Riddled Corpses EX

Genre: 2-Stick Shooter

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local), Online Leaderboard

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Review:

Riddled Corpses is a 2-Stick Shooter released on PC in 2015, ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PlayStation Vita in 2018, and then ported to Nintendo Switch in 2019. In this game, players select a character and shoot a stream of bullets to fend off a zombie horde.

The presentation in Riddled Corpses is somewhat reminiscent of old-school games like Ikari Warriors, with a pixel art style of 2D visuals and a chiptune soundtrack. It’s nothing especially novel or particularly well-crafted, but it does have an old-school charm to it.

As for the gameplay, you’ll be shooting an endless stream of bullets at a slowly-encroaching horde of zombies until the game decides you’ve cleared enough to proceed, at which time you’ll slowly scroll to the next area. Gradually, new types of zombies will be introduced, such as faster zombie dogs and zombies that shoot bullets. You’ll even face off against some bosses, but much of the game is the relatively repetitive action of trying to fend off a large number of slowly-approaching enemies.

When you do eventually get swarmed, you’ll be able to spend in-game gold you picked up to power-up your character or unlock new playable characters with different bonuses. And then it’s back into the fray once more.

This game’s flaw is obvious on its face – it is extremely repetitive. Yet despite this, there’s something comforting, even relaxing about endlessly firing away at the zombie horde, and as monotonous as this game is, I have to admit it managed to be compelling despite itself. Having said that, the $10 price tag seems like a bit much, and this is definitely a game that if you buy it, you’ll want it on sale.

In the end, Riddled Corpses isn’t going to win any awards for originality, impress anyone with its presentation, or gain a fan following due to any unique mechanic it has. This is a fairly simple, repetitive Two-Stick Shooter. Yet despite its monotony and simplicity, it manages to be a fun, arcadey romp despite itself, and fans of the genre may find it worth a look if they want a game they can turn their brain off to and just blast some zombies… at least, if you wait for it to get a decent sale.

tl;dr – Riddled Corpses is a fairly simple Two-Stick shooter about blasting away massive hordes of zombies. It’s not original or impressive in any way, and the gameplay can be repetitive, but despite its flaws and lack of ambition, it still manages to be almost relaxing to play. Those looking for a simple, arcadey 2-Stick Shooter where they don’t need to think very hard may enjoy this game, at least if they can get it on sale.

Grade: C+

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