Mr Durand Pierre
07-28-2006, 01:12 AM
Killer 7
As you’ve all probably heard, Killer 7 is a love-it or hate-it kind of game. But in my opinion, it is neither, as it is a game that I both in equal parts love and hate. You see, just about every aspect of Killer 7 is a mixed bag. I’ll go through the list one by one:
The story:
At its best, the story can be extremely intriguing and satisfying when you start to see recurring symbols and piecing things together. But then a lot of the story is a lot of long-winded tangents that seemingly have nothing to do with anything. By the end of the game you’ll understand some of it, but nowhere near all of it. It’s pretty subjective as to whether or not you’ll want to go back and play it all again searching for deeper understating, but I personally found that for every piece of story I found intriguing, there was something else that I found extraneous.
The characters:
The games two main characters (Harman and Garcian) are both very well realized, written, and acted. But none of the other characters are. Most of them are just placeholders there to drive the story along. Thankfully, the story is more plot-based than character based, so I didn’t mind this much, but if every character was as fully-realized as Harman and Garcian, they really would have been on to something.
The gameplay:
Much has been made of Killer 7’s unique control scheme. You can only move on rails until you get to a certain junction, where you’re given a choice as to which track you want to move onto next. And you can stop and shoot whenever. Essentially, it’s Myst with a simple aim-and-shoot mechanic. I like Myst. I like simple aim-and-shoot mechanics. So combining these together works beautifully… for awhile. The main problem with this is that the control scheme seems to suggest the game will be a 50/50 split of action and puzzle solving, when really it’s more like 80% action and only 20% puzzles. As a result, the action simply gets too repetitive too soon. Enemies also respawn when you leave an area, then reenter it. And when you die, you must retrace your steps with another character to retrieve the fallen characters dead body. Coupled with long load times (even on the GC version. I can’t even imagine playing on the PS2), and the occasional unavoidable death, the combat gets old long before the end credits have rolled. And the puzzles are nothing to write home about either. Ultimately, the gameplay is still certainly adequate, but nowhere near as good as it had the potential to be.
The sound:
Killer 7 has great music and sound effects. It’s all very atmospheric and creepy. Garcian, Harman, and Ulmeyda are very well voice-acted too. Unfortunately, they’re the only ones. Maske de Smith and Mills are particularly embarrassing.
The graphics:
The graphics are very distinctive and stylish and arguably the best thing about this game. But they do tend to wear out their welcome a bit near the end when you realize there won’t be quite as complex looking environments as you may hope. And the anime-inspired cutscenes are a true eye-sore. But otherwise the pop-art inspired cel-shading is wonderful to look at and a great way of standing apart from the competition of other videogames.
Conclusion:
When picking it apart piece by piece the game gets as much wrong as it does right. So it’s all in whether you look at the glass as being half-full or half-empty. I personally lean towards the half-full side myself, but I can see why others dismiss it as the game could certainly be improved upon. But for $10 I’d certainly pick it up, ‘cuz chances are you won’t be seeing anything like it again anytime soon.
As you’ve all probably heard, Killer 7 is a love-it or hate-it kind of game. But in my opinion, it is neither, as it is a game that I both in equal parts love and hate. You see, just about every aspect of Killer 7 is a mixed bag. I’ll go through the list one by one:
The story:
At its best, the story can be extremely intriguing and satisfying when you start to see recurring symbols and piecing things together. But then a lot of the story is a lot of long-winded tangents that seemingly have nothing to do with anything. By the end of the game you’ll understand some of it, but nowhere near all of it. It’s pretty subjective as to whether or not you’ll want to go back and play it all again searching for deeper understating, but I personally found that for every piece of story I found intriguing, there was something else that I found extraneous.
The characters:
The games two main characters (Harman and Garcian) are both very well realized, written, and acted. But none of the other characters are. Most of them are just placeholders there to drive the story along. Thankfully, the story is more plot-based than character based, so I didn’t mind this much, but if every character was as fully-realized as Harman and Garcian, they really would have been on to something.
The gameplay:
Much has been made of Killer 7’s unique control scheme. You can only move on rails until you get to a certain junction, where you’re given a choice as to which track you want to move onto next. And you can stop and shoot whenever. Essentially, it’s Myst with a simple aim-and-shoot mechanic. I like Myst. I like simple aim-and-shoot mechanics. So combining these together works beautifully… for awhile. The main problem with this is that the control scheme seems to suggest the game will be a 50/50 split of action and puzzle solving, when really it’s more like 80% action and only 20% puzzles. As a result, the action simply gets too repetitive too soon. Enemies also respawn when you leave an area, then reenter it. And when you die, you must retrace your steps with another character to retrieve the fallen characters dead body. Coupled with long load times (even on the GC version. I can’t even imagine playing on the PS2), and the occasional unavoidable death, the combat gets old long before the end credits have rolled. And the puzzles are nothing to write home about either. Ultimately, the gameplay is still certainly adequate, but nowhere near as good as it had the potential to be.
The sound:
Killer 7 has great music and sound effects. It’s all very atmospheric and creepy. Garcian, Harman, and Ulmeyda are very well voice-acted too. Unfortunately, they’re the only ones. Maske de Smith and Mills are particularly embarrassing.
The graphics:
The graphics are very distinctive and stylish and arguably the best thing about this game. But they do tend to wear out their welcome a bit near the end when you realize there won’t be quite as complex looking environments as you may hope. And the anime-inspired cutscenes are a true eye-sore. But otherwise the pop-art inspired cel-shading is wonderful to look at and a great way of standing apart from the competition of other videogames.
Conclusion:
When picking it apart piece by piece the game gets as much wrong as it does right. So it’s all in whether you look at the glass as being half-full or half-empty. I personally lean towards the half-full side myself, but I can see why others dismiss it as the game could certainly be improved upon. But for $10 I’d certainly pick it up, ‘cuz chances are you won’t be seeing anything like it again anytime soon.