Recently, I decided to just take the plunge and buy a game brand new off the shelf. No, it isn't Arkham Origins (which we'll get on to in a minute), but instead the latest and greatest horse from SUDA51's venerable stable, Grasshopper Manufacture, Killer Is Dead. I followed all the development news and watched all the trailers that I could until its eventual release, which I then promptly missed due to the small matter of going on choir tour to Sweden. I finally purchased it last week (Friday, I think) and have been spending some quality, early morning hours working through the predictably incomprehensible story. Now, even though I've still got Flower, Sun and Rain somewhere with me, the last SUDA51 game I actually completed was Killer7, to which I will be making many comparisons, and also comparing with Platinum Games' seminal action comedy brawler, Bayonetta.
Killer Is Dead is the timeless tale of an amnesiac executioner, who after waking up with a robotic arm falls on his feet by finding employment with a state-funded assassination firm. The deeper we delve into the plot, the stranger everything becomes, with villains invading dreams, government cloning conspiracies, and the eternal battle between light and dark. Also, the Moon. Yes, the Moon has always been a prominent part of the Grasshopper oeuvre, and this game is certainly no different. In fact, you can't seem to get away from it this time. The gameplay itself is simplistic hack-and-slash, with a projectile secondary weapon, so no real surprises in store here. The levels comprise mostly of fighting through corridors of generic enemies who require their own specific strategies to defeat... but this mostly boils down to dodging, entering
The graphical style of this game is much like Killer7's, cel-shading with three main colour tones, but improved for a HD generation. Looking at Mondo stood in a room with Wires (this game's Heaven Smiles) ambling towards you is possibly (and lamentably) as close to a Killer7 remake (or refresh) we're going to get. As mentioned above, and with most Grasshopper titles, the actual gameplay is a bit... tacked-on. It's just a means to an end, the end being to prove how utterly insane this all is. But there's a bit of a problem as well. It's almost as if this game is saying "Look at me! Look at me! I'm from SUDA51, and I'm CRAZY!", before leaping around the room...and not always with any real justification. Okay, I haven't finished the game yet, but it is sadly less compelling than previous efforts. It's almost too aware at times, especially when there's a pre-boss cut scene that details that there must be a fight as 'there would be complaints from the gamers' if there wasn't. Thankfully, in a flash of much more familiar tones, Mondo is riding an elevator as part of a later mission and having a radio conversation with one of the other characters about ethics. He is asked whether he thinks the game is ethical, to which he replies it isn't his job to worry about that, just to execute the targets given to him. Don't get me wrong, I'm still enjoying the game very much, but it's exchanges like the former that are much more common than the latter, which doesn't really have much more than pure entertainment value, rather than actually making you think. Sure, you're controlling a merciless professional assassin killing numberless faceless grunts before the boss (which, tweaked, is every action platforming game ever), but just because you're funded by the state... Does that make it right? It's certainly not in the "What is a country?" stakes, but it's a shining moment in an otherwise dull scene. There's more than enough commentary been written about the infamous 'Gigolo Missions', which are a really odd addition to the game, as they serve so little purpose. Badly scripted portals for teenage-style tittilation, It's a shame something so directionless was included. The best thing about the whole sequences has to be the banging techno beat that starts once you equip the x-ray glasses.
Speaking of what a country is, let's look at Killer7 for a moment. 2005's insane supernatural future noir psycho-political horror thriller has got to be one of my favourite games ever made. It's like a book rather than a game, with a control scheme pared down to the very bones, simple logic puzzles and set pieces all designed to do one thing and one thing alone: further the plot. Part first-person-shooter, part puzzler and part mind-bender, the stupefyingly simple controls actually help draw you in to the scenario. Rather than having to remember complicated buttons combos, it become almost a reflex to draw your weapon, scan for enemies and then reload. Also, you have infinite ammo. Handy, eh?
It also contains some of the maddest things to ever be included that just seem to work: the pigeon that helps you win a boss battle, a Luchador who headbutts a bullet into submission (that's one thing that has disappointed me about Killer Is Dead, no Lucha Libre references), and of course, the dead man with all the answers from the very start (spoilers! lol), Travis. Serioulsy, I can't tell you how much I love that guy. There is so much that defies expectation that you simply have to accept it in order to move on - the suspension of disbelief. The setting, basically a modern cold war between the United States of American and Japan, is the theatre for conspiracy of the highest order, national identity, orphan trafficking, and of course, an assassin with an identity crisis. The Moon is featured here, but without explanation as a loading screen. It's never explained...like much of the game, in fact. It helps that it isn't an action game (in the conventional sense), that navigating the levels is basically done for you so you can focus on the matter of unraveling what is actually happening behind the scenes (make sure you speak to Travis every time you see him!). Killer7 is much deeper than your usual offering, 2005 or not, and it feels like Killer Is Dead wants this depth so desperately but just... Misses. The soundtrack helps, making every different level and area easily recognisable by sound alone, not to mention the bizarre sound effects when you solve puzzles or collect items.
What I really can't criticise Killer Is Dead for actually, is the audio. The voice acting is well implemented, even if the script oscillates wildly from overly serious to completely inane, and the actual soundtrack is sufficiently interesting and engaging in parts. As I said, the script is sometimes mad-cap, and other times takes itself way too seriously - the bizarre office scenes before and after each mission starring alien Doctors, a musician with no ears and a ghostly artist are just mental. Mondo's strict recitation of the game title at the start and end of the playable mission serve no purpose to remind you THAT THIS IS A GAME OKAY. Mondo's sidekick, Mika, is the comic foil to all this terminal seriousness brought about by our central hero, what with what must be the world's most annoying voice and quasi-school uniform.
Anyway. I want to turn to an action game from a different studio as a kind of...second opinion. Anybody who's seen Bayonetta in action can confirm how utterly ridiculous it is, in terms of setting, action, really dreadful casual sexual banter... Bayonetta is a game of extremes, right down to the button-mashing boss fights. While the fourth wall is far more sacred, its perfectly aware of its existence as a truly ridiculous game, and clutches this to its healthy (but not quite heaving) bosom. Alongside the main platforming sections, there are motorbike driving levels and even a rail shooter section to complement the high-octane action that's the mainstay. Having not only read all about, but also experienced the Gigolo Mission of Killer Is Dead, Bayonetta really knows how to play the the titillation game. Cheesy, sexually suggestive script writing, played for the most groans available, coupled with the scantily clad protagonist (that catsuit is made out of hair, don't forget), it rides a line of acceptability - if you take it too seriously, there's plenty to take issue with, but really, the entire premise is completely ridiculous that this is the level it should be taken on. The concise but effective combo system (dodge, vertical attack, horizontal attack) has enough timed strikes in it to make it better than your usual mash-a-thon (Killer is Dead, I'm actually looking at you), and worth getting used to for the Boss battles (especially Jeanne's). By dodging at the last second, you can enter a slo-mo state known as witch time, which of course aids your combos and avoids damage. Bayonetta straddles a line between embarrassing and enjoyable, but but lives in that space anyway, and triumphs because of it. Not only does it succeed as an action game, but it also succeeds in presenting an innuendo-charged atmosphere, which is where Killer Is Dead falls down.
Hiatus
I finally finished Killer Is Dead earlier. I say finally, but the main campaign isn't very long at all. Assessing it as a pure action game, it falls down compared to Bayonetta and even (or should that be especially?) the Devil May Cry series, the 4th of which I am most familiar with. As a Grasshopper Manufacture game however, it still holds its own at least. The reliance of chess symbolism and the centre stage placement of the Moon feels very heavy handed though, and it's more the memory of these elements being mindbending rather than the game presenting events that use these symbols (like the chess scenes from Killer7) where other things are happening that carry you through instead. As a huge SUDA51 fan, I have enjoyed my first playthrough, and will play more, but I can see why somebody who isn't as great a fan would feel let down by the almost deliberately incomprehensible scenario, the less-than-helpful controls, and quite frankly, the voice of the main character's assistant. Even then, the lack of luchadors is simply disappointing.
In conclusion, I certainly don't regret my purchase... But only just. Having lived with both Killer7 and Flower, Sun and Rain, I'm used to the madness and often inhibiting controls. Maybe though I've been spoiled by the Arkham series, with its seamless combat that makes no demands on the player; 4 button combat has never been better.
At the end of the day, I have enjoyed my journey to the dark side of the moon and back, and maybe, just maybe, the next game from Grasshopper Manufacture can reclaim that sense of wonder and utter madness of previous titles without having to make compromises. Hell, even when you boil it all down, Super Meat Boy was one of the most addictive and rewarding games of the previous generation, the spirit of which was picked up on by Black Knight Sword, which added to the classic platformer recipe with its unique kabuki theatre art setting.
Oh well. Until next time... Tomorrow, it could be you.
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