles over the original, such as 60fps and additional story cut-scenes as it finds its way to PlayStation 4/Vita and the Xbox One.

Reviewed on PS4, also available on PS Vita, Xbox One

Release Date – June 5th, 2018

Developer – Diabolical Mind / COWCAT

Genre – Twin Stick Shooter/Action

 

Story

 

The Story of Riddled Corpses EX is your standard post-apocalyptic story affair. Scientists, while trying to rid the world of evil unknowingly release the ultimate evil, who raises an army of undead, the world goes to $h1t.

Now it is up to you and the 6 plucky heroes, each with their own unique abilities, to blast your way through and save mankind… we’ve all been here before.

But you’re not here for a story…you’re here for the sweet, sweet gameplay and to shoot Zombies in the face! But does Riddled Corpses EX deliver?

In a short answer…Yes!

Gameplay

Riddled Corpses is an extremely addictive, fun, twin stick shooter that will have you reaching for the controller for ‘one more run’.

On the initial start up the steep difficulty curve will feel overwhelming and death will come often. Not because of the lack of skill but because of the lack of firepower to deal with the sheer amount of enemies in the screen.

 

Here you are introduced to the principle gameplay loop….and the addiction begins. Collect gold, use gold to level your character, increase firepower, get a little further than you did before, rinse/repeat.

It’s an incredibly simple premise, but incredibly effective.

The majority of your time will be spent in ‘Story Mode’. Here you fight your way through 6 increasingly hard stages. You will spend a bit of time grinding for gold, which is needed in order to increase your firepower enough to survive the stage. Once you do, however, the game gives you a handy checkpoint on a stage clear, meaning you don’t have to go all the way back to the start on your next run.

It’s incredibly hard to start with but once you have leveled your character a bit, you will find yourself blasting through the waves of the undead like a complete badass.

The second game mode is ‘Arcade’. Here you will play identical levels to the story mode but with one major difference. You will be tasked with completing the run in one sitting.

Arguably the games most demanding mode. Here, level-ups are earned by collecting on screen icons that will increase your level by one with skilled players probably being able to get to max level by stage 3. However, taking a hit will cause you to lose a life as well as a level. With the power up icon flying around the screen (giving you a short window to recollect). Meaning taking a few hits in quick succession can really put a quick end to your run.

Its incredibly tough and can be frustrating but it always feels fair, which is a great credit to the core gameplay.

Lastly, there is ‘Survival’. A one screen mode with an absolute barrage of increasingly difficult enemies. The goal? simply survive as long as possible. It’s a great little mode to grind gold as here, anything you collect can go towards leveling your character in story mode. Word of advice though, don’t expect to last long unless you have a character that is at least level 15 or above.

Graphics

I really liked the 16-bit pixel art that Riddled Corpses uses (probably because I’m an old fart and it reminds me of my SNES/Megadrive days). Characters have great animation and the share amount of things happening on screen at any one time is really impressive.

I feel like I need to give another nod to Fabrice Breton here. Not only has he done a Steller job on the port, but also managed to increase the framerate to 60fps over the 30fps of the PC/Steam original. It really does make the gameplay slick and responsive. Something that you are going to need when fighting one of the many bosses and they fill your screen with bullet hell.

 

Sound

You cant help but admire the quality of the bit tunes this game employs as well. Honestly, you will find yourself humming the tunes.

What is even more impressive is that you can toggle between the original PC tunes and the remixed versions found in EX. The remixed versions being a cleaner/stereo version of the original.

Multiplayer

Riddled corpses EX also has the option for local co-op play meaning double the zombie killing fun with your couch bestie. Here you can mix and match your hero’s for different ability combos. Such as using Jon with his immense damage output and Chloe with her magnetism to hoover up the gold? It makes for some interesting combinations.

Most of all it is incredibly fun!

Sadly, it is only local co-op play so you won’t be able to play with your PSN/Xbox Live buddies. Also, I feel it is a wasted opportunity only having 2 player co-op. It was probably a design decision considering the amount happening on screen but I can’t help myself hankering for some 4 player mayhem.

Verdict

Riddled corpses harks back to a simpler time of steep learning curves, addictive gameplay, and amazing bit tunes. It can feel a little ‘grindy’ at times but it never outstays its welcome. Controls are super responsive, framerate is rock solid and it has a super addictive gameplay loop. If yore looking for something that you can just pick up and have a quick blast then Riddled Corpses EX will be right up your street.

Be careful though. That quick 10 minutes may just turn into an hour…