Here's The Set-Up
Killer is Dead invites you to "Love & Kill" with executioner and ladies-man, Mondo Zappa as he takes on contracts from questionable clients to assassinate those posing a threat to our world. As Mondo slays "monsters" for the government, he comes to find that there's a force linking all the appearances of these tragic figures. His name is David and he resides on the dark side of the moon. With David always one step ahead causing chaos, Mondo has a lot of messes to clean up in his wake. And sometimes the stress of the job leads to relaxing with some lovely ladies. Mondo needs to be careful not to slack off though, someone needs to be hard at work tracking David until the Killer is Dead.
I'm not exactly sure what's going on here but I'm fairly confident I can find out...
Killer is Dead is Suda51's storytelling going back to form. It's engrossing, off-the-wall, ambiguous, dark, breaks the 4th wall, and on a whole 'nother level of bizarre. It's even ruffling some feathers with a dating game it calls "Gigolo Mode" that seems to be giving the impression that Suda51/Killer is Dead is pushing sexism and the objectification of women, a notion I whole-heartedly disagree with, but we'll discuss that in-depth elsewhere. The idea expressed by Suda51 is that Killer is Dead is supposed to be a darker perspective of James Bond. The movies are taken as missions privy to the public and what Suda wants to expose is what happens between those missions- the killings, the romances. So here we have Killer is Dead, a game out to expose secret agents for the men they really are.
Mondo Zappa is a character well-suited to portray such an image. Clad in business attire, he efficiently wastes killers and monsters from the face of the Earth with a little bit of refined "old" by way of his katana, Gekkou, and a dash of zesty "new" denoted by his mechanical arm, Musselback, which is said to have the ability to perform over 99 different transformations and functions. When he's on the job, he's determined and executes his tasks with finesse and deadly precision but at the end of the day, he's always got a lady to hang on his arm for a night of pleasure. He looks them up and down, gives them a little token of his affection, and the deed is done. Seems to me like he's got the role down pat with style to spare.
As for the overall story though, it's up for discussion whether it means a thing at all. It plays out through a series of twelve episodes with each episode tackling a new sub-plot which feeds into the overarching story. These episodes are usually about revenge or getting back something stolen ranging from one's musical ability to the Earth itself. It's clear that this game takes place in either an alternate reality to ours or is set in the not too distant future and that technology is much more advanced but anything beyond those assumptions is never given to the player. I feel like the details are beside the point though, we're given what we need to piece together what's in front of us. And what's in front of us is either a giant, disconnected mess or organized chaos hiding the truth away. I think we're supposed to glean more from the cast of characters and themes they represent.
Every character presented has their own style and exaggerated personality but it's clear that these are not characters made to have their own sense of self. Similar to No More Heroes, these characters show a limited aspect of themselves with the intent of highlighting a part of the underlying message the game itself is trying to convey. If you look at a character like Mika, the young woman serving as Mondo's bubbly assistant, her actions rarely break away from squeals of happiness or concern and emotes with overblown physical motions. It can cause some to write her off as the token annoying anime school girl no one wants more of but her expressions are so limited that it feels more like she acts with a greater purpose to the plot instead of being there to flesh out a cast of typical archetypes. You could say that I'm trying to fish around in the dark for meaning but I'm going off my prior experiences with Suda51 games and I think it'd be wiser to not write off a single character, they mean something.
It looks and sounds the way it makes me feel: Incredible
That being said, the characters inhabiting the realm of Killer is Dead are designed with a certain panache, something that makes them feel 100% original and unique. It ranges from the refined, like Mondo dressed in his business attire, to the garish, like David and his eagerly revealing outfit made purely out of gold with matching crown, something he sees as "fitting for a god." I think Suda makes alluring characters because they're designed like icons. It's why I'm a fan of games from Platinum Games or more recently, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, What they wear, say, and how they move all translate to a style, theme, or idea they represent. You can find designs like that here but with more restraint, minimalism is definitely a goal in the aesthetic of Killer is Dead. Maybe that's what's so appealing about it's comparably abrasive visual effects and action.
Slowing down time, color filters made of black, white, and red, sketch lines, fluid animation, cutting the air with blue and purple, explosions of malice smoking, twisting, and fading, I haven't seen a game this stylistically designed since the Jet Set Radio series. Yeah, we've had truly unique visual offerings with El Shaddai and Journey but this is different. It's traditional manga and comic noir come to life and when you see it in motion, there's that little feeling inside you that just wants to reach out and touch it, pretend it's real for one sober, waking moment. It's cel-shading at its most glorious. If games went for style like this over bleeding edge realism, I think the argument that we need stronger tech for prettier games could lose some ground. I will point out that it has a terrible case of screen-tearing but I don't think it's likely for a player to see it even half the time what with everything that goes on on-screen.
The music perfectly fits the themes of business and espionage quite well with it's assortment of classical arrangements and remixes as well as contemporary jazz. It's got a hint of electronica there to fit with the technological aspect as well. I wish I could have the full soundtrack to the game, unfortunately, out of the twenty-track CD it came with, it only has about 3 of the songs I actually like out of the entire game. I wish I could've had some of that jazz... I'm not sure if Akira Yamaoka is responsible for the entire collection of sound and music here but once again, his team is hitting high marks. May Suda51 always be blessed with this man's sound.
I really like the English voice casting too. It sounded weird after starting with the Japanese trailers before the game came out and it still felt a bit odd at the start of the game but then it all clicks. I've heard criticism that the delivery sounds like a high-school play but I see some thought-out reasons for the cast and their direction. Mondo's voice is provided by Patrick Seitz whose sultry timbre gives that secret agent confidence but has the power to push that straight into gutteral desperation. Liam O'Brien voices David who has that air of mischief and temptation about him. O'Brien has this quality I love where he can take a character's delusions and play it off in such a way that they become a fact everyone should feel dumb for not recognizing. I have a lot of fun listening to the conversations Mondo and David have between each other, watching these polar opposites discuss their differences and the gravity of their actions so quaintly and then seeing it escalate into a cut-throat duel. I'd say it's some solid work.
Sometimes one combo's all you need to feel like the baddest ass that ever badded...ed...
This is normally where I'd go into the details of combat and go on and on for pages about every little idiosyncrasy I can muster but not with Killer is Dead, we've all been spared complexity in favor of flash. Really fucking good feeling flash.
Combat is basic; one button for sword attacks, one for guard breaking, one for blocking/dodging, and another for interacting with the environment. All you have to worry about is mashing away on the attack while looking out for other enemies attempting to hit you from behind. You can interrupt your attacks with blocks or, if you have the tiiming right, block at just the right moment for a melee counter to throw them off balance. You can also dodge to the side to have that enemy attack his buddy instead of you or, if timed correctly once again, initiate a dodge burst where Mondo will dash in towards the offender and a prompt will appear on the screen allowing you to slice and dice that bastard up into a million pieces. You can also use Musselback to pummel your target into a dazed submission where they will no longer block and become akin to a sandbag for your attacks or you can use its function as a firearm. And sometimes, when every last wire in the place just has to die, you can activate adrenaline burst, a mode that will automatically kill anyone you target that has their defenses lowered.
The resources you'll need to manage are your health (duh) and your blood supply. Blood allows you to use Musselback's functions, do a dash burst, and access adrenaline burst. As you slay these malice-filled "wires," they'll drop items that will level up your health or blood supply as well as moon crystals which can be used to buy new attacks or Musselback upgrades. Wires drop a modest sum of these supplies on their own but if you can keep the the combo counter going, a prompt will activate when killing a wire after a certain number of hits has been attained that will enable you to choose an execution. There are four executions available with their own ultra-violent animations such as stabbing through the head or slitting the throat but you'll also gain a specific bonus depending on what was chosen like more health or blood gauge upgrades, extra moon crystals, or healing items.
Unfortunately, the camera can be a pain and sometimes the controls can feel unresponsive despite their simplistic nature. The camera always insists on swiveling around the action which does give a certain flair to what's going on but it also serves to take enemies out of your view including Mondo, himself. You won't know if the wire you're attacking is going to counterattack or if someone else in the group is going to step up to stop you which causes some lost combos and frustration. The countering and dodging mechanics are also pretty strict, in a good, challenging way, but at times it feels kind of mushy and unwilling to act in time with my commands. It's not always clear what you can or can't block/dodge as well. In practice, everything should have the property of being dodged and bursted while attacks where the enemy flashes red should be blockable with the chance of being countered. There are certain enemy types later in the game though that just feel unaffected by your means of offense and defense. Blocking enemies will recover their guard promptly after having it broken, some enemy attacks won't have a proper tell before they become active (keep in mind this is a bit more rare), and some things can only be dodged or bursted in really odd angles. I can think of a couple more gripes with the actual control of the game but I don't think it's something you run into a lot of on Normal difficulty and only becomes a hassle on Very Hard. All in all, nothing gets in your way of enjoying the combat and its pleasures.
Outside of combat are the Gigolo Mode missions. While Mondo's off on another mission, a lady will occasionally call him up to lightly whine about how they feel ignored and want to spend some time with him. Should you choose to placate them with a bit of attention, you'll meet them in a relaxing setting of their choosing for a bit of one-sided conversation... and flirtatious ogling. The goal of the mission is to raise the lady's heart meter with a gift which can only be given after topping off Mondo's "guts" meter. From Mondo's first-person perspective, you are tasked with checking out her bust and lower region when she's not looking in order to gain guts. To help you speed up the process are the x-ray vision glasses which allows the player to see the lady's undergarments for a brief period while providing a boost to the guts meter. It also shows you what's on their mind like what kind of gifts they like. If they see you staring at their bodies though, the atmosphere gauge will begin to drop, dramatically so if you happen to have x-ray specs on. If it hits the bottom, you'll be smacked into oblivion and all your time and gifts will be wasted. To get the atmosphere back where it should be, simply look away and give her some time to feel comfy again. After raising Mondo's guts to 100%, you can choose which item to present to her and if you give enough of right stuff, it's then time for romance. The first time you win with these females, you're given a new, optional weapon for Musselback. These missions can be done any number of times but for the first three successful attempts, you'll be granted an extended look into the steamy romance of Mondo and his chosen vixen.
I plan to do a a sort of analysis of the mode myself through video but I have to say, it's really filled with humor and ends up being pretty harmless. If you give the right gift, you can hear Mondo's voice whisper "Magnifico!" in his head which causes me to giggle everytime, and while the woman does plenty of talking, Mondo rarely speaks a word. This mode is not only telling of how ridiculous the allure of a stereotypical spy is but also shows a bit of social commentary towards how men treat those they're attracted to as well as how women want to be treated. The sex scenes aren't that explicit or rewarding either. Shots of the woman's body are typically blurred out and scenes of the action going on usually take focus on the movement of a leg or above the shoulders. If the goal of this was to tantalize and pander to perverts, it didn't do a very good job. However, it does well with its observations and tongue-in-cheek humor.
Here's the mission summary, should you choose to accept it...
The game overall can feel a bit short but the story missions are littered with collectibles in the form of a nurse named Scarlett, another candidate for Gigolo Mode. She warps in and out of existence with a flash of hearts, hiding in hard to reach places and breakable objects. Half the fun of going through the story is finding her since her hiding spots are really varied and she unlocks challenge missions for you to go through. Aside from the story, there are side and challenge missions to play which provide some interesting goals for you complete like having an honorable sword duel with a samurai or using other enemies' attacks to do away with your targets. And for the completionist, every mission is set with its own parameters for a AAA mission rank. If you don't discover them the first time around, you can suss them out on the mission select screen after a mission's completion. Doing everything at my leisure and taking in what I could, my first playthrough was about 10 hours long.
Something that struck me as weird is that "Episode 51" and "Mondo Girl" Betty were the DLC included with new copies of the game but it's clear that they were originally intended to be in the game to begin with. The boss from the DLC is referenced at one point during the story and can cause some momentary confusion in that section. Betty also seemed prominently displayed with the other Mondo girls in promotional art for the game so it seems that she was always meant to be there. But then again, maybe it was decided that the content wasn't necessary for the game as a whole and was going to be cut to begin with which would make it more like a director's cut sort of thing. Their exclusion doesn't take away from the overall experience and should you have the pleasure of being able to go through it, it's a decent bonus mission to spend your time on.
Now's a good time to be a fan of Suda51
Killer is Dead is a stylish return for Suda51 and I think it's much closer to what we've been craving since No More Heroes graced us on the Wii. There's definitely something beneath the surface just waiting to be discovered and putting all the pieces together is as much fun as its presentation and combat. Combined with initial copies of the game being packaged with a soundtrack, artbook, some DLC goodies, as well as instructions on how to make the perfect soft-boiled egg (Mondo's favorite food), I recommend the purchase. If not, it's definitely worth a rental just go through a game offering something so unique. Play it.
Killer is Dead was developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and published by Xseed Games for the PS3 and Xbox360. Played for 25+ hours and completed on every difficulty. Review is based on the PS3 version. You can see my review playthrough here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WykUdasqCRg&list=PLvsF4QY8Dez8EUlAThgOO_xIWPpET3TdI
oh nice work Ashton. is this a game that you played?
ReplyDelete