Killer7 first released for the Nintendo GameCube on June 9, 2005. It was part of the lauded ‘Capcom 5’, which were five triple-A, exclusive games Capcom announced for the GameCube. The other four were Resident Evil 4, Viewtiful Joe, P.N. 03, and Dead Phoenix.
Of these five announced projects, only one was developed completely outside Capcom: Killer7. It was created by Grasshopper Manufacture, and directed by Goichi Suda, otherwise known as Suda51. It was the first game by Grasshopper released outside of Japan, and it made quite an impression.
Your first time playing Killer7, you’re going to spend a lot of time scratching your head. Not because it’s hard to play, but because the story and characters are bizarre. You’re not going to completely understand the story, even after you’ve finished the game – which is okay, because you’re not supposed to. The ‘what is going on’ moments are part of the Killer7 experience. As strange as the story is, it’s still compelling, and you’re left wanting more.
Assassins, pro wrestling, and a strong punk aesthetic are recurring themes in Suda’s games, and for Suda fans in the west, Killer7 is where it began. As strange as the story is, in its content and how it’s told, it starts to make sense the more you play. Some background is given, but the game throws you into the deep end and expects you to figure it out. However, the characters and the tale they’re caught up in are fascinating and absolutely worth your time.
There are seven different assassins who are working together. They’re seemingly controlled by one man named Harman Smith. He controls and manifests them through television.
Yes, you read that right. Through television. No explanation is given.
Each assassin has unique abilities you need to solve puzzles and take out certain enemies. In each level, you awaken the assassins (who all have the last name of Smith as well) by killing a certain amount of Heaven Smile enemies. You upgrade their abilities by collecting Heaven Smile blood and converting it through the televisions you find in the save rooms scattered throughout the game.
I know it sounds strange. That’s because it is.
The assassins are the centerpiece of the game. They’re wholly separate from each other with their own consciousness and personality, but are manipulated by one controlling personality in Harman Smith. How they individually look, move, talk, and their unique abilities is a big part of Killer7’s identity. Hence the name ‘Killer7’.
- Garcian Smith: Otherwise known as The Cleaner. Special ability: Resurrection
- Dan Smith: Otherwise known as The Hellion. Special ability: Collateral Shot
- Kaede Smith: Otherwise known as Barefoot. Special abilities: Scope-aiming/Blood Shower.
- Kevin Smith: Otherwise known as Four-Eyes. Special Ability: Invisibility
- Coyote Smith: Otherwise known as The Thief. Special Abilities: Jumping/lock-picking/Custom Magnum Shell
- Con Smith: Otherwise known as The Kid or The Brat. Special Abilities: Fitting in small spaces/speed.
- Mask de Smith: Otherwise known as The Mask. Special Abilities: Shock Shell/Wrestling Moves.
All of them are cold-blooded killers, and assassins in the true sense of the word. However, their collective cause, from what I’ve been able to understand of the story, seems to be a just one. Meaning, they’re not murdering innocent people. They’re discriminate in who they take out, and are trying to steer the world to a better place in general, and away from catastrophe.
That being said, if you haven’t already guessed as much, Killer7 is not a game for kids. At all. There’s even a big ‘mature content’ warning every time you boot the game up before the title screen hits. It’s gritty, violent, maniacal, and downright bizarre.
Killer7 has been criticized for being more style over substance, and it’s a criticism that isn’t without merit. The gameplay isn’t incredibly deep. It’s essentially a rail-shooter with some light puzzles, but the presentation is done exceptionally well. The art direction, story, and characters are what Killer7 is known for, and what has always set it apart. The game oozes style and attitude.
That’s not to say Killer7’s gameplay is not fun or engaging, because it very much is. However, a lot of that comes more from its presentation than your average shooter. The aesthetic, story, and characters have a lot to do with it.
Killer7 has Resident Evil elements to it, which makes sense since it was published by Capcom, but its gameplay is wholly unique. Movement is completely on rails, but one in which you can control your character. However, your control is limited to a set path, so there’s no freedom to explore the world. When you come to a branch in your set path, you can choose which way to go.
When you’re confronted by enemies, you can quickly go into combat mode with the press of a button. Combat mode puts the game into a first-person perspective. From there, it’s identical to a first-person shooter game, except you can’t move while firing your weapon. When the combat is over, you continue on your way.
The enemies you encounter are called Heaven Smiles. They’re basically maniacal, cackling zombies of different varieties. There are different types of Heaven Smiles with different weak points to shoot at. The common ones have obvious weak points, but the more powerful ones aren’t as obvious at first. The combat isn’t difficult, providing you’re good at pointing and shooting with either a mouse or an analog stick.
Each chapter will introduce new Heaven Smile enemies. The hardest part is figuring out what you need to do to take them out. It becomes a puzzle in that sense, but the game gives you clues about how to go about it. The more Heaven Smiles you take out, the more blood you collect. You can use that blood to awaken your other assassin personalities and upgrade their abilities.
Playing it on PC, the game has some minor technical issues. You have to exit to the main menu to check the button layout in the options. You can’t check your button layout in-game, which is a pain, but you can remap your buttons if you want, which is good.
There are barely any graphics options either. You can choose between 4:3 and full-screen, and that’s it. Some resolution options would’ve been appreciated, but the game looks good and runs well.
Also, for some odd reason, playing the game in full-screen halved my frame rate. In full-screen, I was only able to get 30 FPS. I had to play the game in an odd windowed mode, with my Windows taskbar visible at the bottom of the screen, to get 60 FPS. Killer7 is very playable at 30 FPS (that’s what it was on GameCube and PlayStation 2), but as with any game, anything 60 FPS or higher is preferable. I chose the windowed mode for the smoother frame rate. Other than occasionally clicking on my taskbar by accident, it wasn’t a major issue, but still not the way I would’ve chosen to play the game otherwise.
VERDICT:
Killer7 is a game that could come out today and you wouldn’t know the difference. It’s been remastered for PC, and its visuals and gameplay have stood the test of time quite well. I suspect in another 15 years, Killer7 will still be played and talked about.
It has a unique art style, even by today’s standards, but back in 2005, when visually artsy games were still fairly new, no one knew what to make of it, especially since it was on the GameCube, a system not known for mature, violent games. In fact, quite the opposite.
Killer7 is a good game on consoles. On PC, it becomes a great game, at least for me. It looks better, and the shooting is more accurate using a mouse versus an analog stick on a controller. Since shooting is primarily what Killer7 is about, I would go so far to say the PC port of Killer7 is the definitive version of the game, especially if you’re able to run it in 4K resolution at 60 FPS like I was.
If you want something wholly unique in its story and how it’s told, or something gritty and off-beat, or a different kind of rail-shooter, then definitely check out Killer7. Whether you like it or not, it makes an impression. It’s a bizarre, violent, art-house experience, and isn’t a game you’ll quickly forget.
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