Let me start off this review by announcing the introduction of our new
rating system. This will be the first of many games to be rated using
our new Buy It, Rent It or Forget It rating system, which was chosen
based on feedback from my
State
Of The Review
article. We thank all of those who took the time to let us know what
you thought. On with the review!
1998,
the world saw the creation of a global community that brought peace
to the globe. 2000, the governments of the world formed a coalition
against terrorism. By 2002 they had shut down all major air transport
and network terminals and opened a network of intercontinental
expressways, which spanned the oceans and connected the continents.
2003 marked the culmination of the efforts against terrorism and war,
with the banning and destruction of all nuclear energy, radioactive
material and long range missiles. The leading parties of the world
finally had proof that it was all worthwhile, until there was an
attack at the signing of the UN World Security Treaty. The leaders,
acting quickly, enlisted the the help of the Killer 7, to wipe out
the new terrorist threat, Heaven Smile.
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