I remember seeing this on the PS Vita first, but thankfully, I had the decency and common sense to consider playing it in running order at least. But now being a fan of the series, I jumped at the chance of procuring all their ports on Steam! I think it bears repeating- this is the definitive conclusion to Heavenly Host arc! AHHHHH!! Needless to say the first game set the bar way high and so I don't expect it to surpass the founding predecessor in any way. But regardless, I know it will be a worthy addition~ Ready, set your Everafter stones and go!



The Gist:
The Heavenly Host tragedy survivors return in even worse shape than before. As fate would have it, evil is still afoot and this time it seeps into the real world. With new characters and foes- lessons are interrupted and Ayumi takes matters into her own hands. How will the overall transition back to school go?

! Tell me, what drives you?


(a) Same Game, New Rules
Chibi characters, check! 3D environments with deadly traps, checkers!! Ranging from broken shards of glass, sharp wood fragments or the tripwire that will hurt like a mothe-. So mind your step! These go with the survival horror elements; the inclusion of a health, stamina bar and having a flashlight/cellphone to light your path but honestly my battery never ran out (even without toggling the unlimited batteries option). The 'darkening' is also worked in but instead of percentages, your character avatar becomes more greyscale, eyes turn red and a noise filter intensifies. It's almost impossible to die from this unless you don't resist the tentacle that creeps out of red blotches of organic matter...

There are also some "boss fight" sequences where a chase breaks out or you have to survive a barrage of Pyramid Head lookalikes (SH2) until time ran out. It was so unexpected and challenging, it wasn't CP at all, that's why I like it so much. However, the solutions are actually deceptively so, it just takes some trial and error. Put yourself in your character's shoes~

(b) Fresh Meat
Having lost so many souls, it was only a matter of time before new characters were added! This includes the new homeroom teacher and savant, Kuon-sensei who actually fills in the late Yui's role quite well. Bringing a warmth, competence that's so awe-inspiring while balanced out by being the hopeless romantic. Her sister Aiko, whose ruthless and calculated streak is totally a front is just so refreshing! She's my bias and her ability to be playful but menacing in her charms is just wonderfully conveyed by her voice actress~ Then there's Magari and Misuto who I don't have much to say... Because it would reveal too much~ :'P

(c) Improved Infrastructure
The way the new Heavenly Host is designed, compared to 8-bit of the OG or first person view of BoS- it breathes new life to the environment. The way the school gets progressively more dangerous, the school literally becoming more alive and with malicious spirits. It's like a haunted house, with the sudden appearance and description of strange sights to get your chibi jolted out. As for sound design, the nostalgic tracks and sound effects always give me a tingle XD. But there's this new remixed version with dub-step added to it which makes for a real treat!

(d) The Prophecy
Scary or no? Well, it hits a new tone because you actually spend a lot of time in the "real" world too. So, by seeing how an initially paranormal, thereby separate realm invading reality and could potentially cause irreversible damage to life as they knew it... It was definitely a shocker. Granted the chibi violence does make the horror more out of place but at least they could show a side of CP that players up until now could only visualize from reading them in-text form. Lastly, the idea there's this completely unknown secret harbored by Ayumi (unintentionally), even though inferences could be made from the Shinozaki surname. How it was beyond one's control and only a matter of time; rendered me helpless... or empowering, it depends on how you look at it.



(i) Learning Disability
The inclusion of a stamina bar is fine but without exception, every character gets winded after 15 seconds of sprinting. This is shared between characters so this makes switching characters pointless save for hit-point considerations. There's also how if you run while showing signs of exhaustion will lock him/her into the fatigue animation sometimes, so that takes the edge off XD. Combat is problematic with regards to hit-boxes which is near inconsistent with every swing by enemies in that there's a delay registered after being dealt damage (especially in doorways). The different traps selectively choosing to affect individual HP or of the party also doesn't make sense.

The talisman that is automatically used up whenever there's one in your inventory and a spirit makes contact with you. Is a pain, because you can't save them for when it actually matters. The save points restore you to full health and so you never had to worry about using health items :'D. I mentioned that this sequel tries to think of so many things to set it apart from the series, but they ended being underwhelming or underutilized.

(ii) Too Ambitious
It's true, there was no other feasible outcome in which the story would arrive at. But the massive expansion in scale, scope of the occultism elements that strongly characterize the series made it more complicated and jargon heavy than necessary. The humble beginning of a localised vengeance and haunting has now literally become an apocalypse like situation. Involvement of doomsday cults and retracing of bloodlines, it's a slippery slope into mediocrity where the focus is lost. Even the multiple fake deaths(?!) of beloved members but no wait it's reversible...just show how directionless it could have been.

(iii) Inexcusable
One fatal flaw stood out; during parts of heavy dialogue- the extra chapters especially, there is no way of saving the game or leave mid-text. As far as I recall, there was only one side chapter that presented the option because it was very long. But as for the rest, nope no such allowance! This bugs me more than it should but it really highlights the inconsistencies in design (probably due to constant shifting of developers) between games because Book of Shadows was just much more user friendly than this! Another is the harrowing, vague 'star' indicators of which endings you have gotten and it doesn't help at all...



To sum up, Blood Drive encapsulates what the Corpse Party experience is all about. Be it the updated visuals from the sprite days or expounding a story that centres on the human psyche. On top of the malevolent spirits that pursue you, the environmental hazards give you another reason to be all the more wary of your surroundings. Fresh faces are introduced and they acclimate right in- some more than others. Being the final act, it makes sense the story would raise the stakes but even that comes at a huge cost where every past successful element is brought back, magnified and becomes style over substance. The combat, exploration presents their own issues but they're more irritable than anything and just take a bit of adaptation. An emotional rollercoaster overall and I couldn't foresee as to how it'll end. After all, the game owed it to us- make up for the damage they've had us endure through the trilogy and it delivered no doubt, albeit leaving a divided following as to what will happen next~



I was right- CP2: Dead Patient is more enjoyable without playing Blood Drive.

[code]Curator page here-->[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37670120/] DaRevieweD #42[/url]<-- [i]New review every Sunday[/i][/code] I remember seeing this on the PS Vita first, but thankfully, I had the decency and common sense to consider playing it in running order at least. But now being a fan of the series, I jumped at the chance of procuring all their ports on Steam! I think it bears repeating- this is the definitive conclusion to Heavenly Host arc! AHHHHH!! Needless to say the first game set the bar way high and so I don't expect it to surpass the founding predecessor in any way. But regardless, I know it will be a worthy addition~ Ready, set your Everafter stones and go! [h1]"The Beginning..."[/h1] [u]The Gist:[/u] The Heavenly Host tragedy survivors return in even worse shape than before. As fate would have it, evil is still afoot and this time it seeps into the real world. With new characters and foes- lessons are interrupted and Ayumi takes matters into her own hands. How will the overall transition back to school go? [spoiler] ! Tell me, what drives you?[/spoiler] [h1][+] PROS;[/h1] [b](a) Same Game, New Rules[/b] Chibi characters, check! 3D environments with deadly traps, checkers!! Ranging from broken shards of glass, sharp wood fragments or the tripwire that will hurt like a mothe-. So mind your step! These go with the survival horror elements; the inclusion of a health, stamina bar and having a flashlight/cellphone to light your path but honestly my battery never ran out (even without toggling the unlimited batteries option). The 'darkening' is also worked in but instead of percentages, your character avatar becomes more greyscale, eyes turn red and a noise filter intensifies. It's almost impossible to die from this unless you don't resist the tentacle that creeps out of red blotches of organic matter... There are also some "boss fight" sequences where a chase breaks out or you have to survive a barrage of Pyramid Head lookalikes (SH2) until time ran out. It was so unexpected and challenging, it wasn't CP at all, that's why I like it so much. However, the solutions are actually deceptively so, it just takes some trial and error. Put yourself in your character's shoes~ [b](b) Fresh Meat[/b] Having lost so many souls, it was only a matter of time before new characters were added! This includes the new homeroom teacher and savant, Kuon-sensei who actually fills in the late Yui's role quite well. Bringing a warmth, competence that's so awe-inspiring while balanced out by being the hopeless romantic. Her sister Aiko, whose ruthless and calculated streak is totally a front is just so refreshing! She's my bias and her ability to be playful but menacing in her charms is just wonderfully conveyed by her voice actress~ Then there's Magari and Misuto who I don't have much to say... Because it would reveal too much~ :'P [b](c) Improved Infrastructure[/b] The way the new Heavenly Host is designed, compared to 8-bit of the OG or first person view of BoS- it breathes new life to the environment. The way the school gets progressively more dangerous, the school literally becoming more alive and with malicious spirits. It's like a haunted house, with the sudden appearance and description of strange sights to get your chibi jolted out. As for sound design, the nostalgic tracks and sound effects always give me a tingle XD. But there's this new remixed version with dub-step added to it which makes for a real treat! [b](d) The Prophecy[/b] Scary or no? Well, it hits a new tone because you actually spend a lot of time in the "real" world too. So, by seeing how an initially paranormal, thereby separate realm invading reality and could potentially cause irreversible damage to life as they knew it... It was definitely a shocker. Granted the chibi violence does make the horror more out of place but at least they could show a side of CP that players up until now could only visualize from reading them in-text form. Lastly, the idea there's this completely unknown [spoiler] secret harbored by Ayumi (unintentionally), even though inferences could be made from the Shinozaki surname[/spoiler]. How it was beyond one's control and only a matter of time; rendered me helpless... or empowering, it depends on how you look at it. [h1][-] CONS;[/h1] [b](i) Learning Disability[/b] The inclusion of a stamina bar is fine but without exception, every character gets winded after 15 seconds of sprinting. This is shared between characters so this makes switching characters pointless save for hit-point considerations. There's also how if you run while showing signs of exhaustion will lock him/her into the fatigue animation sometimes, so that takes the edge off XD. Combat is problematic with regards to hit-boxes which is near inconsistent with every swing by enemies in that there's a delay registered after being dealt damage (especially in doorways). The different traps selectively choosing to affect individual HP or of the party also doesn't make sense. The talisman that is automatically used up whenever there's one in your inventory and a spirit makes contact with you. Is a pain, because you can't save them for when it actually matters. The save points restore you to full health and so you never had to worry about using health items :'D. I mentioned that this sequel tries to think of so many things to set it apart from the series, but they ended being underwhelming or underutilized. [b](ii) Too Ambitious[/b] It's true, there was no other feasible outcome in which the story would arrive at. But the massive expansion in scale, scope of the occultism elements that strongly characterize the series made it more complicated and jargon heavy than necessary. The humble beginning of a localised vengeance and haunting has now literally become an apocalypse like situation. Involvement of doomsday cults and retracing of bloodlines, it's a slippery slope into mediocrity where the focus is lost. Even the multiple [spoiler]fake deaths(?!) of beloved members but no wait it's reversible...[/spoiler]just show how directionless it could have been. [b](iii) Inexcusable[/b] One fatal flaw stood out; during parts of heavy dialogue- the extra chapters especially, there is no way of saving the game or leave mid-text. As far as I recall, there was only one side chapter that presented the option because it was very long. But as for the rest, nope no such allowance! This bugs me more than it should but it really highlights the inconsistencies in design (probably due to constant shifting of developers) between games because [i]Book of Shadows[/i] was just much more user friendly than this! Another is the harrowing, vague 'star' indicators of which endings you have gotten and it doesn't help at all... [h1]"...of The End."[/h1] To sum up, Blood Drive encapsulates what the Corpse Party experience is all about. Be it the updated visuals from the sprite days or expounding a story that centres on the human psyche. On top of the malevolent spirits that pursue you, the environmental hazards give you another reason to be all the more wary of your surroundings. Fresh faces are introduced and they acclimate right in- some more than others. Being the final act, it makes sense the story would raise the stakes but even that comes at a huge cost where every past successful element is brought back, magnified and becomes style over substance. The combat, exploration presents their own issues but they're more irritable than anything and just take a bit of adaptation. An emotional rollercoaster overall and I couldn't foresee as to how it'll end. After all, the game owed it to us- make up for the damage they've had us endure through the trilogy and it delivered no doubt, albeit leaving a divided following as to what will happen next~ [h1]8.8/10[/h1] [b]I was right- CP2: Dead Patient is more enjoyable without playing Blood Drive.[/b]