As part of Indie Select E3 I received a free copy of Riddled Corpses EX for my vita under the condition that I share my impressions, both positive and negative, on social media and beyond. Having now spent half a dozen hours playing I am now doing so.
So Riddled Corpses EX, its a twin stick shooter with bullet hell like elements wrapped up in a replayable package.
Positives
-Lets get this out of the way early, it is a fun game. Its face paced, controls are fluid and the action is satisfying. It keeps it simple with both movement and shooting but executes them both perfectly that its just fun to pick up and play. Being on vita is also really helpful in that regard as the suspend feature on the console lets me just play through a wave or two while I am doing other things.
-The graphics are spot on, characters and enemies stand out from the background, and it is very easy to tell enemy types apart.
-The game has a good amount of replayability, with a new story mode, survival mode and arcade mode, along with 6 characters to play as, its a game I can see myself just booting up for a quick round years from now.
-Its a good challenge making me actually work to clear levels and waves, it doesn't hold back, which I love.
-Sense of progression is good. A lot of similar games fail to do this, but even on failed runs I feel like I have progressed in the game, simply due to the way you collect gold on each run to upgrade your character or buy new characters or items.
Negatives
-The screen can get way to cluttered. Now this might be solved on the PS4 version, I have not tried it so I don't know for sure, but I often find myself dying due to not being able to quite see whats happening simply because to many things are overlapping. It does include an option to dim or remove the HUD which helps a lot (I play with it removed) but sadly the game does not remember my selection and I have to remove it each time I start a new level.
-The challenge, while good, doesn't flow nicely. By that I mean, for the first 3 levels, while it took me a few tries to beat them, come level 4 I hit a wall and need to grind a lot to get stronger. I'm talking a few tries to dozens.
-The grinding is definitely not for everyone. You have to collect the gold and improve your character to beat some of the later waves. And it can be tedious, very tedious, playing the same wave over and over failing every time because you are not yet strong enough to proceed.
Overall, I would say Riddled Corpses EX biggest strengths are also its biggest weakness. If you are a fan of the genre, its one of the best I have played in recent years. But if its your first twin stick, I would stay away. Thanks to Cowcat Games, and Indie Gamer Chick for the opportunity to check this out.
