COLLATERAL SHOT

I don't think I'm able to explain how cool this game is

I love everything about it and it's wild that all of it's batshit storytelling is seemingly accounted for in its lore

not "perfect". but it's been a refreshing and creatively rejuvenating reminder that games as a medium are capable of whatever the fuck you want them to be, and that conventions and genre expectations are there to be broken down. and this is coming from a game that - on the whole - doesn't stray too far from the kinds of design and genre tropes that we have become so familiar with.

plenty of flaws to point & laugh at but dwelling on them would be a real waste of time. there's a lot more to love than there is to hate. mainly that it looks proper Fucked in HD. cel shaded graphics and low poly models make for an insane glowup with the transition to HD resolutions. of course the game already looked great anyway, freely mixing multiple art styles, photographic textures, uncanny anime cutscenes, and the signature hyperstylized pseudo-gritty low poly look. fab. also it's like, really funny too; i was always excited to see travis' ghost so that i could catch up on whatever batty bullshit he "heard through the grapevine". same goes for iwazaru's antics and johnny gagnon's increasingly frustrated pigeon-carrier letters.

game's good as fuck so like check it out on your gamecube that you own or pick it up for a fiver on sale on steam. first three levels are kinda the best ones as you struggle to get onto the game's puzzling level, but it is worth finishing

I spent the last 20 minutes trying to come up with words to describe Killer7. Here's the thing, I can't.

Killer7 is something that I'd consider as one of the bastions of PS2's unique catalogue. It's an impenetrable video game that stands time, regardless of how bizarre you think the game is. Killer7 is scary, not because it's kind of a horror game, but rather this game's presentation, structure and aura is something that you'll never find amongst other games.

Killer7 will always be an itch that one would never scratch, and you'll have to accept it at that for the rest of your life.

Have you ever watched a film or a TV series, read a novel or a comic book, or played any type of video game that was so fucking mind-boggling & completely insane that it literally just becomes one of your main interests for a long time and doesn’t leave your head for a single day? For me, that term belongs to none other than Killer7.

For starters, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is one of my favorite video games of all time, and it’s not just because it has such a well-written story, but because of how relevant the game is in today’s time with its themes, the narrative, and everything it talks about, as well as the fact that I played it during one of the lowest times of my entire life, so you can tell how much it means to me as a person. Ever since I played it well over a bit of a year ago, the game just hasn’t left my mind since I finished it, and for many months after that, I continued to play several games, and as good as some of them are, NONE of them managed to capture the same exact profound nature that Metal Gear Solid 2 did.

That was not until I completed Killer7 on December 28th, 2023 at exactly 2:33 PM where I found a game equally on the same level, if not even crazier. And, to this day, the game has not left my brain at all, and I will remember it till the day I die.

Suda51 is an interesting case for me, as the only game of his that I played before Killer7 was No More Heroes. While at the time, it was pretty cool, there was nothing TRULY outstanding about it that proved to me why Suda was considered one of the best video game developers on the market (PS I take this back now NMH is one of my favorite games lmao), but Killer7 felt as if it uplifted literally everything good about the video game medium and took its own spin on it which no other video game could possibly recreate. It’s almost like if he sniffed 10 pounds of cocaine before he would go to the studio to work on the game, and the insanely absurd nature of it all further proves that.

The narrative and the overall story are what I found to be the best parts of the entire game, as I was literally hooked from start to finish, even if I could not comprehend whatever I fuck I even saw. Like, the whole plot revolving around Japan’s role within the circle of US politics and how Harman’s never-ending fight with Kun Lan serves as an allegory for the conflict between the East & the West just goes incredibly deep, and it also has one of the better portrayals for how terrifying some of our world leaders really are. Outside of all this, you even have the smaller storylines within the game, including the whole Blackburn subplot where we got to see more of the entire idea of sick individuals with how they can easily go unnoticed whilst bigger issues overshadow any problems that we might have with them, and there is just more and more to talk about in regards to the full story of the game which I still did not get a full grasp of.

The game also has one of the best forms of gunplay that I have ever seen within a video game, as it’s not too repetitive, not too crazy, rather it perfects the formula of how guns should be used in a combat system, not to mention the way in which every Smith has their own balance with how you use them. Also, the whole linear structure that forces players into following one set route is brilliant, and fuck the people who think it sucks, because it absolutely rocks, more so with how it literally reflects on the game’s message that the world just doesn’t revolve around you, and that in the end, it will just be the same outcome, no matter what we do. If anything, there are so many things to get out of Killer7’s messages, and this is one of the many that benefit the game in its entirety.

I obviously can’t complete this review without talking about the art style, because holy shit, it’s so clean & stylish that it's genuinely amazing to just look at and see how vibrant it is. Like, how did we reach a degree of style so well during the 6th generation and completely fucking fall off with the 8th-9th generation of video games being mostly over-realistic AAA movie games that are almost completely devoid of any sort of substance? Like, there definitely are some amazing games being released within this period of time, but otherwise a lot of them just don’t hold the same level of creativity or imagination as what we got around twenty to thirty years ago.

I don’t think that video games as a collective medium will ever reach something as insane as Killer7 ever again, and this is truly just one of the best works of art I have ever had to experience. As of right now, there is quite a long way to go in life for me, but truth be told, I will always remember this game, as both it and a few other of my favorite games have become my primary inspiration for writing online about all of my interests.

“Harman, the world won't change, all it does is turn. Now, let's dance.”

this is kinda unique game though i can't say I loved it from start to finish 

anyway it was worth it 

the plot and characters are exploring pretty interesting themes with the art direction and music being absolutely brilliant

pure weirdcore at its finest and i loved that

suda's the best one

Eu acredito que esse jogo é impossível de ser completamente absorvido tendo o jogado apenas uma vez, e por consequência também é um jogo impossível de ser descrito ou comentado.

Killer7 é um jogo excêntrico no sentido mais extremo da palavra, sua apresentação, sua gameplay, sua atmosfera, sua narrativa e o modo que ela é contada, todos esses elementos são executados de uma maneira inteiramente única a esse jogo e que é difícil de se ver sendo replicada em qualquer outro. É facilmente um dos exemplos de jogo mais experimentais não só da sua época mas também até os dias atuais, e mesmo após tanto tempo se mantém até hoje como um tipo de experiência surrealista e extravagante que só pode ser encontrada nele.

É um jogo estranho e nada intuitivo na sua gameplay e muito menos no seu storytelling, mas quer você goste ou não dessa singularidade e bizarrice em que o jogo se escora você vai se surpreender com ele de um jeito ou de outro, pois é impossível de se discordar que Killer7 é acima de tudo um dos jogos mais únicos já feitos até hoje, e que ele é extremamente especial do seu próprio modo. Não existe nada como Killer7 e é capaz de que nunca vá existir, e esse é o seu maior charme.