Corpse Killer

"Heeeyyy mon, this game really stinky."

The Sega CD was known for a lot of FMV games. A lot of the FMV games were known for being not that good at all due to a number of reasons, the number one reason being that the gameplay just sucked. Along comes the 32X with re-released FMV games, the difference? The picture isn't as grainy. Not a huge improvement if I do say so myself. Enter Corpse Killer, one of the most outright hilarious FMV games ever made,. Now it's intention obviously isn't to be hilarious, but to be menacing and scary in a FMV survival horror sort of way…I mean it's about zombies and voodoo and the like. Allow me to stamp on the seal of approval “So bad it's good” because this game deserves it.

Presentation

Corpse Killer is in a first person view nearly the entire time. Below your view you have all your status stuff like life, ammo, and so on. Whenever you take breaks between your zombie killing fests you have a chance to catch up on updates throughout the game, like messages from that creepy doctor, learn about things you just fought, and go to your map to decide where to go next. I kind of liked this because it provided an intermission after the action, giving you a chance to catch up on the story or learning how to kill certain enemies. The initial game menu looks incredibly cheap, I just thought you'd like to know that.

Score : 7.0 – Decent

Gameplay

Here is where things start to really look bleak. FMV games have a reputation for taking a lot of the control and gameplay away from the game player. Same thing applies here. While this is essentially a side scrolling shooter it's a pretty bad one. Some enemies have to be killed in ridiculous ways. Sometimes you can be completely overwhelmed by something stupid and ridiculous like a level where you are passing by a fort, and zombies come out to throw stuff at you, sometimes you can hardly do anything to defend yourself. The whole shooting mechanic works ok, sometimes though it just seems like your guns are very ineffective against the zombie menace.

Score : 4.2 – Banal

Controls : Since this is a shooter you only need to press one button, it is light gun compatible though.

N/A

Graphics

Again this is FMV, on a 32X/Sega CD. While yes, this could be considered “real life graphics” the picture is still pretty grainy, especially compared to the Saturn, and 3DO versions. Most of the zombie enemies are just plain terrible looking. I really can't put into words how bad the normal ones are other than mentioning that there are flying zombies! These zombies just appear out of nowhere and literally start flying at you. Another very lame enemy is the shadow zombie, it's basically just a black zombie that occasionally turns white, that's the only time you can hurt it. Overall, it looks like they ran out of ideas and decided to come up with some terrible design ideas.

Score : 5.0 – Banal

Sound

The zombies never moan, the music is b-movie quality, and the acting for the most part is b-movie quality. The treasure hunter Winston is the only guy who acts decently in my opinion. On top of all this the gun noises are just lame.

Score : 4.3 – Banal

Replay

There really isn't anything to unlock, and if you want to attempt playing it again you're a real trooper. The only other time I could really see anyone playing it again is showing this to their friends saying “Hey check out this extremely lame game I got for $3!”

Score : 1.8 – Terrible

Overview

After reading the review, you may be thinking how could this be so bad it's good? Well rest assured after you play the game you'll know what I'm talking about. Winston the treasure hunter by far is the saving grace of this game. He gives you rides everywhere in his jeep, talks about how he wants to buy a hummer when he finds his treasure, and he performs voodoo stuff. Overall, the game is more of a quick laugh than anything honestly though.

Score : 4.5 – Banal

Modified to 4/10 for Gamefaqs.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/24/06