⏰ 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
This game (Unfortunately) means a lot to me
was hoping for a good sequel.... It was terrible, and I wanted it to end quicker...
I still think about changing the rating from 1 to 0.5 out of 5...
I still think about changing the rating from 1 to 0.5 out of 5...
A rather graceful fall to the floor for the series. I can't hate it though.
ending makes me cry EVERY DAMN TIME
Conclusion au premier Corpse Party et c'est assez décevant:
Des problèmes d'écriture, ajouts de personnages dont on a rien à foutre mais le jeu veut se focaliser sur eux alors que non, on s'en fout d'eux bordel. Le côté gore n'est pas aussi présent ou efficace qu'avant et l'histoire est assez confuse jusqu'au bout.
Pas un mauvais jeu, ça reste une conclusion "ok" pour la série mais pas sur d'y revenir dessus un jour.
Des problèmes d'écriture, ajouts de personnages dont on a rien à foutre mais le jeu veut se focaliser sur eux alors que non, on s'en fout d'eux bordel. Le côté gore n'est pas aussi présent ou efficace qu'avant et l'histoire est assez confuse jusqu'au bout.
Pas un mauvais jeu, ça reste une conclusion "ok" pour la série mais pas sur d'y revenir dessus un jour.
This review contains spoilers
not the ayumi redemption arc i wanted but it's the ayumi redemption arc i needed
Combines visual novel style storytelling with the moment-to-moment action of survival-horror to deliver a fascinating and twisted narrative. Despite not having played the previous titles (this is the third chapter in one of those rare horror game series that tells one continuous story), I had no trouble following anything that was going on and I had only done a modicum of research before hand. The plot does get a bit convoluted and occasionally gets distracted with anime fan service tropes, but I remained engaged throughout thanks to the strong character work and gruesome outcomes. I wasn't as enthralled with the actual gameplay however. Too often it falls prey to some of the genre's oldest and most irritating pitfalls.
Expect a lot of aimless wandering without so much as a map system to help you get your bearings. It is not uncommon to find yourself unaware of where you're supposed go next, which wouldn't be so much of a problem if getting lost and stumbling into the wrong rooms didn't attract the attention of lingering spirits. The biggest threats to your health aren't the scattered booby traps or broken floorboards, but rather the restless ghosts that are absolutely relentless in their pursuit of you. The only ways of escaping a phantom once they have you in their sights are to get far enough ahead of them and hide in a cabinet without being seen, or by dispelling them with a talisman should you happen to have one in your inventory. Both methods being easier said than done due to the limited amount of stamina you have while running and the fact that getting off track to actually find one of these talismans is likely going to be what causes the specters to spawn in the first place.
With save points being spaced so far apart from each other death can be a huge setback. Not so much because it forces you to replay lengthy sections of the game upon your untimely demise (although that is a factor), but more so due to the fact that it can cause you have to sit through large portions of dialog multiple times in a row because of how the story is told. You can speed up text by holding the right trigger, but the animations must still play out at their usual pace so cutscenes often take a while to get past even when rushing. There are also some other, more minor flaws such as loading screens when entering and exiting the pause menu.
All of this makes Blood Drive a frustrating chore to play at times without a guide, especially if you want to hunt down every collectible and ending. It's worth it for the plot though. Particularly if you've been following the series up to this point. It's a strange and very brutal tale that I had a hard time putting down once I got sucked in. It's chibi graphics prevent it from being scary in the traditional sense, but the way it uses language ensures that it's quite disturbing nonetheless. Making it an interesting option for your PS Vita provided you don't mind reading.
7/10
Expect a lot of aimless wandering without so much as a map system to help you get your bearings. It is not uncommon to find yourself unaware of where you're supposed go next, which wouldn't be so much of a problem if getting lost and stumbling into the wrong rooms didn't attract the attention of lingering spirits. The biggest threats to your health aren't the scattered booby traps or broken floorboards, but rather the restless ghosts that are absolutely relentless in their pursuit of you. The only ways of escaping a phantom once they have you in their sights are to get far enough ahead of them and hide in a cabinet without being seen, or by dispelling them with a talisman should you happen to have one in your inventory. Both methods being easier said than done due to the limited amount of stamina you have while running and the fact that getting off track to actually find one of these talismans is likely going to be what causes the specters to spawn in the first place.
With save points being spaced so far apart from each other death can be a huge setback. Not so much because it forces you to replay lengthy sections of the game upon your untimely demise (although that is a factor), but more so due to the fact that it can cause you have to sit through large portions of dialog multiple times in a row because of how the story is told. You can speed up text by holding the right trigger, but the animations must still play out at their usual pace so cutscenes often take a while to get past even when rushing. There are also some other, more minor flaws such as loading screens when entering and exiting the pause menu.
All of this makes Blood Drive a frustrating chore to play at times without a guide, especially if you want to hunt down every collectible and ending. It's worth it for the plot though. Particularly if you've been following the series up to this point. It's a strange and very brutal tale that I had a hard time putting down once I got sucked in. It's chibi graphics prevent it from being scary in the traditional sense, but the way it uses language ensures that it's quite disturbing nonetheless. Making it an interesting option for your PS Vita provided you don't mind reading.
7/10
I'm not sure why I really like the Corpse Party series. I'm not really into visual novels, the gameplay that is there is incredibly underwhelming, and it's very suspicious in its horniness. But for whatever reason, I really enjoy the series as a whole.
Blood Drive though, is just a very unsatisfying end to the trilogy here. While I like a lot of the story bits thrown in there, I don't think it really sticks its landing more than like 50%. It feels unfinished? But I 100%'d it so I dunno...
The gameplay in this one is really just more frustrating than the walking simulator of the first and the straight visual novel of the second. And the loading times on Vita are pretty insane. I'd only really recommend it if you're just trying to get through the series, but it's got nothing really interesting going on otherwise. I'm just mostly here for the story.
Blood Drive though, is just a very unsatisfying end to the trilogy here. While I like a lot of the story bits thrown in there, I don't think it really sticks its landing more than like 50%. It feels unfinished? But I 100%'d it so I dunno...
The gameplay in this one is really just more frustrating than the walking simulator of the first and the straight visual novel of the second. And the loading times on Vita are pretty insane. I'd only really recommend it if you're just trying to get through the series, but it's got nothing really interesting going on otherwise. I'm just mostly here for the story.
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.
unplayable slop with detestable and awful plot twists. just watch a video essay about it, it is far more interesting than playing it yourself
Finished this on Vita as well, I seem to be the only person that actually likes this game lmao. The second opening song (Keshin) Is literally my favourite song as well
wanted to replay for nostalgia value but this game is genuinely fucking impossible to sit through kt is so ridiculously boring i dont know what about this appealed to me back in 2014
FUCK this god awful piece of shit. I hate everything about this game and how it essentially ruins what made the first game great. Story is nonsensical, new characters are terrible and the returning ones are ruined horribly, and the ending practically destroyed any chance of the series coming back in a positive way. Above all else though it made me hate the character Ayumi. I know Ayumi's a divisive character but I liked her in the first game and here comes this game to destroy anything I liked about her. Also fuck this game for ruining Yoshiki to he didn't deserve what he got here.
I don't like this in spite of the weird story, I like it BECAUSE of the weird story! fuck you! when the new characters with the designs that were more out of place than finding the hungry caterpillar in an adult bookstore showed up that was when I knew nobody is doing it like grisgris and that makes us all feeble cowards. the bizarre plot points like whatever the fuck was going on with the new teacher are my sustenance. that's why we haven't gotten more dead patient it would be too powerful.
this at least gets a star for naomi. i love my girl
Way too many people trash this game but I don't think it's anywhere as bad as they let on. Sure it has some issues and questionable design descions but I enjoyed it for what it was and in the end I thought it was a fitting end. Definitly the weakest of the three but I thought the main cast had good conclusions for the most part. I think what I liked about CP1 and CP2 are still here and present you just might have to wade through some things to get there. The things i'm mainly refering to are ingame visuals, poor performance and questionable story directions. I remember being satisfied with it at the end though. Maybe in a year or two when I replay them all again I'll form a more nuanced review but as I remember it. It's fine.
Platinum # 42
Platinum # 42
Yeah...Blood Drive kinda sucks. There's no nicer way to say it, this game isn't good. When its a hassle to just walk in your game, you've done something wrong.
There are a ton of confusing elements in Blood Drive that I really don't understand the purpose of. I could probably make a whole essay on those, but I won't because the entire game is like this.
When it's not a hassle to control, it's actively trying to be a disappointment. They hype you up by saying you might be able to save past characters and begin to introduce fan-favorite characters from the spin-off titles, then they just throw away the plot point. You'll spend a tiny bit interacting with a character, and then they're replaced with another. Rinse and repeat.
The story starts to get even more ridiculous than even SSHBB and somehow turns into the entire world ending. Really makes you feel like they just didn't care at all with this one. You already kinda got that sense when they made two visual novels instead actual games before that but...now it's made pretty clear. From what I've heard, Corpse Party 2 (only loosely connected to the Heavenly Host Saga) is supposed to be wayyyy better than this one, and it uses the same gameplay style, but I haven't tried it yet. Also Corpse Party 2 was split into chapters and has been on hiatus for over 5 years so...we'll see.
There are a ton of confusing elements in Blood Drive that I really don't understand the purpose of. I could probably make a whole essay on those, but I won't because the entire game is like this.
When it's not a hassle to control, it's actively trying to be a disappointment. They hype you up by saying you might be able to save past characters and begin to introduce fan-favorite characters from the spin-off titles, then they just throw away the plot point. You'll spend a tiny bit interacting with a character, and then they're replaced with another. Rinse and repeat.
The story starts to get even more ridiculous than even SSHBB and somehow turns into the entire world ending. Really makes you feel like they just didn't care at all with this one. You already kinda got that sense when they made two visual novels instead actual games before that but...now it's made pretty clear. From what I've heard, Corpse Party 2 (only loosely connected to the Heavenly Host Saga) is supposed to be wayyyy better than this one, and it uses the same gameplay style, but I haven't tried it yet. Also Corpse Party 2 was split into chapters and has been on hiatus for over 5 years so...we'll see.
I loved the first game in this franchise, but I was kinda disappointed with 'Book of Shadows', so I wasn't sure what to expect from this episode (which is, I believe, the end of the Heavenly Host Saga, but I might be wrong).
Well, I'm happy to say that overall I was satisfied with 'Blood Drive', even if, in my opinion, it's not nearly as good as the first part, but it's still much more fun than the second. This is definitely one of the better J-horrors I've played, with a great story, and, unfortunately, some flawed gameplay mechanics and clunky controls. Music and voice acting were both OK, and I loved the new characters (however, some old ones were extremely frustrating, at times making downright dumb decisions...). I wasn't a huge fan of the 3D chibi character design, but eventually I got used to it. Fortunately, the unsettling atmosphere was still spot on, like in previous installments, and I was glad that we got more exploration and less visual novel parts this time.
All in all, I can safely recommend this to fans of the series, but only if you played 'Corpse Party' and 'Book of Shadows', otherwise the story won't make much sense to you.
Well, I'm happy to say that overall I was satisfied with 'Blood Drive', even if, in my opinion, it's not nearly as good as the first part, but it's still much more fun than the second. This is definitely one of the better J-horrors I've played, with a great story, and, unfortunately, some flawed gameplay mechanics and clunky controls. Music and voice acting were both OK, and I loved the new characters (however, some old ones were extremely frustrating, at times making downright dumb decisions...). I wasn't a huge fan of the 3D chibi character design, but eventually I got used to it. Fortunately, the unsettling atmosphere was still spot on, like in previous installments, and I was glad that we got more exploration and less visual novel parts this time.
All in all, I can safely recommend this to fans of the series, but only if you played 'Corpse Party' and 'Book of Shadows', otherwise the story won't make much sense to you.