Ludography
Corpse Killer cover

1995 · Digital Pictures · Action · Light gun shooter

Corpse Killer

Sega console exclusive

Corpse Killer is a full-motion video shoot-'em up. You play as an elite special forces soldier, who parachutes onto a remote tropical island. It seems the evil genius Dr. Hellman has found a way to raise the dead, and created an island of zombies.

Released
1 March 1995
Platforms
3DO3DO Interactive MultiplayerSega 32XSega CDSega SaturnWindowsmacOS
Genres
ActionLight gun shooterShooterZombie
Developers
Digital Pictures
Publishers
Digital Pictures
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
First person
Themes
ActionHorror
Country
United States
Age ratings
ESRB M
Languages
English

About

Corpse Killer is a 1994 rail shooter video game developed and published by Digital Pictures for the Sega CD, 32X, 3DO, Sega Saturn, Windows and Macintosh computers. An interactive variation on the zombie film genre, it utilizes live-action full motion video in a format similar to other games developed by Digital Pictures. Reviews for the game were mixed, generally criticizing the repetitive gameplay and low video quality, though many reviewers enjoyed the campy nature of the cutscenes. Corpse Killer was the first CD game released for the 32X. It was later remastered for Steam, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.

Footage from the game was recycled for the 2003 film Game Over.

›Story

An unnamed United States Marine is airdropped onto a tropical island on a top secret mission to stop the evil Dr. Hellman, who plans to release his army of zombies on the world. He is bitten by a zombie and also meets an attractive female reporter and a Rastafarian male driver. Four of the marine lieutenant's comrades are captured by Hellman and turned into zombies. To rescue them, the lieutenant infiltrates Hellman's compound and shoots each of them with bullets coated with extract from Datura plants, which can turn freshly-created zombies back into humans.

Keywords

  • zombies
  • rail shooter
  • post-apocalyptic
  • cinematic
  • full motion video
  • live-action cutscene
  • undead invasion
  • journalist

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Most of the gameplay is similar to other light gun video games such as Lethal Enforcers. The player moves through the jungle, shooting various zombies, collecting better ammunition (to prepare for a raid on Hellman's compound), and medicine to recover health.

Story

An unnamed United States Marine is airdropped onto a tropical island on a top-secret mission to stop the evil Dr. Hellman, who plans to release his army of zombies on the world. He is bitten by a zombie and also meets an attractive female reporter and a Rastafarian male driver. Four of the marine lieutenant's comrades are captured by Hellman and turned into zombies. To rescue them, the lieutenant infiltrates Hellman's compound and shoots each of them with bullets coated with extract from Datura plants, which can turn freshly created zombies back into humans.

Development

John Lafia directed the live-action footage, which was filmed on location in the Caribbean, with most scenes being shot in Puerto Rico. The actors portraying the zombies wore latex masks.

The Sega Saturn version of the game was released with the subtitle "Graveyard Edition". This version features a few exclusives such as full-screen video (other versions have the FMV boxed in), improved video quality, a difficulty select (ranging from normal to bloodthirsty to cannibal), items and power-ups that drop down from the top of the screen and can be shot and collected, and "in your face" zombie attacks. These attacks involve a zombie that pops up immediately in front of the "camera" and attacks the player. They can only be killed with armor-piercing rounds or Datura rounds. The Saturn version is also the only version of the game to lack light gun support (though there is no mention of light guns in the manual or packaging for the 3DO version, it does, in fact, include light gun support).

Reception

Reviewing the Sega CD version, GamePro remarked that "This frisky first-person blast-a-thon looks and feels like a bad live-action movie. But your taste for 'bad' just might bring this Corpse to life." They particularly praised the B-movie production values, "typically grainy but stylish" FMV graphics, and the effective controls even when using a standard gamepad instead of a light gun.

In their review of the 32X version, the four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly said that the "campy, bad b-movie" cutscenes are entertaining but the gameplay is dull, and that the graphics are only slightly improved from the Sega CD version. Next Generation commented that the game itself is "decent", but that the improvement in graphics over the Sega CD version "is so small that only an expert could notice." GamePro reviewed that the 32X version retains the elements that made the Sega CD version fun and has far better graphics.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Sega CD1 November 1994North America · Europe 1 March 1995 · Brazil 1 June 1996
3DO Interactive Multiplayer31 December 1994North America · Japan 25 August 1995
macOS31 December 1994North America · Australia 31 December 1994

Editions and related releases

Ported as
Corpse Killer: Graveyard EditionCorpse Killer
Remastered as
Corpse Killer: 25th Anniversary Edition
Built on it
Corpse Killer: Graveyard EditionCorpse KillerCorpse Killer: 25th Anniversary Edition

Games like this

Collections6 collections

Platform libraries

Genres

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.