Corridor 8

''Corridor 7: Alien Invasion'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by Capstone Software and published by IntraCorp and GameTek. It was poorly received, largely due to its use of the outdated Wolfenstein 3D engine, which was technologically inferior to the Doom engine, which was available at the time. A sequel, '' Corridor 8: Galactic Wars'', was in development, but later cancelled.

Plot

The staff of a top-secret research laboratory, Corridor 7, inadvertently open an interdimensional portal known as the Vortex while experimenting on an alien artifact recovered from Mars. Shortly after, hostile aliens emerge from the Vortex and kill all of its staff. The player, as a lone Special Forces soldier, enters the base to kill the aliens and destroy the source of their power.

Game play

''Corridor 7'' consists of 30 floors (with 40 floors in the CD version) and 6 bonus floors. The player is tasked with killing a certain number of enemies before the exit to the next floor is accessible. There are four difficulty settings, which modify the number of enemies that need to be eliminated and how much damage the player will take from enemy attacks and traps. In the CD version, there is a fifth setting, which randomly scatters items and enemies throughout the game.

The player can activate the proximity map in one corner of the screen, showing a small section of the current level with active aliens marked in yellow. The map can be expanded by finding the floor plan. The player is equipped with a visor capable of both infrared and night vision. Infrared is employed to detect invisible traps, while night vision enhances the player's vision in dark areas of the game. Ammunition and health are not scattered around the levels as objects to pick up, but rather as dispenser bays encased in the level walls. Health is also available in rooms called "health chambers", where the player can obtain up to 100 hit points. There are two ammo types for human firearms and alien firearms.

Locked areas require a color-coded (blue or red) pass card to be opened, which are granted by interacting with computer terminals.

Multiplayer

The immense success of the multiplayer modes in ''Doom'' is believed to be the reason behind the addition of LAN and modem game play modes in the CD release of ''Corridor 7''. The only multiplayer mode featured is deathmatch, with 8 multiplayer maps included. Players can play as either the Special Forces soldiers from the single-player mode or as one of the aliens; playing as an alien results in possessing the distinctive abilities of the creature chosen (e.g. speed or endurance).

Reception

''Corridor 7'' received mixed reviews at launch. Chris Anderson of PC Zone stated that the game offered "nothing new and what is there isn't very exciting", and largely criticized its use of the Wolfenstein 3D engine.

Legacy

''Corridor 8: Galactic Wars'' was the planned sequel to ''Corridor 7''. The game was in development and used the Build engine, though it was never finished because the developer, Capstone Software, went bankrupt along with their parent company, IntraCorp, in 1996. The game only made it to prototype stage. In 2005, Les Bird sent the ''Corridor 8'' prototype source code to a ''Corridor 7'' fan, who put it onto his website as a free download.

References

*Steven M. Schafer, ''Corridor 7 Official guide'' - Brady publishing 1994

External links

Les Bird's Capstone Game Archive
Includes ''Corridor 8'' prototype source code and Corridor 7 design documents
*

{{Wolfenstein 3D engine games

1994 video games
Alien invasions in video games
Commercial video games with freely available source code
DOS games
DOS-only games
First-person shooters
Science fiction video games
Sprite-based first-person shooters
Video games about extraterrestrial life
Video games developed in the United States
Video games with 2.5D graphics
Wolfenstein 3D engine games
Games commercially released with DOSBox
GameTek games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
IntraCorp games