Killer 7 Review

Platform - Gamecube
Publisher - Capcom
Genre - Action
Release Date - July 7, 2005

Well I've done a lot of research on this game prior to purchasing and after beating the game before I formed a final opinion. Here we go:

Story: 1.25/1.25

At first, the story was just as I expected it to be from all the previews and trailers I've seen of it. Then it eventually became more darker and confusing as I continued playing. I kept wondering why I was assassinating all these people who pretty much have absolutely nothing to do with the main antagonist. The storyline is like a combination of Fight Club and any gangster film.

But anyway, to the actual story: The nations all over the world have decided to unite against the threat of terrorism. Every country and race banded together to help rid the world of terrorism and strive towards world peace. Eventually the world realizes global peace, bridges that span across the Atlantic Ocean have been established to unite the two continental masses, nuclear energy has been banned and all radioactive weapons have been disposed of. Then there was a terrorist attack signing of the UN World Security Treaty in the form of the atrocious "Heaven Smile", so the world powers hired the "Killer 7" to bring a stop to this new threat.

Harman Smith is a wheelchair-bound assassin who works for the U.S. government. He has something called "multiple personality syndrome" which gives him the ability to change into seven different personalities. These seven personalities are known as the "Killer 7".

Apparently, Japan has posed a threat to the United States and the US answers with missle defense. The story eventually evolves into a conspiracy involving the United States and Japanese government.

What can I say? I like it. The story gets your head going and finally hits you in the head with a blunt object with it's unexpected ending. While I would've considered more focus on the main antagonist: Kun Lan, it didn't really matter once I found out Harman and Kun Lan are actually symbols more than anything else.


Concept: 1.25/1.25

Very Original. Choose from seven characters each with their own specific abilities to hunt down a specific target. Shooting takes place in first person while moving takes place from a third person perspective. Definetly, never done before.

Graphics: 1.25/1.25

Several have said Killer 7's visuals belong more in an art museum than in a game and to me it's pretty much impossible to challenge notion. The visuals are absolutely beautiful. My first impression of this game when I saw screenshots for this game was the old CGI cartoon: Reboot, which brought back awesome childhood memories.

When I saw video clips of the game, I found that it was far more different than the "Reboot" feel I expected. Very nice cell-shading work.

Music: 1.25/1.25

Click the Icon to Listen to a Sound Clip from "Killer 7"

Almost all the sound and music in the game belong here. The music is pretty good, especially the techno music on the way to the colliseum which came as a big surprise for me. One thing that did get annoying are the character catchphrases whenever they hit an enemy in it's weak spot, though I do like their catchphrases when they use special abilities for instance, Dan's Collateral Shot. Sound also comes in handy to the gameplay when identifying a nearby foe.

Gameplay: 2.5/5

I've decided to rate the gameplay on what this game is at it's core: a rail shooter.

Here are the basic controls:
- A to move foward, B to turn around, Control Stick to choose direction on set path
- R to go into first person attack mode, A to shoot, X to counter
- C to reload
- Z for map screen

There are seven characters in the game each with their own unique abilities (most of which require a tube of thin blood to use, but I'll elaborate on that later).


Garcian Smith can revive fallen personalities guaranteeing you won't ever see a game over screen provided you don't fuck around.

Dan Smith is able to use a charge shot named "collateral shot" which is only way to defeat nest smiles.

Kaede Smith has the ability to slit her wrists like an AFI fan and create a shower of blood that removes barriers. She is also the only character who can home on enemies and snipe them from afar.

Con Smith can run at incredible speeds and can also navigate through small areas.

Coyote Smith can open padlocks opening shortcuts to areas and he can jump on roofs.

Mask De Smith can bring down walls by shooting cracks with his grenade launchers.

Kevin Smith has the ability to take off his glasses and turn invisible so you can run past enemies.


Shooting works just like in Resident Evil 4. Unfortunately, a lot of aspects are borrowed from Resident Evil that would've been best left out. The most notable being the notoriously easy puzzles.

Basically, the main flaw with the gameplay is how everything is too easy.

The boss fights in this game can hardly be considered boss fights since at times you'll have more difficulty reading a Dr. Suess book than the boss "fights".

The actual challenge comes from the Heaven Smiles themselves. At times you'll have to be patient, at times you'll have to be on your feet when facing up against Heaven Smile and with groups of varieties of Heaven Smile, you're going to have to choose your priorities, for instance, the Jet Pack Smile would be your top priority rather than slow walking armored Heaven Smile. The most annoying Heaven Smile would be the Phantom Smile which if shot in the wrong spot will teleport near you and explode. You'll also have to identify the chemistry between some characters and some heaven smile because some characters have better aim than others. Unfortunately, the sound they make usually gives them away and most of the different kinds of Heaven Smile have vulnerable weak spots. The most exciting battles occur between you and the heaven smile nests who continually spawn Heaven smile until you destroy all it's weak spots with Dan's "collateral shot".

Like I said, the main flaw with the game is that it isn't very challenging. Fortunately that's fixed in "Killer 8" mode which is so insanely hard it's impossible to beat but I'd prefer it if the actual game had some sign of difficulty.

Another thing this game lacks is replay value. It doesn't have shit. All it has is Killer 8 (which is very hard) which comes with an extra character (Young Harman Smith) and Hopper 7 which is basically just a joke. THAT'S IT.

I hate the fact that several websites gave this game a bad rating because "there wasn't any freedom of movement" despite knowing it wasn't a FPS but instantly acknowledging it as one due to the fact it goes into first person mode when you attack. The saddest of these reviews came from Maxim Magazine who found the game far too complicated despite everything practically being spoon-fed to you. So to add more meat to this article, I'm going to blast Maxim Magazine for giving this game a shitty rating:


"If you've ever seen Jessica Simpson attempt to do a load of laundry, you know the pain of seeing something beautiful move so awkwardly that it becomes ugly."

Maybe this is just me, but I think something like that would be ugly from start to finish.

"it also has totally unnatural and unnecessarily complicated controls that make it impossible to play. Don't toy with it for more than a couple of minutes unless you want to get continually frustrated—and murdered—after each move."

Because we all know pressing the "A" button to move for a change dwarfs finding the cures to diseases when it comes to being complicated. Though, I find it rather unfortunate that Maxim Magazine couldn't find the tools necessary to conquer this "complicated and unnatural" control set and finally defeat their frustration.

"Too bad the game makes using those skills so difficult, leaving you feeling as helpless and confused as Jessica on a grass stain."

Yeah, just until you discover the fact that the god damned map screen reveals where you should use your skills and whose skills you should use.


I hate Maxim, why are they allowed to review games anyway?

Bonus(s):

+ 1 for the ending -

Holy shit... It's pretty safe to say this ending surprised the hell out of me. It's one of those endings you absolutely never saw coming, especially from the way the game began. I don't want to blow the whole fucking ending, but I'm going to say this: the main characters switch later in the game.

+ 0.25 for being funny as hell -

Here's a moment with a paraphrased quote from the game I may not soon forget: "THE MEN IN THIS BUILDING ARE FULL OF ENERGY. I'M TALKING MEN WHO BEAT OFF FOUR TIMES A DAY! OH! OHH! OHHHHH! I'M CUMMIN'! YEEHAW! WOO!" *building explodes behind him*

Fucking classic.

Overall: 8.75/10

This is really a great game though it pretty much sounds like I've exaggerated several things when grading it on gameplay. It's only flaw pretty much falls on gameplay. More difficulty, especially on boss fights and REPLAY VALUE would've helped a lot.