The word “innovation” has its fair share of different definitions, especially when it comes to video games. As a whole, it is normally defined as a certain thing that hasn’t been done before before. However, it’s not always used to describe whether something’s new and "fun". A video game can have innovative controls, but if it controls poorly, it’s considered “innovative, but poor”. However, I tend to view innovation differently. To put it short, innovation to me is something that’s a breath of fresh air that not only manages to deliver something new, but also manages to make it fun and entertaining. That being said, as far as I can remember in my years of gaming, that’s the definition I’ve always held for the word “innovation”. However, Killer7 manages to partially prove me wrong, and at the same time partially prove me right.
Killer7 is an odd game, which, simply put, "dares" to be different. It yearns to offer a breath of fresh air in today’s gaming selection, and it doesn’t show a single sign of doubt in what it attempts. Some may instantly fall in love with this game, while others may instantly be turned off due to the huge difference between this game and many other popular games these days. Hence, this game has been considered by critics and gamers alike a “Love it or Hate it” game, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. To put it simply, you either like it, or you don’t. In fact, even this Review won’t suit everybody’s tastes, but nonetheless, I attempt to shed some light on this game’s wacky nature and give you a clear idea of the game’s overall feel, and whether that feel might cater to you or not.
If there is one game that almost surpasses
GTA in terms of adult material, Killer7 is that game, hence it is rated
M, for violence, blood and gore, sexual themes (not as bad GTA, but where
it is present, it is very strong), and STRONG (notice the emphasis on strong)
language. If any of these things trouble you or your parents, then it is
recommended that you don’t get it. This game is available for the GameCube
and the PS2, but I’m reviewing the GameCube version. This will be rated
on my typical rating scale of 0-5, of which… well, I don’t need to explain
the scale to you.
Graphics: 4.5
Cel-shading isn’t anything uncommon in video games these days. Sure, it doesn’t hold a strong grasp in the gaming industry, but it manages to keep itself noticeable. However, looking at all of the games that have used the cel-shading technique (Wind Waker, Sly Cooper, etc), none capture the style Killer7’s graphics possess, none.
Killer7 is one of those games that put more emphasis on the enemy and character design than it does the environment. Of course, this is not to say the environment is terrible; far from it, but the game goes the extra length to make the characters stand out in the environment. This is sort of like Paper Mario when you think about it. Paper Mario had you controlling 2D characters in a 3D setting. Though both the characters and the environment are 3D in Killer7, the difference between the two is noticeable, especially when you consider how the game controls, something I’ll touch upon in the gameplay section.
The characters are all designed to fit their given personality and character, showing us a clear image of what that character is like. From an afro-toting Texan who happens to be the president of a company to a mute albino who can turn invisible and toss knives, their personalities are made clear from the moment you first see them to the end of the game (or to their death or last appearance, if they don’t reach the end of the game) simply by the character design. You don’t even need to turn to the other small details, such as voice acting (though that also helps in fleshing out their character) and such. They literally stand out and tell you the character that they are through their design. It wouldn’t work any other way either. These characters rely on the cel-shaded graphics to convey their personalities, and it certainly works.
The visual effects are as good as the character designs are, guns moving in realistic manners with each shot, enemies blowing up in an explosion of tiny red (or even white) particles as you shoot them in their weakpoints, and huge explosions rocking the screen; and once again, these effects are pulled off by the wondrous cel-shading this game displays. However, there is one tiny nitpick I found in the visual effects department, and that’s the blood. Cel-shading does have its limits, and the blood in this game shows that perfectly. It’s not realistic, that’s for sure, looking more like ketchup than anything else. The game developers seemed to take note of this, but regardless they toss the blood out at you in sickening amounts, which might turn some of, but of course, if you’re playing the game primarily for the gameplay and not the graphics like me, this shouldn’t bother you at all.
The environment, on the other hand, is put below the character design and visual effects as far as importance goes, and is partially why the graphics department doesn’t get a full score. The environment, as a whole, always tends to feel "flat" to me. This is mainly because of the fact that you probably never were meant to gawk at the environments, and were instead supposed to focus on keeping your back safe and sound while fending off enemies at every turn. This is perfectly fine, and you probably won’t mind either unless you always look at the environment design first and foremost. Besides, the game manages to toss different settings at you to keep the area designs from getting monotonous or dull.
Despite the shortcomings in the environment, Killer7 has one little catch to its graphics department that most other games don’t have. A few of the missions in the game toss out the in-game graphics engine altogether, and put in its place anime cutscenes. That’s right, this game has full-fledged anime cutscenes, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint at all. In fact, two separate animation studios were called upon to do the anime cutscenes for two different missions, and it certainly shows. Each studio has a unique style they put in their animation, and the animation fits in perfectly with the mission they’re nestled in. It’s what I like to consider one of the game’s "rewards" for sticking with it past the first mission and going to the end. It ultimately pays off, and it’s bound to please.
Ultimately, Killer7 offers a unique
style in its graphical department, and unless you absolutely despise cel-shading
or anime cutscenes, you’re sure to be pleased by this game’s graphics.
However, that’s only the graphics we’re talking about. We’ve yet to get
to the real meat, so let’s not consider this an instant classic yet just
from the graphics alone.
Story: 5
When video gaming was first introduced to the world, it was simply meant to entertain us. There was no real storytelling involved, nor was there any attempt to really emphasize storytelling. The tides changed as the years went by, and as the Final Fantasy series and RPG genre took off, storytelling started to become more apparent in video games. The simple concept of “Bowser kidnapped Peach, Mario rescues Peach” became a tad bit more in future installments to Mario games, and the Metal Gear Solid series pretty much showed storytelling at its finest in video gaming. Being as I’m a writer and, as a result, a storyteller, the storytelling in video games is one aspect I always took interest in evaluating. Then, after I thought I got a pretty decent idea of how storytelling as a whole is done in video games, Killer7 comes along and blows me away.
This game’s story is simply whacked, and I won’t hide it. Always leaving you confused, and even leaving a few untied knots at the game’s conclusion for you to figure out, Killer7 displays its unique nature best in the story. However, to describe it all as best as possible without spoiling anything, Killer7 gives an alternate take on the world’s state of conditions. In 1998, all the world powers resolved their conflicts and banded together in an attempt to make sure that war, terrorism, and all acts of violence were put to an end, and that peace was found. All air travel was made illegal (instead replaced by a highway spanning the entire Atlantic Ocean to connect the two main landmasses), nuclear weapons were disposed of in a nuclear disposal site on a remote island near the Indian Ocean, and most importantly, missiles were launched outside the Earth’s atmosphere and intercepted by other missiles, destroying them and ultimately giving hope to the world for a peaceful future.
However, in 2003, things suddenly took a change for the worst, when at the signing of a full-fledged peace treaty between world leaders, suicide bombers struck, taking the world by surprise and spreading terror at a fast rate. These suicide bombers turned out to be from a group of creatures called the Heavens Smile, an organization bent on simply using terrorism for the sake of spreading terror. With no real way to battle the spreading amount of Heavens Smile walking the lands, the U.S. government called upon their last hope, a group of assassins known as the Killer7, headed by a wheelchair-bound old man, who, as you find out, happens to have a sort of "multi-personality" problem. In other words, he has seven different personalities (Garcian, Dan, Kaede, Coyote, Con, Kevin, and Mask) and is capable of tapping into these personalities and becoming the character that is the personality. What’s more, this old man (Harman Smith) happens to know the leader of the Heavens Smile (Kun Lan), and ultimately, he and his seven personalities are the only ones that can stop Kun Lan.
If I were to go on, I would probably
spoil a lot, something I do not wish to do. This is one of the few games
out there that actually makes you think outside the box, trying to piece
together the many segments of the story and trying to see the whole picture
of it all. What at first seems to be a jumbled up mess turns into something
fully understandable after you think about it for a while…until you come
to the ending, in which case it's up to you to fill in the blanks. To be
quite honest, I’ve never seen a game that’s required you to think so much
to decipher the storyline, and if you take the time to figure out what’s
going on, everything will come together, and you’ll truly be satisfied.
All in all, I consider this to be a landmark in video game history as far
as storytelling goes, and I enjoyed every second of what I saw in the game’s
story.
Length: 2.5
Killer7 never really was built to play
over and over and over again constantly and all the time, but rather you
were meant to play it a few times, connecting the baffling story together
while allowing yourself to bask in the uniqueness the game presents. However,
to keep you drawn in for a few more runs through the game, the game offers
a much harder mode of the game upon completion, along with one mode just
to make you laugh. All in all, you’ll be remembering this game for ages,
but you won’t want to keep playing it in, say, 25 years.
Humor: 4
Killer7 is one of those games that toss a huge load of serious material at you, sometimes by the boatloads, and yet it manages to lighten the mood of it all with some wacky, at times downright zany humor that manages to coexist alongside the serious material within the game.
I’ll admit it, this game made me laugh out loud at times, and its humor excels in what it strives for. In the game’s lifespan, you’ll be seeing plenty of playful jabs at American and Japanese pop culture in the form of several characters, lines, and such, ranging from parodies of magical girl anime, the Trix cereal commercial, maybe Metal Gear Solid, and an entire segment of the game even pokes fun at the Power Rangers. However, Killer7 doesn’t stop at simply spoofs and parodies, and makes use of clever and witty puns and even a very sick sense of humor. One joke actually "bleeps" out the suggestive words and has you fill in the blanks yourself within your mind, making you question why you’re laughing after it all clicks in your head. The game also makes you laugh at even the most serious of things. I don’t want to spoil anything, but if you come across a certain disembodied head, don’t act freaked out or anything. You’ll find yourself laughing even when you question why.
All in all, the humor here may sometimes
make you question how you can be laughing at something as sick and/or dark
and serious as this, but ultimately it delivers what it strives for, and
I can easily say I wasn’t disappointed at all.
Sound/Music: 5
The music in this game doesn’t always make itself present. Sometimes there’s little to no music, nothing but your footsteps being heard. In other places, however, the music suddenly kicks in to fit the change of theme and the change of environment. For example, once you go from storming an all-purpose building to a desert town in Texas, the music shows its change. Going from barely audible to an upbeat tune consisting of guitars and chanting, the change is always made noticeable to you by the music. The selection consists of jazz, techno, and the like, and there is never any annoying repetition of music. If there is any repeating music throughout the game, the music that is being repeated is enjoyable and won’t get on your nerves at all. There’s one particular music in the game that sticks out in my mind, but I won’t spoil it for you. Let’s just say that you might find yourself running up and down the stairs just trying to find a reason to listen to the music some more.
The sound is just as good as the music, and serves the same function also: to set the mood. Gunfire is represented accurately, along with the small details, such as footsteps, cooing of pigeons, burning of fire, the random gibberish the ghosts in the game spurt, and so on and so forth. However, of all the sound effects in the game, the best of all has to be the maniacal laughter that always signifies the presence of the Heavens Smile. Creepy and spine-chilling, this notifies you of when you should pull out your gun and search the area for the smiling creeps. The laughter even shows some variety in the various assortment of Heavens Smile. Some are high-pitched, others are deep and gruff. In fact, seeing as you’ll be hearing the laughter many, MANY times throughout the game, I’m quite glad that I enjoyed the laughter all these times and never found myself annoyed by it.
Voice acting is another plus for the
game. Though there’ll only be a few recognizable names in the list of voice
actors, the crew does an excellent job of fleshing out the personalities
set by the characters and their design. Kaede Smith (voiced by Tara Strong
of Teen Titans and The Super Mario Bros. Show fame) has a smooth, feminine
tone to her voice, while Kun Lan sounds sly, devilish, and maniacal, all
representing his character perfectly. The only complaint I have here, which
is too minor to detract from the score, is the repetition of dialogue at
times, particularly in the taunts the different personalities use whenever
they score a hit on an enemy’s weakspot. Each character has only one taunt,
so if you’re cornered by five or more enemies, you’ll be hearing the taunt
five or more times in a row. This may be annoying, but I learned to get
used to it. The only major problem is that two of the characters (Con and
Coyote) utter a certain foul word whenever they score the critical hit,
so if faced with five or more enemies, you’ll be hearing it five or more
times in a row. However, if you can deal with the language, you’ll find
no problem with it. That being said, the sound and music section is nearly
flawless from my perspective, and it easily shows off the uniqueness of
the game.
Characters: 5
Killer7 has, as stated earlier, seven personalities you can take control of, along with Harman Smith, his French maid Samantha (who has one other personality, that of a street punk), the informant of the Killer7 Christopher Mills, the evil Kun Lan, and many other characters with various personalities. To put it in short, this game is filled with different characters, all of which seem to grow on you regardless of whether they’re important to the plot or not. As you progress through the game, you’ll encounter the former victims of the Killer7, such as Travis Bell, Yoon-Huin, Suzie, and Iwazaru, each of which speak in "ghost" gibberish accompanied by slow-moving subtitles. Despite this, all of them have different personalities you learn to come to know of as the game progresses, such as Suzie’s violent, bloodthirsty nature, Iwazaru’s constant whining to get you to stop trying to defeat Kun Lan, and Travis’s cocky and laid-back personality. Despite the downfalls to the ghosts (their gibberish, slow-moving subtitles with no way to move ahead without skipping the entire conversation completely), their personalities overcome the bad side.
However, this doesn’t stop at the ghosts.
The other characters are just as vivid in personality as the ghosts are.
Garcian Smith is the dealmaker of the group and handles most of the business
involving those outside of the Killer7 while also reviving fallen personalities
and carrying them back to the nearest safe place in his saxophone case.
Mask De Smith is a former Mexican wrestler who mysteriously disappeared
before making his debut on the New York scene to become an assassin. Then
there’s Con Smith, a kid who’s pretty much blind but can use sound to display
images ala Daredevil, along with moving at lightning-quick speeds and sensing
soundwaves. Coyote Smith is the thief of the gang, capable of picking locks
and leaping as high as one story. The NPCs are also as compelling in character
as the Smiths are. The dastardly Kun Lan, eccentric Andrei Ulmeyda, sadistic
Curtis, and many more, and you’ll always find yourself reacting to the
character’s emotions, despising the evil, cheering on the good. Alongside
Metal Gear Solid, this is a game with one of the best casts of characters
ever.
Realism: 3
Killer7 isn’t exactly as real as video games can be. If it’s anything, it’s a very surreal game. That being said, it’ll do some things which you know will never happen in real life, and others which may make you question whether they’ll happen in the near future.
First off, the game’s basic premise, while moving itself back in time to 1998, may happen in the future. Though with the way things are going now, it won’t likely happen soon, it’s a possibility. In case you didn’t realize already, though, this game relies heavily on politics and country relationships. One mission even revolves around a conflict involving the U.S. debating on getting involved with Japan, and you’re tossed smack dab into the center of it all. Plus, this game touches upon the dark side of reality, such as terrorism and suicide bombing, and one character even has on his shirts the names of cities that were sites of major terrorist attacks (New York being one). This game is very dark and it covers things which are true, even if we wish they weren’t.
However, this game also offers an unrealistic
side to things, as Metal Gear Solid did. First and foremost, it replaces
human suicide-bombers with the Heavens Smile, the smiling zombie-like race
that plagues every corner of the world. Then you’re introduced to more
crazy ideas, such as the ghosts of the Killer7 targets from the past cropping
up here and there, speaking in an odd mix of broken English and random
gibberish. Also, the game shows things such as rings with special powers,
evil angels, and many more things that contribute to this game’s surreal
style. To be quite blunt, without the unrealistic side of this game, I
probably wouldn’t have enjoyed things as much. With a clever mix of realism
and surrealism, this game keeps you drawn into the story without being
too bored by the political commentary.
Fear Factor!: 1.5
This game is no survival horror game. You’re always capable of defeating enemies easily, and there’s no real fear of something popping out of nowhere. However, one thing about this game that you should take note of is that every time a Heavens Smile is near you, they’ll emit their trademark laugh, giving you the cue to go into first-person mode and scan the surrounding area for them. However, they won’t always be in plain sight, sometimes you’ll be turning around trying to find them. And if you’re not quick to finding them and taking them out with a shot to the weak point, you might find yourself somewhat startled at a huge explosion rocking the screen. However, there’s no real fright there.
Another moment in the game doesn’t necessarily
want to scare you, but it can give you a few shocks. In one boss battle,
you’re running through a maze of connected ambulances, the boss attempting
to hunt you down. While he may be slow, you never know where he’ll be,
and sometimes you might end up turning a corner and running into him, an
instant death on your behalf. This can make you jump, but it’s no real
scare. All in all, don’t expect scares, because you’re not going to get
them.
Hankie Factor: 0
Don’t get me wrong, this game is filled
with many deaths of the innocent, and it certainly has a sadistic side
to it all, but unlike Metal Gear Solid, Killer7 wasn’t designed to make
you feel sorry for what happens. It certainly doesn’t push you to kill,
since the Killer7 is fighting against evil (The Heavens Smile) and goes
against evil deeds (the death of children, crime, etc), but it wasn’t made
to make you cry.
Bosses/Enemies: 4.5
As you progress through the game, you’ll be running into many, and I mean many, Heavens Smile, their laughs always signifying their presence. At first, you only have a select variety of the Heavens Smile and the strategy will almost always be the same: take aim at their weakpoint, shoot, kill, repeat. However, as you get to new missions, you’ll find yourself being introduced to new Heavens Smile by the boatloads, each with a different strategy to beating them. The Backside Smiles, for example, have scythes on their arms which you must shoot a bit to make them turn around, revealing their yellow weakpoint, which you must shoot before they turn around and continue their approach. The Giant Smiles, on the other hand, have one huge eye which opens and closes, at which you must while it's open. As you go on, you’ll find certain personalities are better for some of the enemies than others are. Dan, for example, is the only one who can easily take out the Duplicator Smiles and the Mother Smiles with a well-aimed collateral shot to their weak point, while Mask is the only one of the entire seven personalities who is capable of taking out the Protector Smiles. As you can see, the enemies offer a huge variety, and you most likely won’t be disappointed in the selection.
Then there are the bosses, where the
game’s surreal style shows its true colors. None of the bosses are especially
lengthy (most take three shots to kill, some even taking only one shot),
but to make up for the length, you are left with the job of finding their
weak points, given only several vague hints as to how to beat them. Not
only that, but the bosses are incredibly fun to fight. One boss battle
involves a shoot-a-thon in which you must keep shooting for a whole minute
before the number of perfect shots are tallied, and the one with the most
wins. Another boss battle is a quickdraw duel where you must pay attention
to your enemy before shooting, or else the enemy will get a free shot on
you. Though the length of the battles are relatively short, the innovation
more than makes up for it.
Gameplay: 4.5
Now, we finally reach the meat of the game, where the game’s innovation is truly shown. This is pretty much where it’s determined if you like the game or not, so take note of what the gameplay is truly like, so you’ll know if it suits your tastes or not.
To put it in short, this game is no shooter. Not at all. In all actuality, it’s more of an Adventure/Action game than anything else, reminiscent of the old point-and-click games such as Myst and maybe even similar to the old Resident Evil games. First and foremost, you do not have full control over where your character goes. You move on "rails", unable to move off the predetermined paths your characters can take. You move forward by pressing one button, and you can turn around by pressing a button. Sometimes, you’ll reach an intersection or a break in the road, and at that time you simply select the path you want with the control stick. The simplicity of this may turn some people off, but it does help the game in certain aspects. First of all, the camera is never a problem since you never have to look forward to see where you’re going; as soon as you reach a break in the road, the camera will move out to show you the paths you can take. Secondly, you’ll never get lost, as the game eliminates all unneeded paths and simply gives you the paths you’re supposed to take, thus eliminating any aggravating backtracking and struggling to get to where you want to go. All in all, I feel this works, but some may differ.
Now, as you move along, you’ll often hear laughter from time to time. That’s your cue to go into first-person mode with the tap of the R button and search for Heavens Smile. However, Heavens Smile cannot be seen by the naked eye, and as a result you must scan the surrounding area to expose them. Once you’ve scanned them, you’re ready to blast them. Your main goal as a whole in combat is to locate the enemy’s weak point, mostly characterized by a yellow glow on their head, arms or legs, and then shoot it. If you get the weak point, that’s an instant kill. Granted, you can still kill them if you pump them with lead regardless of where you shoot, but if you do that, their blood will spill and you won’t get it. You see, blood is what you need to level up characters. As you defeat enemies by shooting them in their weak points, you’ll gain two different types of blood: thin and thick. Thin blood is put in vials which you can use to heal your character’s health and use their different abilities. Thick blood is different. Whenever you gain access to a save room, you can use the TV there to access the “Blood Channel”. Here, you can use your thick blood to create serums, 40 lbs of thick blood needed to make one serum, and the maximum amount of blood that you can carry being 1,000 lbs. Once the blood has been converted to a serum, you can use the serums to level up various skills of the seven personalities, such as Power, Speed, Waver (how much your character’s hand shakes when aiming), Critical, and a few character exclusive ones. As you raise their skill levels, the amount of serum needed will raise, so you’ll need to kill more Heavens Smile. As a result, combat plays a big part in the game.
However, combat isn’t all that there is to the game. As you move along in third-person view, you’ll come across plenty of puzzles in the game, each requiring you to do different things. Some require you to use simple logic, such as a few Q&A puzzles where you must use several posters to answer the rather picky questions. Then there are others which make use of the special rings that you get through the game, such as a Fire Ring, Wind Ring, and Time Ring, each of which plays a part in various puzzles. Lastly, one of the more common puzzles requires you to use the various abilities of the personalities. For example, Kaede can slit her wrists to break barriers with her blood and to eliminate any bloodstains you may come across (odd, I know, but it goes with the game’s surreal atmosphere). Coyote, on the other hand, can pick any padlocks you come across, and is able to jump as high as one story to reach certain places. Then there’s Kevin, who can turn invisible to render any sort of security system obsolete, running through lasers without triggering any alarm. As you can see, puzzles play a big part in the game, and are quite fun to solve.
As a whole, the gameplay is what truly
reflects the game’s innovative feel for me, but to some it might be the
game’s letdown. If any of the stuff here disappoints you, then the game
probably isn’t for you.
Difficulty: 3.5
The game is as difficult as you take
it to be. Many times through the game the various ghosts are there to offer
you tips on how to defeat enemies, bosses, and to solve puzzles. However,
you don’t have to listen to them and can go ahead and solve the puzzles
and beat the enemies yourself. However, one thing about the game you must
take note of before buying it is that upon first starting the game, there’s
a Normal mode and a Deadly mode. In all actuality, however, the two modes
are actually easy (normal) and normal (deadly). The easy mode showers you
with lots of hints via your map, showing you which characters to use for
certain puzzles and what rings to use. Some puzzles also have the answers
sitting right there (one puzzle, for example, has you lighting candles
in a certain order, and in easy mode, the candles have numbers sitting
on them to tell you which order to light them). Because of that, if you
want to get into this game and fully enjoy what is offered, it’s recommended
you start off on Deadly Mode. It might be a bit harder, but the full gaming
experience is then given to you.
Controls: 5
This game has a rather simplistic control
layout. If you want to move forward, simply hold A and your character will
run forward. To turn around, all you have to do is press B. Whenever you
hear the laughter of the Heavens Smile, hold down R and you’ll head into
first person mode, in which case you’ll not be able to move around, but
you’ll be able to shoot the enemies. Then, simply press L to scan the area,
revealing any Heavens Smile there are, in which case you may proceed to
shoot them with the A button (while still holding R, of course). Puzzles
are a different matter. For those that require the ability of a certain
personality, the Y button will trigger their ability. That’s really all
there is to know, and with that in mind, the controls are easily accessible
and are never mind-boggling.
Fun Factor!: 4.5
As said before, this is a love it or
hate it game, but looking at all the fun I had throughout this game, I
can certainly say that I enjoyed it. This, however, might vary for you,
so you’ll have to play it yourself to judge this section.
Overall: 4.5
Remember how I said at the beginning of the Review that Killer7 partially proved me right and partially proved me wrong on my views of innovation? Well, after playing Killer7, I realized that it wasn’t necessarily something new in all aspects. It brought back into the gaming industry what made games from so far back like Myst so fun, while also combining it with some aspects from today’s games (Metal Gear Solid’s controversial storyline, Resident Evil’s puzzle solving) and making it one experience I will always enjoy. However, other gamers might not necessarily agree with me, so if you think you have any doubts on this game, it is recommended that you rent the game first to see if you’ll enjoy it. Otherwise, I think it’s worth the $50 price tag on it.
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