Update: the devs have released a Major update just one day after i wrote this review and finally after 6 years they've adressed some of the flaws that i've mentioned. But they made others only worse with the FMV's being A.I. upscaled but other than that the reload animations and QoL changes are a welcome improvement i guess... Killer7 is not a game for everyone but everyone should play this game at least once in their life. I didn't like this game back when it released on GameCube because i was expecting this to be another Resident Evil 4 but it's far from it and far from any other game that i've played. It's an on-rails third person shooter with first person aiming, but it's the best kind of on-rails shooting where you can backtrack and even find secrets. Why Suda designed the game like this i have no idea but it somehow becomes a blast once you get the hang of the gameplay. First let's talk about this port, it's good with a couple of flaws. - The tutorials only display gamepad buttons which is good if you're using a Xbox controller but mouse and keyboard is far superior but then again confusing because the game only displays gamepad prompts. - The full motion videos are all very low res and look awful on a HD screen but this can be somewhat fixed with a guide available here on Steam i'm just dissapointed the porting studio didn't do a better job. - The reload animations are all 30fps which is very distracting during play. +- I've read that the game isn't really 16:9 but stretched 4:3? I don't know but the game still looks amazing in HD because of it's cell shaded graphics and you can always force 4:3 in the options. Aside from those flaws the game runs very well on high resolutions with an uncapped framerate, the sound quality is also superior to that of the original GC release and you can use hotkeys to switch personalities! Just for those reasons, and with the bonus feature of modding, this is the Definitive version of Killer7! In Killer7 you play as the 7 personalities of Harman Smith who are a group of assassins, each of them with their own unique traits and skills. Your mission is to kill a group of terrorists who are conspiring against the United States. The game is very story driven but i advise you not to try to understand the plot because it's really all over the place and it's really meant to be analised after you finish the game. The soundtrack is really good and memorable, it has this mix of jazz, drum 'n base and electronic music and i'm listening to "Sweet Relief" while writing this review. It takes me back to a time when videogames had good music. Now the hardest part for most people is the gameplay, it's restrictive, linear, confusing and very frustrating. Which is exactly why i didn't like Killer7 at first and i actually blame this on the game for not straight up explaining it's mechanics and objectives which you can all read in the Harman rooms but i just never did that. My advice to newcomers is to play the game on Normal difficulty and as much as possible with Con Smith. Con wields two Glocks and runs very fast which makes the game a whole lot easier and if you don't like Con then try Kevin Smith, this guy is also fast, has unlimited ammo and can even turn invisible. Be sure to always shoot the Smiles, which are basically zombies, in their weak spot it's a yellow flashing part on their bodies. Also you have to manually save your game each time since this was made for GC. Once you learn the game's quirks and mechanics then you'll have no problems playing with the other characters whom are all cool but very slow and definitely need their skills upgraded for the game to be less frustrating. While i love the game now, it still has a couple of things that i don't like, the boss fights are all creative and fun but it's not always clear what you're supposed to do and sometimes it's just a scripted event which can be a waste of time trying to beat them the wrong way. Also the laughter can be very tiresome after two or three chapters in. Despite that there was not a single moment where i found Killer7 to be repetitive or boring, it's packed with creative puzzles, varied enemy types, unique boss battles, silly and dark humor and a deep and over the top storyline which only Suda51 could make up. While the story is very interesting, it's the gameplay loop and level design that kept me going and which is why i highly recommend anyone to experience this game!
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