| Killer7 review |
|
Since release, in a short time Killer7 has managed to divide opinion and discussion with regards to where it works and where it doesn't. From the extreme ends, some view it as a shallow carcass being used to deliver experimentations in media other than videogaming, while others see it as further evidence of the medium's ever developing individuality.
Regardless of where you happen to stand, on all levels, Killer7 resolves to unflinchingly dazzle, flicking through characters, ideas, strands and developments that not only war with each other, but also with the player's expectations, delivering an exceptionally unhinged gaming experience. This is something that wants to attack the senses you have, and at the same time move head over heels to seduce you with its spell so as to become consumed by it. If there is a single aspect of Killer7 that stands out more than any other, it’s that it wants to joyously toy with division and multiplicity… etching out frequent schizophrenic approaches to design by encapsulating them within bafflement, confusion and awe.
Is it shallow and empty? Or a rollercoaster ride that contains hidden depths? Does the narrative possess a wealth of content that means more than it first suggests, or is it just an insanity-driven pop video for the videogame generation?
Such questions will likely rebound in your brain the more you play, and those veering extremes eventually add up to support a structure aiding the chaotic stitch work piecing the game’s breadth together. For all the bizarre trailers we’ve seen of Killer7 emphasising its intriguing eccentricities, the end product is surprisingly rigid when it comes to the format that marks the beginnings and conclusions of each chapter.
The game revolves around one Harman Smith, a wheelchair-bound assassin who has seven distinct personalities, also known as ‘Killer7’, that organisations and governments employ in times of international crisis. In the early 21st century, after a brief period of world peace, a terrorist group labelled ‘Heaven Smiles’ launch a war exploiting the bureaucratic competitiveness of two nations supposedly allied with each other. To say this brief summary even vaguely captures the flavour of the game is an overstatement. Various topics, ranging from sadomasochism, psychological melodrama, corporate commercialism, child abuse, secret intelligence, rape, terrorism, war, organ trafficking, indiscriminate killing and election rigging all feature to numerous strengths. Needless to say, the subsequent experience is diverse, darkened and screwed up to the extent that this is easily the most disturbing videogame ever released, and will probably remain so for some time.
It doesn’t know whether it wants to provide comedy, all-out action, horror, drama, and similarly to many successful late-generation titles, takes a pinch out of all these genres and mixes them together within a single package. Whether this comes at a cost detrimental to the consistency is almost irrelevant. Although Killer7 is less solid compared to another recent Capcom classic, Resident Evil 4, its fluctuations (by refusing to stand in one place) underline it with a disconcerting seriousness… an atmosphere that revels not in its own sensationalism, but in taking the player to a far-off world that uses the many moments of relief to contrast against the weight of what shocks and disturbs. The escapism created arrives at a price. It asks that you leave the traditional notions of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ at the door.
On its most simple level, Killer7 fuses ‘on-the-rails’ explorative third-person movement, first-person static combat and adventure-lite puzzles with a levelling-up menu system reminiscent of both Resident Evil and Onimusha. Two buttons move or turn the seven characters available, while another enters them into a combat engine where they’re allowed to fight the numerous foes littering each chapter. Shooting these enemies in certain parts provides blood (or currency) that can be used to level-up abilities for different characters through test tubes. In summary, these systems sound rudimentary and basic, and while the title has picked up criticism for failing to provide the expected depth Capcom have offered in titles such as Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe, such criticism has seemed a little premature.
The action system provides depth in two main areas - the enemy types, the different ways in which they must be dealt with, and how various uses of the character system define the outcome of the combat. Heaven Smiles can be destroyed in five separate ways, involving out-and-out untargeted shooting, critical lock-ons, special abilities, down attacks (when enemies are close on the ground), and counterattacks. Three of these five methods don’t hold much value in terms of levelling-up, but then the focus of the game is not ostensibly of the skill-based variety. Killer7 is fixed on the narrative, and in doing so, makes sure that the action is gratifying and visceral to the extent it needs to be to justify each character role you take on. The one-shot kills that are later required to survive and level each character efficiently (mainly to obtain new finishing moves and abilities) gives the violence a very direct and abrupt sense of connection. Taking down four zombies, a statue-like laser and a spawning nest in the space of one minute and a few shots can feel exhilarating.
In truth, the combat is as satisfying as you want to make it, (though fails to save inverted controls upon reloading), and choices of on-the-fly character selections offer a level of freedom that goes against the grain of the confined movements, and puzzling, dictating most of the progress. Even here, the game opens up after the first two enclosed missions, providing landscapes that are far more expansive and offer a greater degree of freedom. Killer7’s movement system is primarily there to facilitate moving rhythmically from A to B, so as to keep the pace flowing, the choreography clear and the narrative steady. You’re the participator in a strictly defined story whose primary concern isn’t with encouraging true freeform exploration but with the story itself, and that’s maybe part of the problem with the already-expanding misinterpretation of Killer7. It doesn't purport to offer freeform exploration which is these days frequently expected to be a given in the single-player/third-person mould. Instead, it’s a title that harks back to the adventure styles of old, reimagining them with modern twists and evocative perspectives. Killer7 is a fusion not just of different media forms, but also of devices used to prop layers of gameplay that are generations apart. As Kun Lan, the game’s nemesis, says at the beginning… “the world will keep getting smaller”. And in Killer7 that’s precisely how things fit, a combination of forms and layers which ordinarily shouldn’t do so. How it works as a whole is key to the title's brilliance, because as a full-frontal assault, the strands connecting it together act to confound and twist expectation.
In order to help give momentum to the explorative sections of the game, characters also possess secondary abilities (and rings) that must be used to navigate the environment, forcing the player to continually switch and use their powers to progress onward, and get hold of the necessary soul shells needed to gain entry through a disco entrance connected to the game’s bosses. Many of these encounters are cleverly thought-out and demand to be tackled in ways often beyond shooting blind targets that quickly meet the eye. Unfortunately, there are a few that can easily cause repeated deaths, and while it’s difficult to ‘die’ in Killer7, unless Garcian Smith (the team’s cleaner) does, it means he has to trek all the way to their corpse from the nearest save point, which you’re then resuscitated at. What this does is cause two-fold backtracking, and after the halfway mark, many of the enemy encounters require a sharp mind, even on normal difficulty (which has been slightly altered since the game’s Japanese release). Again, whereas Resident Evil 4 has stripped away typical survival horror/adventure tendencies of backtracking, Killer7 can on occasion seem as though it’s an unwelcome step back to the past, which flies in the face of its many innovations. That isn’t to say Capcom haven’t made concessions for those who may struggle… purchasable information, map hints and a regular ghoul of a gimp exist to help when the puzzle structure becomes a little too obscure. You’re also able to control characters who can run at amazing speeds or turn invisible, shrewdly adding another layer by providing the choice of tackling the game through stealth (albeit limitedly) as opposed to action. As with many recent productions from Capcom, Killer7 is challenging, fair and offers significant reward for completion and repeated playthroughs. It may at times enter the realms of frustration, but it always feels as though it can be beaten, and that in itself helps feed the mysterious compulsion the title brings about to ravenously move through it. If allowed, Killer7 seeps under the skin and lodges itself in the mind, creating a powerful urge to see what’s around the next corner.
Although the structure quickly becomes familiar within a predictable pattern, this is offset partly by the completely skewed characterisation, story and of course, delectable art style. Memorably intoxicating, there’s a sharp clarity to the visuals that separates them from their cel-shaded compatriots, flourished with a personality and edge rich in tone, colour and most of all, character. Every inch of the game's presentation is expertly designed, from the varied cutscenes, to the menus and to the delicious soundtrack. Nothing looks or feels quite like Killer7, and it’s arguable even without the benefit of hindsight, that its style will transcend technology in the years ahead. From the strangely hypnotic save room coated with the twisted, insulated relationship between Harman and Samantha, convention is taunted and repeatedly spun around. The initially silent six of the Killer7 slowly flesh themselves out the more the chapters unfold, which in turn, bend down side-plots that at first appear disconnected from the main narrative, yet carefully add up bit by bit. Just when you think you’re starting to get a handle on what’s truly going on, the game turns everything around again by introducing a level of symbolism and randomness which refuses to sit down and fall into a typically conservative videogaming rhythm. Neither Grasshopper or Suda 51 want you to slip into the comfortable position where it’s possible to envisage what the world will throw at you next, and that places the player in a vulnerable position. We’re passengers to their breathless madness.
Capcom have arguably been the most devastatingly imaginative developer over the course of this generation, and while in terms of the building blocks used to make up its whole, Killer7 may not be the most accomplished of their games, it’s clearly the pinnacle of their creative ingenuity. An audacious attempt at experimentalism, the title strives to do things differently in its own way. While it may not succeed at everything tried, it delivers a concoction that frequently mesmerises and plays with notions of what we normally expect a videogame to be. It doesn’t have to be a poster child for the ‘videogames are art’ debate, or bear the brunt of the fallout that often ensues from such discussions. Instead, perhaps it should be taken as a refreshing entity, which stands out from the crowd confidently by expressing a genuine sense of individuality many games would scream for.
An old question - style over substance?
Within Killer7, both are subverted into each other, one and the same, hand-in-hand. The title's incredible atmospheric power is derived from how the presentation is conveyed through gameplay, and how the resulting simplicity helps strip the pacing down to a fine line. It depends entirely what you want to take from the experience it happens to offer. Turn away in nonchalant disgust, find yourself apathetically disappointed, have your head kicked about the room or your perceptions opened.
Killer7 will hit a note, but like the mysteries hiding deep within its shell, it’s impossible to define the key stroke. The fact a picture has been painted of reaction as vivid as what makes up the game’s expression is its strongest attribute, and maybe in time, its lasting grace. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
System: Nintendo GameCube
Genre: Adventure
Developer: Grasshopper/Suda 51
Publisher: Capcom
Players: 1
Version: European
Reviewed: Jul 2005
Writer: Ben Mottershead
|
Pros:
- Interesting story, well written script and a gripping atmosphere
- Highly distinctive art style
- Compelling fusion of gameplay mechanics
|
Cons:
- Repetitive back-tracking after dying, and during a few puzzles
- Somewhat mixed voice acting
|
|
|
Killer7 Video: 24.8MB
|
| |
|
|
|
