Riddled Corpses EX

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Title: Riddled Corpses EX
Developer: Diabolical Mind
Publisher: COWCAT
Website: https://www.cowcatgames.com/presskit/sheetriddled.php?p=riddled
Genre: RPG, Shooter, Action, Arcade
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Audience: 12+
Release Date: 02/03/2019
Price: £8.99 – Rapid Reviews UK was very kindly provided with a review code for this title.

What the Developers say

Riddled Corpses EX is a twin-stick shooter made in the style of 8/16 bit arcade games.

Travel through diverse locations packed with danger and huge bosses. Choose your character wisely and make good use of their abilities and the special items (clock, dynamite and turrets) to progress and destroy the root of evil!

• 60 FPS fast-paced action
• 2 player local coop
• 6 characters with varying stats and abilities
• Arcade, story and survival modes
• Combo system
• Quality chiptune music
• Register your best scores on the online leaderboard!

Introduction

Arcades were a big part of my life growing up, and back in the late 80s and early 90s, a credit would usually be 20p! Not a lot nowadays, but back when I was a kid, it seemed it, especially when some games were tough to complete.

When I play Riddled Corpse EX, it takes me back to that time, not just because of the retro graphics, but because I can imagine being there, in the arcade embracing that single 20p with the hope that this one lasts me longer than the last.

Riddled Corpses EX is a Twin-Stick shooter in a bleak apocalyptic world where scientists accidentally unleash the forces of the undead onto the globe, and you take up the job to eliminate the undead before a greater evil comes to rid the world of all humanity.

Looks and Sounds

The 16bit anime art style of the visuals may seem somewhat adorable in a way, but that is not to be underestimated about this game, the undead are just the start, and those cute little chibi zombies aren’t around for long. Soon enough you will come across other demons and weird creatures. And then there are the Boss sprites, and these are huge pixelated monstrosities that have been created with great care to be as freakish as possible.

There are some options to change the screen filter to an even more retro CRT TV mode or also slightly smooth out those sharp pixels with an Interpolation filter.

The retro style sound FXs have the fun old booms and explosions and creepy groans of zombies along with a chiptune melody that had a great beat, and extremely action paced to get you in the fighting spirit. The music can quickly get stuck into your head and find itself on a continual loop in your brain and let’s not forget that as well as the classic score; there is also a new soundtrack to play through.

Gameplay and Replayability

There are 3 game modes to Riddles Corpses EX to play through, Story, Arcade and Survival. Each one of these has the same gameplay, but with different game mechanics.

To progress throughout the story of Riddled Corpse EX, it is a must to collect as much gold that has been dropped throughout the stages so you can level up to make your firepower more powerful and making each run that bit easier. Once you’ve unlocked a new stage, you can choose which one you want to start at.

Arcade mode is the same gameplay as the story but more reminiscent of the past arcades as you start your journey at level 1 and collect the powerups that increase your level throughout the stages, this is a tough mode as you try to complete the game in one sitting.

And lastly, Survival mode lets you use your current levelled up character fight against a constant onslaught of enemies and projectiles in a never-ending battle of the undead. This mode is both fun and a great way to grind more gold quickly. The twin-stick shooter action runs on a very smooth 60fps, much improvement on the old PC version which ran 30fps.

You can even grab yourself a friend and play Co-op on all modes. You can play with a left and right Joy-con, but with the limitations on movement as you use the one joystick to both move and shoot in the direction you are pointing, making strafing impossible, or if you have two pairs of Joy-Cons you can both enjoy the twin-stick action together.

Conclusion

I adore the classic retro look of this game, the visuals and sounds are very nostalgic and pay great homage to the old arcade games of the past with action and smooth gameplay. This arcade-style shooter is fast-paced and chock full of zombies, be ready to die a lot and replay it a lot. You will need to grind for that gold to get past the bigger monsters and demonic bosses which I can image being frustrating when some characters cost a whopping 9999 gold to unlock.

The three added game modes all offer something different, story mode becoming easier with each level you improve a character, whereas Arcade mode provides a more challenging run through the game as you struggle to survive through one sitting and levelling up a character with any pickups you find along the way. And then we have my personal favourite, Survival mode, which is just a screen of a whole bunch of oddities you blast away for your enjoyment.

There is nothing more I like than to sit down with a game that I can pick up and enjoy from the get-go. Riddled Corpses EX happens to be one of those kinds of games for me, it is simple but challenging, and with the three game modes that each offer something a little different. The graphics may be off-putting to younger gamers who are used to those high rez graphics and grinding may be a chore, but it’s a hell of an improvement on the PC version.

Rapid Reviews UK Rating

You can purchase Riddled Corpses EX on the Nintendo eShop at the following link, https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Riddled-Corpses-EX-1511257.html#Overview