That's the introduction to the game Killer 7, an action, adventure game that takes you on the path of a band of assassins, the Smiths, as they fight against the terrorist group, Heaven Smile, and try to put an end to terrorism on earth. The Killer 7 each have their own unique abilities, strengths and weaknesses. They also have their own distinct personalities and styles which play out during the game. For instance, Con Smith, the youngest of the Killer 7, is blind, but he has the uncanny ability to hear certain things that other characters wouldn't notice, like the air passing through a wall that blocks a hidden passage. He can also run at super speed when necessary. Kevin Smith has the ability to become temporarily invisible when he takes off his sunglasses. Coyote Smith, the thief of the group, can break through any padlock and can jump to places that are unreachable for other characters, and Garcian Smith, the “Cleaner”, can bring the characters back to life if they die.

Gameplay

First thing's first, let me state that this is in no way a game for kids. There is an extreme amount of violence, gore, profanity (though that depends on the characters you use) and what the ESRB call sexual themes. Now that I've said that, I'll explain how the game works.

Killer 7 uses a mixture of linear level design, multiple, interconnected stories, puzzles and gun play to bring the experience together as a whole. It also uses strange twists in the story which make little sense, things called remnant psyches (people you've killed in the past that come speak to you, and sometimes help you) and disturbingly crafted enemies to mess with your mind as you play the game. Just when you think you understand where the story's going, there's another twist. Things do get clearer the closer you get to the end of the game, but the plot is very well contained in each level, not giving too much away.

Controlling each character is simple, since the control system doesn't change based on which character you're playing with. The choice of buttons for movement was something I found particularly interesting. Since the game was specifically designed in a linear fashion, the only choices you have are forward and back, using the A button to run and B button to turn around. Paths are chosen based on whatever the game allows, thus emphasising the linear gameplay. Switching characters can be done at any time, as long as they are awake, and it's easy as pie. Just go into the pause menu, select personae and choose the one you want.

The characters' lifeblood in the game is just that, blood. This is where the extreme gore comes in. Every enemy you kill gives you a certain amount of blood. The more efficiently you kill them, the more blood you get from them. If you don't kill an enemy properly, his blood will come streaming out of his body in all directions. Blood, depending on the type (thick or thin), is necessary for things like power ups, recovering health and doing special moves.

Environment and Graphics

All the in game graphics of Killer 7 are Cel Shaded, with a mix of Cel Shading and hand drawn animation used for the cutscenes, and it's that use of the hand drawn appearance, that comes from Cel Shading, that gives the game its anime feel. Since that's what the developers were going for with this style, especially in the cutscenes which use hand drawn animation, in complete anime style, I'd say that they pulled of the job beautifully. Of course, that's not to say that there weren't any things I didn't like about their use of this style. While the characters and the environments looked like they were, essentially, anime turned 3D, which was even more empahsised by things like the 3D versions of the characters and their hand drawn versions looked almost identical, there were some things that were missing or seemed slightly out of place. One particular situation of this was the lighting in the Colosseum. Light rays were clearly visible in some areas, but they wouldn't extend past a certain point. While this may have actually been a style choice, it just seemed out of place.

The layout of the environments and levels in the game was very nicely done. The use of the different type of locations, both indoor and outdoor, single floor and multi floor, was a nice touch, not only because it gives a player a lot of arenas to play in, but because most of the places were locations that one might associate assassins with making their kills. Something odd about the design of the majority of the locations, though, was that they appeared very whitewashed and lacking of extra environmental details. Certain areas seemed empty, save for walls and one or two objects here or there. Though I did notice that, it might have been another style choice, and I was usually too busy dealing with the enemies to get annoyed by it.

There was a particular thing that I noticed the developers made sure they took the time to get right. The things that they put a lot of detail into were done extremely well. The Smiths walked up and down stairs properly and the transition animations when switching players had their own specific style, where the background would go black and white, and the Smith being used at the time would explode into pellets of blood which reformed into the newly chosen Smith. It's little things like that, that show how much some creators care about their work, and how much goes into it.

Sound

The sound was very simply done in this game, which seems to match every other aspect of the game. Every thing had its time and its place. Whenever a particular emotion was meant to be conveyed, it had its own unique sound, and everything and anything that made a sound, had a sound that matched it to a tea. The eerie laughs of the Heaven Smiles, when they appeared and after they were killed, were something I will probably never forget.

The music in the game was well done, matching nicely with each scenario and level, and wasn't overbearing at any point. In fact, most of the time is was barely like it was in the background, even if it was. The only times the music was easily noticeable was during certain cutscenes and in two specific hallways.

The voice acting was superb, with great matches for most of the characters. This is where the uniqueness of each personality comes in. Each character's voice fit perfectly with the personality that was given to them, except for one, which I'll get to soon. Con Smith sounds like a hyperactive kid, Harman Smith sounds like an old “wise man” and Dan Smith, my personal favourite, sounds like a cocky, self centred, egomaniac. Even the enemies' voice sounded great, with different accents for their varying nationalities. The only voice that quite didn't match to what I expected the character's voice to be was Mask De Smith. He's supposed to be a former luchador, but he has a distinctly American accent. One other interesting thing, in a weird but cool way, was that when speaking to the remnant psyches it was necessary to read the subtitles, because it was impossible to understand what they were saying, but if I paid attention to, what sounded like, the noises they were making, I could actually pick out some words. And they weren't saying what the subtitles translated, but usually were different variations of the sentences.

Conclusion

Killer 7 is full of shooting, gore, violence and enough twists and turns to make you insane, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. It's also full of interesting puzzles, has a great story and, even with some things that could have used some improvement, bursts out of the gates with guns blazing. While I wouldn't recommend it for kids, or even playing it when there's a kid in the room, this game is an action packed hit that calls out to be played.

Gameplay: 9

Environment and Graphics: 8

Sound: 9.7

Story: 9

Fun: 9

Verdict: Buy It