Corridor 7: Alien Invasion

It's an odd piece of gaming history that's worth playing if you like retro FPS games. The overall plot to the game is very interesting, as it's about an artifact from space that transforms an Area 51-type government base into a labyrinth infested with aliens. The goal is simple: kill all the aliens and move onto the next floor. And yet, oddly, without a guide onhand this game is virtually unplayable. The Bradygames guide is in black and white and very hard to read but basically necessary to finish the game because many of the secrets aren't optional. At the higher levels this game is hard, unforgiving and requires serious patience. Fortunately, the lower levels of play let anyone jump in. "Corporal" difficulty is basically casual mode. Just kill a few aliens and move to the next floor. "Lietenant" is probably the best difficulty for most players. You have to kill 75% of the aliens on each floor to progress. "Captain" difficulty is much harder, as now you have to kill 100% of the aliens and there are a lot more of them. Plus, you have to find the map to see where all of the aliens are and it's quite often hidden far off in a random area of the level. "Major" difficulty is just insane. Now there are way more enemies and they take more damage and you still have to kill 100% of them with limited ammo. What makes this game worth playing is the quirky weirdness to it. It runs on the Wolfenstein 3D engine and looks pretty good for its time. The only issue with the combat is the fact that you can't strafe. You can drop mines to blow up enemies but they don't always follow you in a straight line so this can be really frustrating. You'll mostly be using guns against the various quirky creatures this game throws at you. You'll start out just fighting little eye drones but as the game progresses you'll encounter enemies that morph into furniture to disguise themselves and invisible enemies that require using an infrared visor to see them. There are also terminals that allow access to blue and red doors. What makes the game fun is not the run-and-gun FPS type of gameplay you find in games like Doom, but in the "what order should I proceed" sort of difficulty that's usually saved for adventure games. When you shoot your gun the enemies are alerted. This can help or hinder you, as they will now be chasing after you but you can now see them moving whereas they were invisible before. Unfortunately you REALLY need the Bradygames guide to finish this game- there are just so many hidden passages that unless you are willing to search the entire map clicking everywhere you will never beat this. Also once you reach stage 21 the game stops giving out regular ammo and you are forced to use the alien weapons which have very little ammo and constantly run out. If you don't find the secret ammo cache on level 21, the game more than likely cannot be finished. The Steam version is based on the CD version of the game, so once you reach level 30 (Which is Corridor 7) you face the "final" boss, Solrac. You weirdly fight him earlier in the game but the Bradygames guide claims he is the one guarding the portal to the alien world. He's basically a creepy skull with tentacles with his brains sticking out. Once you kill him you have the option to destroy the eye or go into the portal. No matter what you do the ending is the same, but there are ten extra levels and another final boss inside the portal. These levels are WAY easier since you don't have to kill all the enemies and can simply run to the exit on each stage. It's a really fun niche classic FPS game, but make sure you use the Bradygames Guide or you will likely lose your mind trying to finish it.

Да уж, времена проходят. Была эта игра у меня в 90-х на первом пне. И мне она тогда казалась такой крутой! И очень сложной. Я её всё хотел пройти. Но увы, у меня была установлена какая-то косячная версия, что на 6 или 7 уровне игра застревала. В итоге пройти не удалось. А жаль, на тот момент игра казалась очень атмосферной. Ну и да - вовсю рубился в Дум и Квейк уже. А что сейчас? В это конечно уже невозможно играть. И дело даже не в игре, а в том, что эта версия для DosBox. Был бы какой-то мод или улучшение под современные экраны, и управление (как EcWolf хотя бы), то можно было бы пройти! Но увы, не нашёл подобного. Если всё таки такое есть, скажите плиз. А пока это не проходимо в таком виде. Как один из первых шутеров, и в целом, пусть назовём - 3д игр, это конечно раритет, но нужен срочно ремастер. Иначе так про игру забудут.

Replaying this got me feeling like a BOOMER. Corridor 7's exactly the same as you remember playing it in the 90s. The game runs smooth with no performance issues.

This game came out after Doom, which, for a game running on the Wolfenstein 3D engine, might as well have been a death sentence. Unfortunate, too, since Corridor 7 has a couple features Doom didn't even have at launch or in the 90s, such as multiplayer-only deathmatch maps and, get this, an autosave feature! Quite the QoL feature/innovations for what's often simply labeled as shovelware not worth giving a second look. So how about we give it that second look, eh? We're more than far enough removed from Doom's or C7's releases for both's tech to be considered dated, f*ck it. Starting off, Corridor 7's got great atmosphere, trekking thru seemingly retro-future office environments with wall textures that have moving artwork. Keeps things visually stimulating compared to the dull graphics of many other raycast FPS games. It might also occasionally jumpscare you, which I think is indicative of Capstone's attempt at creating a more horror-centric atmosphere. Even the floor and ceiling are gradients which fade from purple and white into pitch black, which is presumably supposed to emulate a feeling of darkness as you plunge further into the facility. Between the adlib floppy disk soundtrack and the CD music, I recommend playing with the former only because the latter will sometimes just... not play, depending on if you're paused when music stops, at least I think? Regardless, there's no redbook audio, so no looping. That might be the issue. ANYWAYS... It's also got a map feature, unlike Wolfenstein 3D, and you can see it in full on Lieutenant difficulty, unlike Blake Stone: Planet Strike. So there's that. It's got arguably the largest arsenal of any of the games running on the Wolf3D engine, only rivaled by ROTT... but hey, at least C7 doesn't have a carry limit, unlike that game. It even has multiple ammo types, a feature exclusive to this game, at least in this engine, it seems. Operation Body Count might be an exception to that, but... don't play that game. It's also got only 40 levels max compared to Wolfenstein 3D's or Blake Stone's 60, at least, only 40 mandatory ones. And it's only 40 if you're playing the CD version. The floppy disk version only has 30. Much more tolerable length. Still, I recommend playing it piecemeal. Level design is underrated in Corridor 7, if still very much a product of its time. It's very mazey, but in every level, if you wall-hump the very edges of the map for some time, you'll eventually access the perimeter surrounding the level, gaining access to secrets, extra powerups, so on. The consistency of this is appreciated, as it gives you something to look for in every level. They even change it all up in the last 10 levels, giving you mostly only ammo for your alien weapons, which freshens up the final levels significantly since things can get a tad stale once you obtain the tri-barrel power blaster earlier in the game, especially when combined with the abundance of bullet ammo for human weapons you get throughout the rest of the game. The tri-barrel is super strong and just doesn't chew through much ammo compared to the alien weapons, so the balancing shift once you go through the portal to the aliens' turf is a must. Also, on a side note, the lack of any height variation in games of this sort make the inclusion of this game's proximity mines absolutely glorious. Feels good to plant one only for the bulkiest enemies who chew through your health/armor to get one-shot by its explosion while trying to pursue you through any of the titular corridors. Be careful not to trap yourself somewhere with one of your own mines when no alien is after you, though, as your mines will one-hit kill you as well. Having spent significant time with the game, if you've got the proper control setup and a bit of patience, I think I can safely recommend C7. Especially if you have a special affinity for simple raycast first-person shooters. It's just over the price of a fast food meal, I'd reckon that's plenty bang for your buck.

This is my favorite game on this engine. An atmospheric game that creates a mood that is even somewhat poetic, subtly melancholic. There is something from the movie Alien in terms of atmosphere. Here you have to be careful, count bullets, monitor your health, and save your battery. Yes, there is a problem with outdated controls, but not on the Steam Deck. I was even able to set up something similar to a mouselook. The left stick is for walking and dodging (WASD), and the right touchpad works as a mouse (Y axis turned off). Not perfect, but surprisingly good. Would love to see a remake or sequel one day.

un vieux jeux que je jouais sur windows 95 dans le temps

This game is essentially Operation Body Count, but with a different coat of paint and only slightly better. Kill enough aliens to take an elevator to the next floor, repeat. The ammo economy is really weird, because in early levels there's plenty and in later maps you have to hump every wall or use the laser pistol. Many seem to have a soft spot for the game because of nostalgia, but it's not great. Instead of this poor man's Wolf3d I'd recommend playing Witchaven games instead. Because they're both such amazing disasterpieces with more character than this.

Conçu à partir du moteur de 'Wolfenstein 3D', ce FPS rétro est bien coloré... Les décors sont plutôt bien pensés et variés : Trousse de premier secours incorporée dans un mur ou terminaux d'accès pour les portes bleues et rouges. Le bestiaire d'extraterrestres hostiles est varié (d'avantage lorsque vous approchez de la fin...) ! La lunette spéciale, entre infra-rouge et vision nocturne est excellente pour traquer les ennemis et contourner des pièges. L'arsenal est appréciable (surtout en comparaison à la version disquette !). Sans omettre la musique de qualité (synthétiseur à l'époque !), ce jeu est un régal mais il faut avoir la qualité de savoir mémoriser les succesions de pièces et de... Corridors !

It's a "must buy".

this game is good. I am not going to go into detail, because i do not feel like typing all that. The game is amazing. I do recommend this game.