An underrated masterpiece, but not for everybody.
The Killer 7 are a group of assassins, all known as Smith and all under the control of Harman Smith, who is a unique representation in video games seeing as how he is wheelchair bound. Each of the Killer 7 are apparent fractures of Harman’s personality and have unique skills and abilities that aid your progression through the unique world the Killer 7 inhabit. This basis for a story is both startlingly simple in it’s concept yet remarkably intelligent, and lays the foundations for the unique and innovative story telling and game-play that Killer 7 constantly exhibits. Within the game it will become apparent that each character needs to be used to perform various tasks or for killing various enemies, although the puzzles are usually far too easily highlighted and require little more than basic logic or memory. One character known as Garcian Smith, or ‘the cleaner‘, has the task of resuscitating fallen Smiths. When one Smith dies you revert to Garcian and starting from the last Harman room (a safe room usually containing a save point) you must find the fallen comrade and restore them; an interesting alternative to the usual three lives syndrome, and usually well applied. Enemies within the game are known as the Heaven Smile, a terrorist organisation of apparent suicide bombers, invisible until scanned but distinguishable by their laughs; within the realms of the game they throw themselves upon your character exploding on impact. This instantly provides a different approach to game play, your concern being finding the way to eliminate the enemy before it reaches and eliminates you. The joy within this apparently simple context of game design is that it pushes you to think much more diligently about how you approach the game. Each Heaven Smile has a particular weakness and method of destruction, and although the shot is usually easier to make than the figuring out where to shoot, this A-typical approach to game play is much appreciated in an industry sometimes stagnant of new ideas. This uniqueness applies to the form of levelling up the game-uses; killing enemies gains a variety of thick and thin blood, the former can then be used to create serum and upgrade characters, the latter to restore health. This innovation also extents to bosses whom are always unique, varied and interesting, one highlight being a boss that requires you to play quick-draw with an opponent the instant a bird flies from his shoulder. All of the combat takes place in first-person, the rest of the adventure based game in third person, precipitating the need to carefully judge when to move into combat stance. Your movements are also locked in an ‘on-rails’ style of movement, leaving you with the movement of forward, back and selecting routes at various junctions. This will feel uncomfortable to many gamers but it’s use is well thought out to connect with the style of game play in use.
The game is clearly most striking in it’s visual representation. Played out, usually, in a 3-d cell-shaded technique the game flips between other forms, most notably 2-d Manga styled animation which provides an interesting experience. The visual style is more than just pretty dressing or an attempt to cover over a lack of substance (although the substance and style debate could certainly be initiated here) but it seems integral to the feel of the game from it’s game play to it’s story. Graphically, in full motion, the game is beautiful to behold, a masterpiece of artistic interpretation and it feels like it could represent a spring-board for greater innovation in the visual realm for games. Where the game seems to shine strongest however is in it’s story and thematic structure. The game is incredibly violent, but rather than being controversial in the need for sales it is violent intelligently. The themes of the story cover various topics such as rape, child abuse and intense political discussion but it never becomes overwhelmed or characterised by the story it tells; indeed the opposite relates as the story gives an important element of substance to a game so strongly styled. The story is undoubtedly convoluted and difficult to follow, especially for a Western audience not accustomed to a Japanese Manga form of story-telling, and it will clearly leave many gamers very cold, but it is beautifully scripted and related. Told through cut-scenes of various visual nature, and through a number of strong and stylised secondary characters (whom all talk in a weird electric acoustic form and one of whom is just a severed head) the story twists, turns, analyses and ultimately trails off without really finishing. But there is a beauty to behold in this form of story, asking for strong analysis and gently relaying very strong and dangerous themes. Some gamers will also be distanced by the games constant juxtaposition of parody and serious, a trait common amongst Japanese story telling. The game can shift from deadly serious to ridiculous parodies of things like comic books in an instant, but this is to the games benefit and is a common trait amongst many other forms of art and entertainment. The story is hard, but engaging, and it stands as an interesting experiment into a game’s ability to tell a story.
Killer 7 will leave many gamers very disappointed, the game carrying innovation so strongly on it’s arm it will distance as many as it entices but Killer 7 should stand as an important game for many reasons. If gaming is ever to become respected and able to deal with difficult issues in the way the music, film and reading industry can it requires games like this; risky games filled with innovation and willing to take a chance whilst also demanding intelligence and thought from the gamer. Whether or not this game starts the deluge towards more intelligent representations of themes and stories is essentially down to it’s reception at this point, and whilst the argument about where the industry should be heading continues to rage (pure entertainment or serious art form?) it’s maybe a mute point. Quintessentially then what this game represents will depend on the characteristics of the gamer; a self-indulged, style over substance party trick or an important landmark for gaming?, both interpretations are accurate but for all gamers this is a game that excels at innovation, and surely that is something for all gamers to applaud.