Skip to main content

Killer 7

Magnificent 7? Killer app? We find out.

Dark blue icons of video game controllers on a light blue background
Image credit: Eurogamer

Killer 7 is arguably the most audacious piece of game design ever. Not that it's an especially complicated game - we'll try and demystify it in a moment - but simply that it's one of the few games that has been designed around the artwork with very few compromises.

It'd be easy to take one look at Capcom's latest masterwork and dismiss it as a vanity project, but all it essentially does is shift the focus in subtle, intriguing and above all intelligent ways. In some senses it's a game that messes with most of your preconceptions about videogames; about how a game should control, how a game should be viewed, how a game should look. Hell, even the way the game sounds is utterly unique, and the characters... Well, has there ever been a bigger collection of oddballs?

It's a game that'll have you exchanging bewildered glances with onlookers and remarking "what the hell was that about?" But anyone with a soul couldn't fail to fall in love with what it stands for: originality, personality, pushing the boundaries, shock, and taking players to places they've never been before. Places they never knew existed, and certainly never imagined.

Killer 7 is a very special game indeed.

And yet somehow despite all of the arch, arty weirdness bursting out like the blood from Kaede Smith's wrists, the core of Killer 7 is still comfortably familiar; certainly the long-term Capcom fans will spot the long-ingrained design philosophies almost immediately. It's comfortable to know from the very beginning that there's nothing to be afraid of here. Killer 7 is not reinventing the wheel. It's just using it as a Banjo, playing Hendrix licks with its teeth, smashing it onto the stage to shock and setting it on fire and burning its audience alive for kicks.

So, if you're still with us, you're probably due an explanation of who the infamous Killer 7 are exactly. Think Ocean's Eleven, only substitute Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Roberts [pfft, she wasn't one of the eleven -Ed] et al for The Smiths. And we're not talking about those Mancunian miseries Morrissey and Marr, but seven selectable weirdoes who you play as throughout the game; or more accurately the seven personalities/alter egos of a certain Harman Smith, a wheelchair-bound old man who also happens to be the world's most feared assassin and also just so happens to carry a large anti-tank rifle around with him. Subtlety is not his strong point it would seem.

Actually, for a bunch of trained assassins, subtlety is precisely the last thing on the minds of this lot. Killer 7, for reasons not even Capcom seem to have gotten to the bottom of, allows the player to seamlessly select (via the Start menu) from the cast of Harman's mind, if you like. Each one has its own specialty, so in the case of the superfly 'leader' of the pack, Garcian Smith, you come equipped with a silenced handgun. The overtly aggressive Dan comes armed with a custom Magnum, former wrestler MASK De packs a huge punch with his double grenade launcher, Coyote acts as the token locksmith, the albino Kevin (?!) can disappear and prefers throwing knives, the unhinged KAEDE (their choice of SHOUTY block caps, not ours) meanwhile has a handy pistol with a scope, and prefers to shower blood on her foes by slitting her wrists. Don't even ask. And finally, Con has the curious ability to visualise sounds, not to mention run like the wind with a hilarious Billy Whizz style.

It seems hugely ambitious to even try to attempt to make sense of why you're busy trying to make the best use of the various personalities of Harman Smith, but we'll give it a shot. Essentially Killer 7 has a reputation for getting the toughest jobs done, and is the kind of organisation that Governments will call on when things go tits up and even the Army/CIA/CTU/Delta Force cower in fear at the task in hand.

In the case of Capcom's deeply unhinged game, the year is 2003, and a "new wave of terror is spreading fear and panic throughout the continent". This deadly threat goes by the sweet and innocent name of Heaven Smiles, which are effectively a deadly army of walking bombs - essentially zombie-like shamblers that blow up in front of you if they manage to make contact. This axis of evil is headed up by a certain Kun Lan, and it's the job of Killer 7 to root out his henchmen one by one.

And this is our rather long and winding route to actually telling you about the game. Designed as a series of chapters (the opening one being called 'Angel') the overall goal of each one is to work out how to find the 'boss', and doing so involves solving a bunch of typically Capcom-esque problems; picking up objects, facing off against a slew of deadly Heaven Smiles and then duking it out with a boss.

It sounds relatively straightforward when you try and sum up the basics like we've just done, but it probably won't really seem like that to begin with, and here's why: from a control/camera perspective Capcom has pretty much ripped up the rule book, defying conventional wisdom about how you're supposed to do these things, and instead, as we said before, seems to have very much designed the game to look a certain way. First of all the graphic novel art style very much dictates the gameplay - simply by almost shoehorning the actual mechanics around it. It seems abundantly clear that directors Goichi Suda (Grasshopper Manufacture Inc.) and Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil) wanted to remove the camera control from the gamer, and in fact any real movement control at all.

In Killer 7, all you have to do to move is hit the A button to run and B to turn round. That's it. It's jarring as hell to begin with as you'll be haplessly trying to spin the camera and move your character around the environment, but it's no use. But in forcing this upon the player the very deliberate midget's-eye-view camera angle gives the game a very stylistic edge that wouldn't be possible if the freedom was given over to the player.

Run down a corridor and the camera sweeps with you. Reach a junction and a shard of glass option menu slides into view. Point the left stick in the appropriate direction and your character will continue in the direction. Reach a door and the same thing happens - just hit the direction again and you'll enter. See a character or an object to interact with and the same principle applies: the character's name or object appear as a shard in that general direction on the screen and you move the left stick to confirm you want to interact with it. It seems odd to even have to describe how you move around and interact with things in a game these days, but, believe us, it's entirely at odds with anything you'll have ever played.

Combat scenarios are a little more traditional, but still take a bit of getting used to. In Killer 7 every time you hear a maniacal cackle, it means a Heaven Smile is in the vicinity, heralding a face-off. At this point it's really important that you simply stop in your tracks and hit the right shoulder button to flip to a first-person view. Hitting the left shoulder button then scans the area, as at this point your enemies will be invisible to you. After that, you'll be slightly unnerved by the fact that they're heading in your direction and are set to explode unless you start pumping some lead into them.

With infinite ammo you can happily just get rid of the initial wave of shambling Heaven Smiles by shooting them several times until they explode in a shower of blood, but each one has a yellow 'weak spot' which, if successfully targeted, kills them in one shot. However, from a distance it's a major task getting the cross hair to line up just so so you'll probably miss more times than is strictly comfortable.

If you do happen to cop an exploding Heaven Smile, the little eye indicator at the top starts to close, indicating your loss of life. But successful kills stock up your blood supply, and can be used to top up your life force at any time, so long as you have some in stock. Combat success also elicits a bunch of (quite strong) expletives from your chosen personality, which are as amusing as they are quite shocking. Imagine Clint Eastwood with Tourette's and you won't be far out with the potty-mouthed antics on show here.

Dotted around you'll find rooms that house the mysterious Samantha (a saucy, sex mad temptress, it seems, not averse to shagging the disabled, we kid you not) as well as a TV set. If Sam is dressed in a nurse's uniform you can save your progress (well, obviously), while the TV bizarrely acts as a means of 'changing channels' between personalities, as well as enabling you to power up one of four of the stats of whichever personality you feel is the most deserving. In this sense it's typical Capcom, reminiscent of the power-up systems used in Devil May Cry, Onimusha, and even Haunting Ground most recently. Blood acts as your currency here, so as long as you're killing regularly, you'll soon be able to power up each personality in the usual areas, such as health, weapon, targeting ability and the like.

Although admittedly we had a Capcom representative present to give us helpful hints, the game feels well structured and logical, with plenty of NPCs on hand to dish out background info and hints as to where you should be heading next. In one instance we had to find a Fire Ring in order to light a sequence of candles, another we had to find an emblem to place on a wall to open up a locked section. Later a locked door yielded to a code scribbled down elsewhere. All very Capcom.

But all the while, there's so much going on in terms of the audiovisual style and presentation that feel so completely different that it's a game that can't help but grab your attention. Having seen four of the game's chapters, it's clear that the style changes quite radically as well. At the start it's quite stark, set in a fairly featureless and clinical office environment, but later it switches to sunny outdoor settings and the yet maintains a consistency of style that charms the socks off you. If there's a cooler looking game that's ever been made, then we haven't seen it.

Even the audio is on a different plane. The voice work from all the monstrous creations you come across along the way (the ever-helpful Iwazu and the raspy T-shirt loving Travs, to name but two that we came across) is mostly unintelligible garble. Death-rattling gobbledegook that you'd never understand if it wasn't for the subtitles, while other speak in clearly decipherable English, but not in a way your ears have ever heard it. Truly alien indeed.

But just as charming are the little snatches of guitar work that intersperse little actions, cut-scenes and incidental flourishes. It's like the game's way of providing an audio cue to something impending, and give the game an even richer atmosphere that leaves you beaming from ear to ear at how much loving care has gone into creating something so unlike you've played before, yet has enough solid familiarity to draw you into something with structure and purpose.

With E3 just a few days away, there are going to be one hell of a lot of confused souls who will try to get a hands on during the show and leave the demo pods utterly confused and doubtlessly indifferent to what they've seen. They may shake their head wearily and write it off as an indulgent experiment that's not for them. If that's the case, that's a shame, because in the quiet confines of Capcom's Hammersmith Euro HQ it was quite clear to us that what we have here is a game of immense promise, originality and charm that isn't a game you can just pick up and play and expect to understand or even like for at least the first half hour or so.

All we know is that Killer 7 is one of the only games that will be released this year that is daring to do anything new whatsoever, and deserves your attention on that basis alone. Whether it really does deliver on its promise over the course of the 20-hour game remains to be seen, but its mid-July release is looming large, and we've been promised that we'll be able to get hold of a review copy in the near future.

Check back soon for more on Capcom's great arthouse action-adventure.

Read this next

seductrice.net
universo-virtual.com
buytrendz.net
thisforall.net
benchpressgains.com
qthzb.com
mindhunter9.com
dwjqp1.com
secure-signup.net
ahaayy.com
tressesindia.com
puresybian.com
krpano-chs.com
cre8workshop.com
hdkino.org
peixun021.com
qz786.com
utahperformingartscenter.org
worldqrmconference.com
shangyuwh.com
eejssdfsdfdfjsd.com
playminecraftfreeonline.com
trekvietnamtour.com
your-business-articles.com
essaywritingservice10.com
hindusamaaj.com
joggingvideo.com
wandercoups.com
wormblaster.net
tongchengchuyange0004.com
internetknowing.com
breachurch.com
peachesnginburlesque.com
dataarchitectoo.com
clientfunnelformula.com
30pps.com
cherylroll.com
ks2252.com
prowp.net
webmanicura.com
sofietsshotel.com
facetorch.com
nylawyerreview.com
apapromotions.com
shareparelli.com
goeaglepointe.com
thegreenmanpubphuket.com
karotorossian.com
publicsensor.com
taiwandefence.com
epcsur.com
mfhoudan.com
southstills.com
tvtv98.com
thewellington-hotel.com
bccaipiao.com
colectoresindustrialesgs.com
shenanddcg.com
capriartfilmfestival.com
replicabreitlingsale.com
thaiamarinnewtoncorner.com
gkmcww.com
mbnkbj.com
andrewbrennandesign.com
cod54.com
luobinzhang.com
faithfirst.net
zjyc28.com
tongchengjinyeyouyue0004.com
nhuan6.com
kftz5k.com
oldgardensflowers.com
lightupthefloor.com
bahamamamas-stjohns.com
ly2818.com
905onthebay.com
fonemenu.com
notanothermovie.com
ukrainehighclassescort.com
meincmagazine.com
av-5858.com
yallerdawg.com
donkeythemovie.com
corporatehospitalitygroup.com
boboyy88.com
miteinander-lernen.com
dannayconsulting.com
officialtomsshoesoutletstore.com
forsale-amoxil-amoxicillin.net
generictadalafil-canada.net
guitarlessonseastlondon.com
lesliesrestaurants.com
mattyno9.com
nri-homeloans.com
rtgvisas-qatar.com
salbutamolventolinonline.net
sportsinjuries.info
wedsna.com
rgkntk.com
bkkmarketplace.com
zxqcwx.com
breakupprogram.com
boxcardc.com
unblockyoutubeindonesia.com
fabulousbookmark.com
beat-the.com
guatemala-sailfishing-vacations-charters.com
magie-marketing.com
kingstonliteracy.com
guitaraffinity.com
eurelookinggoodapparel.com
howtolosecheekfat.net
marioncma.org
oliviadavismusic.com
shantelcampbellrealestate.com
shopleborn13.com
topindiafree.com
v-visitors.net
djjky.com
053hh.com
originbluei.com
baucishotel.com
33kkn.com
intrinsiqresearch.com
mariaescort-kiev.com
mymaguk.com
sponsored4u.com
crimsonclass.com
bataillenavale.com
searchtile.com
ze-stribrnych-struh.com
zenithalhype.com
modalpkv.com
bouisset-lafforgue.com
useupload.com
37r.net
autoankauf-muenster.com
bantinbongda.net
bilgius.com
brabustermagazine.com
indigrow.org
miicrosofts.net
mysmiletravel.com
selinasims.com
spellcubesapp.com
usa-faction.com
hypoallergenicdogsnames.com
dailyupdatez.com
foodphotographyreviews.com
cricutcom-setup.com
chprowebdesign.com
katyrealty-kanepa.com
tasramar.com
bilgipinari.org
four-am.com
indiarepublicday.com
inquick-enbooks.com
iracmpi.com
kakaschoenen.com
lsm99flash.com
nana1255.com
ngen-niagara.com
technwzs.com
virtualonlinecasino1345.com
wallpapertop.net
casino-natali.com
iprofit-internet.com
denochemexicana.com
eventhalfkg.com
medcon-taiwan.com
life-himawari.com
myriamshomes.com
nightmarevue.com
healthandfitnesslives.com
androidnews-jp.com
allstarsru.com
bestofthebuckeyestate.com
bestofthefirststate.com
bestwireless7.com
britsmile.com
declarationintermittent.com
findhereall.com
jingyou888.com
lsm99deal.com
lsm99galaxy.com
moozatech.com
nuagh.com
patliyo.com
philomenamagikz.net
rckouba.net
saturnunipessoallda.com
tallahasseefrolics.com
thematurehardcore.net
totalenvironment-inthatquietearth.com
velislavakaymakanova.com
vermontenergetic.com
kakakpintar.com
jerusalemdispatch.com
begorgeouslady.com
1800birks4u.com
2wheelstogo.com
6strip4you.com
bigdata-world.net
emailandco.net
gacapal.com
jharpost.com
krishnaastro.com
lsm99credit.com
mascalzonicampani.com
sitemapxml.org
thecityslums.net
topagh.com
flairnetwebdesign.com
rajasthancarservices.com
bangkaeair.com
beneventocoupon.com
noternet.org
oqtive.com
smilebrightrx.com
decollage-etiquette.com
1millionbestdownloads.com
7658.info
bidbass.com
devlopworldtech.com
digitalmarketingrajkot.com
fluginfo.net
naqlafshk.com
passion-decouverte.com
playsirius.com
spacceleratorintl.com
stikyballs.com
top10way.com
yokidsyogurt.com
zszyhl.com
16firthcrescent.com
abogadolaboralistamd.com
apk2wap.com
aromacremeria.com
banparacard.com
bosmanraws.com
businessproviderblog.com
caltonosa.com
calvaryrevivalchurch.org
chastenedsoulwithabrokenheart.com
cheminotsgardcevennes.com
cooksspot.com
cqxzpt.com
deesywig.com
deltacartoonmaps.com
despixelsetdeshommes.com
duocoracaobrasileiro.com
fareshopbd.com
goodpainspills.com
hemendekor.com
kobisitecdn.com
makaigoods.com
mgs1454.com
piccadillyresidences.com
radiolaondafresca.com
rubendorf.com
searchengineimprov.com
sellmyhrvahome.com
shugahouseessentials.com
sonihullquad.com
subtractkilos.com
valeriekelmansky.com
vipasdigitalmarketing.com
voolivrerj.com
worldhealthstory.com
zeelonggroup.com
1015southrockhill.com
10x10b.com
111-online-casinos.com
191cb.com
3665arpentunitd.com
aitesonics.com
bag-shokunin.com
brightotech.com
communication-digitale-services.com
covoakland.org
dariaprimapack.com
freefortniteaccountss.com
gatebizglobal.com
global1entertainmentnews.com
greatytene.com
hiroshiwakita.com
iktodaypk.com
jahatsakong.com
meadowbrookgolfgroup.com
newsbharati.net
platinumstudiosdesign.com
slotxogamesplay.com
strikestaruk.com
techguroh.com
trucosdefortnite.com
ufabetrune.com
weddedtowhitmore.com
12940brycecanyonunitb.com
1311dietrichoaks.com
2monarchtraceunit303.com
601legendhill.com
850elaine.com
adieusolasomade.com
andora-ke.com
bestslotxogames.com
cannagomcallen.com
endlesslyhot.com
iestpjva.com
ouqprint.com
pwmaplefest.com
qtylmr.com
rb88betting.com
buscadogues.com
1007macfm.com
born-wild.com
growthinvests.com
promocode-casino.com
proyectogalgoargentina.com
wbthompson-art.com
whitemountainwheels.com
7thavehvl.com
developmethis.com
funkydogbowties.com
travelodgegrandjunction.com
gao-town.com
globalmarketsuite.com
blogshippo.com
hdbka.com
proboards67.com
outletonline-michaelkors.com
kalkis-research.com
thuthuatit.net
buckcash.com
hollistercanada.com
docterror.com
asadart.com
vmayke.org
erwincomputers.com
dirimart.org
okkii.com
loteriasdecehegin.com
mountanalog.com
healingtaobritain.com
ttxmonitor.com
nwordpress.com
11bolabonanza.com