Killer7

A game that thrives to be different, Capcom’s Killer7 is originality where originality seems to be sunk under tons of big-numbered sequels and established franchises. You’ve played your standard action-adventure title, but it’s likely that no one’s played an on-the-rail shooting adventure with RPG elements since Killer7 came around. Risks are seen throughout this game that are taken in order for it to be what it is, but for the most part, Killer7 succeeds, and can even be one of the most memorable games ever played.

Firstly, Killer7 is awfully abstract, even for a video game, so following the story can tend to be confusing. That said, however, it’s the most crucial part as it is a story-driven game, so try to follow me here. The idea is that a once peaceful Planet Earth is being disrupted by mutant self-destructing terrorists known as the Heaven Smile. These odd creatures, ruled by an evil blue-grayish man known as Kun Lan, first attacked a United Nations peace treaty meeting in the , thus causing social conflict between the and . The government then hires a famed group of assassins known as the Killer7 to stop the Heaven Smile and its links to prevent the world from utter chaos.

The catch is, however, that the Killer7 is not actually a group at all; it’s all led by an old, wheelchair-bound man named Harman Smith that would otherwise get abused by his maid/servant Samantha. All of the members are actually sorts of his personality, that ranges from a cocky and experienced assassin named Dan Smith to a masked wrestler named Mask de Smith. Each of these personalities has some unique trait or style that makes each assassin vastly different and vital to some of the puzzles and Heaven Smile that you’ll see. Female assassin (that’s right I said female) KAEDE Smith can snipe enemies at a far distance and use her own blood to make certain areas visible. The blind teenager Con Smith has the power to go super-fast, go through small openings, and hear sound waves that can only be “visible” to him. Coyote Smith can jump on top of high places and also pick open locks.

All of these personalities have their own back-story, however, and the “cleaner” and talker of the group named Garcian Smith is the only one that can talk to Harman. Twists like those can start out as confusing, but as you progress throughout this adventure, it can also make you very interested in what the story offers. However, with that said, the story more revolves around what the killers are doing rather than what they used to do. Still, this game is certainly very bizarre, and speaking of such moments could not only spoil the story, but could even spoil some truly memorable and entertaining moments that could possibly be enough to buy this game. The game can be so bizarre that it can be hard to take the constant social commentary seriously sometimes, which can be a good or bad thing depending on what kind of person you are.

This intriguing video game tale may not seem so interesting at first despite its gritty style; some might be complaining about what some of the stuff the game throws out has to even do with the actual plot. And, true, there are parts that are thrown in just to let you know how far the developers will go to make a weird game. But once some of you finish the game, you’ll have most threads tied thanks mainly to one of the most satisfying conclusions to anything, and once you actually look back at what you’ve accomplished, it can end up being some of the most memorable storytelling in a video game yet.

It takes more than some thought to think of an action game like Killer7. If you weren’t convinced by the story concept, understanding how the game plays may just convince you. However, like the story, be aware that the controls and concept take time getting used to, so if patience is learned, you just might be able to enjoy the whole game just that much more. The game runs on a strictly linear map; so much so that you must hold a button to run, whereas the analog stick is actually used to choose which occasional branching path you want to take. As you run (or even enter another area), you may hear chuckling sounds. If so, then a Heaven Smile minion is close. Therefore, if you don’t want to get hurt, you’ll have to completely stop, hold the aiming button to wield your gun, look around with the control stick, press the shoulder button opposite of the aiming button to scan in order for it to be visible and shoot-able, lock on using the same button that is used for turning around while running, and fire away with the button that was previously used to run.

Of course, there’ll often be times when you’ll face more than one Heaven Smile, and even though it seems simple enough, there are different kinds of these creatures that’ll have to be shot a certain way. Every Heaven Smile monster has some weak-point to instantly kill the thing, whether it is optional or required. For regular Heaven Smiles, for example, you could just shoot away, not requiring for you to shoot at its weak spot. Other Heaven Smiles may have you shooting its wings in order for it to turn around and make its weak spot vulnerable, while others may require a certain character’s special ability or charged shot.

Successfully killing a Heaven Smile (and unless you’re supposed to, without Mask’s grenade launcher) will award you with blood that is transported to your thick blood (think experience points) and your thin blood (used for charged shots and healing your character). The thick blood is especially interesting since it provides a sort of RPG element in the mix. You convert the thick blood into serums whenever you go into the Blood Room that is found in checkpoints called “Harman’s Room”. Then, depending on how much blood serum you have, you can level up certain stats that each personality has. You can only transport so much blood in each level, however, as the machine used to transport the blood will eventually go out of order. It makes an interesting way to differentiate the characters more and cause combat to be easier, but it’s something you don’t have to do if you don’t want to.

If one of the Killer7 assassins dies, then it’s up to Garcian to find his/her bag of blood and revive him/her (though you could keep going, but if it’s someone important, then you’ll have to anyways). The problem is, however, that Garcian doesn’t level up at all, and because he is taller than the others and has a pretty slow reload time, he’s difficult to use when trying to kill enemies. Simply put, when Garcian dies, it is game over.

All the puzzles presented in the game mainly focus around two things: rings and the skills that certain personalities use. The rings are found every time when you find this crazy ghost named Susie. The elemental rings are then used to solve various puzzles. For example, lighting up candles will be used by the fire ring, or getting a balloon will be used by the wind ring. The special skills that are unique to each Killer7 assassin is either used by their special gun or buy pressing the button that uses their exclusive power. You can open walls by either using KAEDE’s raining blood, or you might have to use Mask’s grenade launcher to blow it up. Few puzzles require any other thought process, but the ones that take more reading and remembering are the more satisfying ones. There are hints that found when talking to certain ghosts or looking at your map, but even when the hints appear less and less, the puzzles are mostly way too simple to be very challenging. All in all, even though the result found when solving the puzzles are all pretty interesting, the puzzle structure often feels the same: do this to get that, in order to get that, in order to go there, so you can do this to get that to get that so you can go there so you can reach the end of the level.

The boss battles are similar to the puzzles as they both tend to be hit-and-miss. Some bosses are really astounding as they do a great job in testing which personality to use and can even make simple patience tests very cool. Other bosses, however, are actually predestined, so it doesn’t matter what you do because you’ll still move on. I personally have mixed reactions: it may be pretty cool as a concept, and even though they are, I felt that it could have been a more satisfying experience if you could just figure out yourself.

On a high note, Killer7’s overall presentation should be the most convincing argument of how this game stands out in other crowds. Everything intertwines with each other in the nearest sense of perfection. The graphics support the cel-shading look, but in a more mature and surreal kind of way. The whole game gives off a late-night anime show, but with influences from movies like Pulp Fiction. The cutscenes are mostly the same as the game, with exceptions with the 2D drawings and computer animations found in a few levels. The voice acting is overall solid: it’ll have characters like Harman and Garcian instantly likable, but some, such as a principal you’ll meet, will tend to ham it up too much that it can be hard to get into the character at first, if at all, but it’s nothing terrible. Maniacal laughs are satisfying to hear, and your cracking guns and exploding explosions sound quite sharp. The music, mixing acoustic guitars and chilling keyboards and rhythms, fit the abstract tone perfectly, and make the game feel all the more cooler. While it slightly chugs when too much stuff is going on, the character animations are decidedly stiff, and there may be other games that can push the hardware to the limit, but Killer7 is what you could truly call a work of art.

There isn’t a whole lot of extra content in this single player experience. While the game took me around twenty hours to finish, you may finish this game at a faster time. The unlockables includes a harder difficulty, and an odd spin-off-tribute to the developers. The difficulty you unlock, the brutal Killer8, has an extra character to play as, which can be pretty interesting, but doesn’t have anything special. The story alone made me want to play the game again, and Killer8 mode can be brutally challenging enough (invisible weak points, no map hints, and a small amount of thin blood makes me go “yikes!”) to play the whole game again, but there’s nothing much other than what the game offers.

Killer7 is always going to be a love-it-or-hate-it kind of game. For some people, the gameplay will come out too shallow to like, and they just might not stand some of the needlessly bizarre scenes it throws out there. Others will find that while the gameplay can be shallow, the concept works great, and the stunningly abstract story and presentation is just too hard not to love. This game’s different, but how much “different” can some people take? I personally believe if you hate this game, you’re only going by your first impressions. It’s not going to be heavy on the gameplay, and some bosses just might confuse your definition of a “video game”, but once you finish the game, there’s no denying the incredible feel of finishing one of the weirdest games imaginable. No doubt; Killer7 is a work of art, and the fact that the game is cheaper than what it used to be, there’s simply no excuse to get this game. It’s a perfect example of how a game that has far from perfect gameplay can still be enjoyable. Flaws aside, Killer7 is one of the most memorable experiences you can have in a video game. And of course, you’re going to have to play it to believe it.