"K7 scores a 7!"

10$. I found this game over at gamestop for just that much. Needless to say, I had to pick it up. Not just because it was cheap, but because of all the dispute of some people liking it and some people not so much. Also, from what I heard from word of mouth is that the story was so deep and great that it begged to be played. So after taking killer7 home with me and playing through a few days to complete it, I was left with the strangest feeling, and that was;

"I have honestly never played a game that hit so powerful with me. The story alone was so large, so much detail, and the gameplay was dead on." Enough of my ramblings though, you guys want a review, not a trip down memory lane.

Graphics 8/10

Wow. It's hard to describe this part. They were going for a comic book feel, and they nailed it dead on. It's cel shaded heavily, but it also helps distinguish everything better. It's confusing, because you think that graphics are just graphics, but for some reason, imagining the graphics modernized is impossible. Anyways, the graphics are just perfect for this title. So why the 8? It's quite simple. Though the graphics are just perfect for the game, the heavy celshading sometimes makes the characters feel blocky and when light is heavily placed upon them, it hurts the eyes a tad. But other than that, just perfect.

Control 7/10

This is hard to rate too, because the game is meant to be a rail shooter, so controling outside the standard route is impossible. Also, the controls feel funky, but they grow on you as you progress through the first level. The controls are very simple though, as like I stated before, you only go on the course that you run on, nothing more. Traveling along this "rail" is simple, you only need two buttons which are, A to move forward, or B to move backwards. You progress to different areas via "routes" In order to go through the different routes you simply just press your control stick in the direction of the route, and your there.

Using your weapon, you press and hold R to bring it up, L to scan for the enemy, and A to fire. Thats just the basics, and as you can tell, its not that bad, but adapting to the rail shooting mechanics may take a little getting used to, but it's really not that bad.

Sound 9/10

Spectacular. From the weapon fire, to the creepy laughter, everything settles well with the mood. Background music ain't too memorable, but it fits the mood of every area perfectly. Nothing real bad about this department.

Gameplay 7/10

Now for the real deal. A basic mission goes as follows; explore the area, find object, solve puzzles, bring it back to required place, set it, continue on, collect soul shards, go to gate, fight miniboss, fight boss. Thats basically it, and because it's a rail shooter, you can't explore outside your given area. So if your into exploration, stray far away from this game. This makes it easy not to get lost however. This game is littered with puzzles all over the place, but there usually very simple, and if you still have problems, a guy will give you very good hints on completing that certain puzzle.

You control 7 people, each with their own special skill for solving missions and battling. Weapons are varied well, and the characters are well done and distinguished perfectly, so you never feel like it's "just some other guy." Enemies as well are very distinguished due to all the races of them. There are over 10+ unique creature races, each different than the other in some way. This forces you to actually strategize and utilize each and every characters strengths. Character leveling is made possible by the blood the creatures give off when you kill them.

Getting large amounts of blood is simple; You must shoot the enemy in it's vital spot (marked by glowing particles on said part) With this blood, you find the nearest TV and get the blood doctor to give you serum. From there, its as simple as adding the amount needed onto attribute. You can choose to balance them all, or just beef up your favorite person. Your choice.

There are some downsides though. The game seems preety easy as it is, but it becomes freakishly easy when you realize that getting game over is actually hard. By this I mean, your character can die, but he's not really dead. When said characters kicks the bucket, you gain control of the "cleaner" persona. With him, you can go to where the character fell and bring him back to life. This small fact makes the challenge factor plummit a great deal, as the cleaner is preety strong, and dying with him is tough unless you try.

Replayability 6/10

Theres a welcome supply of unlockables once you beat the game, but really other than that, not that much. The main way your going to milk this game for replayability though is when you play to figure out the story. It takes more than one playthrough to to figure it all out, and even when you think you have it, your still confused on things. It may grow old to some, but the story is the definate replay factor of this title.

Buy or Rent? I think you should buy it. I mean, I picked it up for 10$, brand new and all. A playthrough nets you 10+ hours, but throwing in everything else totals to about 40+ hours, so theres a great deal of stuff to do. However, rent it first if your into more stuff in your game.

Graphics 8/10

Control 7/10

Sound 9/10

Gameplay 7/10

Replayability 6/10

37/50= 7

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/01/06