**Corridor 7: Alien Invasion - A Retro Review**

I'm not even sure what it is. I've heard some people say it's a hallucination. Whatever the case, it's friggin' creepy and I can imagine as a kid this scaring the dookie out of me. It gets even crazier once you get the night vision and infrared visors. Night vision is pretty much what you would expect, allowing you to see the lurking danger in dimly lit areas. Infrared is friggin' awesome, though, and lets you see some of the deadlier aliens, which are invisible to the naked eye. Plus, it makes me feel like a Terminator, and that's always a good thing.

Speaking of the aliens, there are about a dozen of them throughout the game. And while most of them are grunts of varying difficulty, there are a few that really stand out. Namely the aforementioned invisible aliens, an alien that can take the form of another alien once it's killed, and an alien that can temporarily shape-shift into inanimate objects, like plants and chairs. Thoroughly unnerving. They also seem to be a lot smarter than enemies in other shooters of its time, like when you make a noise blowing away an alien, some of its friends in nearby rooms will give up their monster closet status and come after you like an angry mob.

Thankfully, you have a decent arsenal at your disposal, including several military weapons like a taser, shotgun, machine guns, and mines. But there are also the stronger alien guns, which are powered by energy cells instead of traditional ammo, and really come in handy on the later levels against the tougher aliens. In somewhat of an odd design choice, the weapons of similar type actually share ammunition. So if you use up all of your chain gun ammo, for instance, you're also out of shotgun ammo as well.

In addition to all these weapons for fighting the aliens, you also have health packs, ammo refill stations, health recharge chambers, body armor, and more to aid you on your lengthy alien hunting excursions. And therein lies my main issue with Corridor 7: the length. Normally, it's a compliment when a game gives you lots of gameplay, and this was especially the case back in the day for most PC games. I mean, the longer the better, right? I'm sorry, Corridor 7, you just have too many freaking mazes. Too many corridors, too many of the same aliens, too many collecting of the same items and security clearances, too many elevators, wash, rinse, repeat, with not much to change things up in between.

And honestly, I also think Wolfenstein 3D has this issue somewhat. The mazes just get old and repetitive, and the nature of the gameplay and the level designs just starts to grind on me. The game's still kind of cool for maybe six or seven levels, but it just keeps going. This is definitely a personal complaint, but I felt it was worth mentioning because it does discourage me from going back and playing it or recommending it to other people.

Now, sure, it does have that randomized difficulty mode, which helps, but it doesn't do anything to change the same old same old maze levels that are all over the place constantly. When a game doesn't change things up enough to stay interesting, I can't help but take issue with that. Although, somebody thought it must have been good enough because a sequel titled Corridor 8: Galactic Wars was planned and even entered the prototyping stage. It was going to use the same build engine as Duke Nukem 3D, and the designers ended up using sprites from Doom as placeholders for the prototype, but it never saw much progress, much less a store shelf, and was cancelled as Capstone Software went under in 1996.

So is Corridor 7: Alien Invasion worth checking out? Well, it does at least have a very nice atmospheric tension going on, as well as some cool ideas, like the shape shifters, infrared mode, and the randomized difficulty mode. I wasn't able to test the multiplayer capabilities, but it sounds like it's just pretty standard deathmatch fare for the most part, so if you like the guns and the shooting style, it might be fun. It controls well enough, the gameplay is traditional and makes sense, and the difficulty can be punishing, but it's approachable. But it just didn't stay very fun for a long very time to me, mainly because I feel the need to complete a game once I've really gotten into it, and after a while, it just all started to blend together and aggravate me.

So if you enjoy classic first-person shooters, I'd at least give it a shot to see what YOU think. But personally, I feel that when you boil everything down, it's just another decent-enough-to-be-acceptable shooter from the Doom era.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enAhhh...The year is 1992and DOS computers are still pretty boring.Then comes id Software'slandmark first-person shooterWolfenstein 3D,violently blowing away everyoneand their Nazi friends to bitswith guns, guns, and more guns.So in 1993, everyone starts to predictablyjump onto the Wolfenstein clone bandwagon.Then comes id Software's landmarkfirst-person shooter, Doom,violently blowing away everyoneand their demon friends to bitswith guns, guns, and more guns.Aw, but what about the poor Wolfenstein clones?They don't stand a chance now.Well that's just too bad.They're lame. Who cares?Buy Doom or John Romero will eat your face!Yeah, that really happened.Well, more or less, anyways.And one of the casualties of Doom's explosiverelease was Corridor 7: Alien Invasion,released in 1994 by Capstone Softwareand their subsidiary, IntraCorp, Inc.And contrary to the title containing a numerical value,it is NOT the seventh game in a series,but rather the first and only game. Go figure.It's a Wolfenstein clone in the truest sense,as evidenced by this misguidedly-proud sticker on the front of the box.Capstone Software was one ofthose companies that was known for...well, not really a whole lot at that point.I guess Wayne's World, Miami Viceand Operation Body Count,and I wouldn't exactly label thoseeverlasting classic computer games.But then they came out with Corridor 7,and it seems to have stood the test of timesomewhat better than their previous titles,at least judging by the opinions I've read online.We all know how trustworthy those are.In Corridor 7, you witness thegrim future of the year 2012.Where a team of United States scientists,and not scientists from anywhere else, mind you,return from Marswith a metallic alien object.It's about to be studied in a lab called Corridor 7,but it turns out it's actually a gatewaythat opens up our world to invasion,everyone dies, you're humanity's only hope,blah blah freakin' blah blah.It's one of the oldest sci-fi stories in the...Book of Old Sci-Fi Stories.This version of the game comes ontwo 3.5-inch high-density floppy disks,but this is just the first release.I'll be reviewing the CD-ROM versionbecause it's the exact same game,except that it's enhanced with CD audio,multiplayer, more difficulty levels, more guns,more enemies, and ten new maps,and a lot more awesome,so yeah, it's an obvious choice.The game starts off with some title screens,and an animated introductory videoshowing the story of the game so far.ASTRONAUT: We've uncovered something.Looks like an alien artifact.LGR: Lightsaber sound effects?Seriously?I thought the artifact came from Mars,not a galaxy far, far away.You are then greeted with the main menu,where you can start, load and continue a game,as well as adjust the options, view high scores,and pull an Elvis by leaving the building.Starting a new game providesyou with four difficulty levels,ranging from easiest to hardest, naturally,as well as various multiplayer optionsfor playing over a modem or a network.There is also a mode called President,which is a unique difficulty mode thatrandomizes the placement of items and enemies,assuring that you experience a slightlydifferent game every time you play.I highly recommend choosingsomething other than the easiest mode,and you'll see why in a minute.Starting the game,you're dropped right into Corridor 7,the lowest level of the Delta Base facility,surrounded by electric fencesand holding some basic guns.The goal of the game is tomake it to the end of the leveland stay alive to the game's conclusionby blowing away aliensand navigating hallway mazes.It's a Wolfenstein game...Pretty much the same as anyold-school first-person shooter,and actually the same asmost modern shooters, too.But the biggest difference here is that youwon't be going around collecting keycardsor trying to find the exit.No, the goal of every level is to kill enough aliensto consider the level secure,and then ride the elevator to the next level.If you're on the easier difficulties, youdon't even have to kill all of the aliens.You can just kill one or two dudesand breeze through the level.That's no fun to me, so if youeven want a hint of a challenge,choose a higher difficulty.It's also worth noting thatthere are no keycards at all,but instead you have computerswhich unlock either red or blue doors in the level.The rest of the time, you'resimply navigating the corridors,trying to stay alive while mappingthe place out, if you so choose.This is done by the map on your heads-up displayand is crucial to an enjoyable game.This is because it not only reveals nearby aliens,but the level designs are pretty muchwhat you would see in a hedge maze.Lots of dead ends and windingpathways that lead absolutely nowhere,and nearly all of the walls look the same.I mean, sure, there are somecool decorations here and there,and the animated and transparent textures are cool,at least for a Wolfenstein-engine game.But I'm not gonna lie, it startsgetting repetitive really fast.Thankfully, the industrial-soundingmusic is pretty freaking cool.At least with the CD-ROM version's CD audio.The floppy version does have AdLib music, at least,and while it's decent,it just isn't the same experienceas the CD version's crisper beats.Combined with the darkness in the distanceand the occasional creepyalien that pops up behind you,Corridor 7 is actually quite anawesomely atmospheric game.In fact, on some occasions,I'd say it rivals Doomin terms of creepy atmosphere.Although, you're not going tobe seeing any glimpses of Hellor tortured souls or anything like that.Though occasionally you willsee this pop out in front of you.I don't like that thing.I'm not even sure what it is.I've heard some people say it's a hallucination.Whatever the case, it's friggin' creepyand I can imagine as a kidthis scaring the dookie out of me.It gets even crazier once you getthe night vision and infrared visors.Night vision is pretty much what you would expect,allowing you see the lurking danger in dimly lit areas.Infrared is friggin' awesome, though,and lets you see some of the deadlier aliens,which are invisible to the naked eye.Plus, it makes me feel like a Terminator,and that's always a good thing.Speaking of the aliens, there are abouta dozen of them throughout the game.And while most of them are grunts of varying difficulty,there are a few that really stand out,namely the aforementioned invisible aliens,an alien that can take the formof another alien once it's killed,and an alien that can temporarilyshape-shift into inanimate objects,like plants and chairs.Thoroughly unnerving.They also seem to be a lot smarter than enemies in other shooters of its time,like when you make a noise blowing away an alien,some of its friends in nearby roomswill give up their monster closet statusand come after you like an angry mob.Thankfully, you have a decent arsenal at your disposal,including several military weapons like a taser,shotgun, machine guns, and mines.But there are also the stronger alien guns,which are powered by energy cellsinstead of traditional ammo,and really come in handy on the laterlevels against the tougher aliens.In somewhat of an odd design choice,the weapons of similar type actually share ammunition.So if you use up all of yourchain gun ammo, for instance,you're also out of shotgun ammo as well.In addition to all these weapons for fighting the aliens,you also have health packs, ammo refill stations,health recharge chambers, body armor,and more to aid you on yourlengthy alien hunting excursions.And therein lies my main issue with Corridor 7:the length.Normally, it's a compliment whena game gives you lots of gameplay,and this was especially the caseback in the day for most PC games.I mean, the longer the better, right?I'm sorry, Corridor 7, you justhave too many freaking mazes.Too many corridors, too many of the same aliens,too many collecting of the sameitems and security clearances,too many elevators, wash, rinse, repeat,with not much to change things up in between.And honestly, I also thinkWolfenstein 3D has this issue somewhat.The mazes just get old and repetitiveand the nature of the gameplay and thelevel designs just starts to grind on me.The game's still kind of coolfor maybe six or seven levels,but it just keeps going.This is definitely a personal complaint, but I felt it was worth mentioningbecause it does discourage mefrom going back and playing itor recommending it to other people.Now, sure, it does have thatrandomized difficulty mode, which helps,but it doesn't do anything to changethe same old same old maze levelsthat are all over the place constantly.When a game doesn't changethings up enough to stay interesting,I can't help but take issue with that.Although, somebody thoughtit must have been good enoughbecause a sequel titled Corridor 8: Galactic Warswas planned and even entered the prototyping stage.It was going to use the samebuild engine as Duke Nukem 3D,and the designers ended up using spritesfrom Doom as placeholders for the prototype,but it never saw much progress,much less a store shelf,and was cancelled as CapstoneSoftware went under in 1996.So is Corridor 7: Alien Invasion worth checking out?Well, it does at least have a verynice atmospheric tension going on,as well as some cool ideas, like the shape shifters,infrared mode and the randomized difficulty mode.I wasn't able to test the multiplayer capabilities,but it sounds like it's just pretty standarddeathmatch fare for the most part,so if you like the guns and theshooting style, it might be fun.It controls well enough,the gameplay is traditional and makes sense,and the difficulty can bepunishing, but it's approachable.But it just didn't stay very funfor a long very time to me,mainly because I feel the need to completea game once I've really gotten into it,and after a while it just all startedto blend together and aggravate me.So if you enjoy classic first-person shooters,I'd at least give it a shot to see what YOU think.But personally I feel thatwhen you boil everything down,it's just another decent-enough-to-be-acceptable shooter from the Doom era.\n"