LogFAQs > #951603791

05. Killer7 (Gamecube, 2005)

There are games you play, and there are games you experience. Killer7 straddles that line in a way unlike anything else Ive ever played, and it is a game Ive spent more time thinking about than perhaps any other. Its one of those games that worms its way into your head, not unlike the way a David Lynch movie (or certain episodes of Twin Peaks) can.

Created by Suda51, and his first game released outside of Japan, it came to America as part of Capcoms pledge to bring more mature games to Nintendos platform. Its an on-rails third-person action/first-person shooter hybrid, where you play as members of the Smith syndicate, a group of seven highly skilled, diverse assassins under the employ of Harman Smith. Each assassin has a wildly different set of skills that you use to navigate the highly stylized and utterly bizarre noir world they operate in, which has recently come under threat of mutant suicide bomb creatures called Heaven Smiles, who were created by Harman Smiths archenemy and rival, Kun Lan.



Going any further into the plot - which is somewhere between Hideo Kojima and Hunter S. Thompson - than that here will not only ruin the experience, but confuse me and you, dear readers, so Im not going to do that. Suffice to say, each of the seven chapters of the game represents a target for the Smiths to hunt down.

Instead, Ill talk about the style of the game, which is inimitable. To capture the hardboiled/noir aesthetic, the game is cel shaded, and largely operates in a palette of black, white and red. Blood is a significant factor in the game and its gameplay; when you kill an enemy by destroying its weak spot, you capture its blood, which you later use to power yourself up using a television (its a weird game, in case that wasnt already clear). Thats not to say that the game isnt visually flashy; quite the opposite. Its use of such a consistent visual identity and thematic approach makes the deviations from it more impactful in ways that are almost always as satisfying as they are mystifying. It absolutely captures the essence of the film and literary genres its borrowing from.

The games use of music is absolutely masterful. Youll scarcely find a game with such a diverse soundtrack; the styles of music are varied to the extremes but are all expertly deployed within the game itself. Not a single tune ever feels out of place - unless its meant to, of course.

Listen to a few tracks, which range from ambient to industrial to country-tinged to full on techno:

Resound of Silence:
https://youtu.be/jLDLS4DgxBY

Emigrant Song:
https://youtu.be/ZF7uH3ETmXs

Tecks Mecks:
https://youtu.be/o5EFfOA30Cc

Rave On:
https://youtu.be/AJO8uo3UMko

You might note that some of those songs titles reference songs in the canon of western pop music: Simon & Garfunkel, Led Zeppelin, and Buddy Holly in these instances. Thats a lead-in to another thing that Suda51 does with Killer7: he weaves in pop cultural references at a Tarontinonian level. The assassins are literally The Smiths. The first set of instructions passed to them is in a copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray. Theres references to New Order. One of the supporting characters, Kess BloodySunday, is likely a politics reference and a U2 reference, and Kess himself (who is a ghost, it should be noted) bears a striking resemblance to Kurt Cobain in the Smells Like Teen Spirit music video. One of the Smiths is named Kevin, which I cant assume is a coincidence, especially since Kevin Smith never speaks. Santana, Sailor Moon, The Beatles, James Bond, luchadors, Ravi Shankar, Twin Peaks, and Power Rangers. These things, subtle and not so much, are in the DNA of the game, which is centered around the struggle for global supremacy between Japan and the United States in an alternate future, rife with doublecrosses and subterfuge and political intrigue. All of this is stuff I would love if it popped up in any other game (which is patently obvious if you have kept tabs on recurring themes on my list); that it was all in one game made for nearly a perfect game for my tastes.



If you like games that are weird and engaging and cinematic, and (can) enjoy unorthodox gameplay that ultimately works because of how well it serves the style and direction of the game, I cannot recommend it to you enough. Theres even been a remaster released relatively recently (2018) on Steam, which I hear is very good. You might not always understand whats going on, but you wont be able to look away.

Plus one of the Smiths is a luchador who can headbutt bullets.




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The Thighmaster