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| Killer Looks. |
From the crazy mind of developer Suda51 (No More Heroes, Lollipop Chainsaw) comes Killer is Dead, the latest in his bizarre works. Often cited as a spiritual successor to one of his best works, 2005's cult classic, Killer7. Killer Is Dead borrows some elements form it while introducing some of its own.
STORY- The story follows Mondo Zappa, a newly recruited employee of the Brian Execution Firm. His job is simple: execute deadly criminals and creatures from all over the world. He is accompanied by his "assistant" Mika Takekawa and often assisted by co-worker Vivienne Squall and his boss, Brian Roses. Throughout the missions, Mondo will deal with a 200 foot giant, a man wearing weird underwear, and a homicidal train. Yep, that's Suda for you. The story may seem nonsensical at times, but in the end there's a deeper meaning to it when you take a close look at it.
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| While a tad bizarre at time, the story is rather interesting. |
GAMEPLAY- Killer Is Dead is a hack and slash game. You go around killing everything that stands in your way. Mondo's default weapon of killing is a long katana that also absorbs blood from enemies. On his left arm, Mondo is fitted with the "Musselback" which is basically a gun arm that help a lot when dealing with ranged enemies. Blood plays a major role in gameplay. The BLOOD gauge fills as long as Mondo keeps killing enemies. When it's full, he can perform an "Adrenaline Burst" move which kills an enemy in one slice. You'll be also needing BLOOD to shoot using the Musselback. Also, you can upgrade Mondo's skills which allows him to deal even more damage in battle.
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| Mondo's going berserk! |
There are 12 main story missions in total. They pack lots of interesting scenery such as a beautiful Japanese estate, a bizarre candy house, and a big mansion... on the moon. In addition to that, there are challenge levels packed in there as well. If they look easy to you then find Scarlett the nurse. Upon finding her, she'll give you extra hard challenge to take on.
There are a variety of interesting bosses to fight. One of them being a samurai who can summon a tiger, who's a tough one to crack. Another on you'll hate is David. At first he's just a normal boss until you reach a point in the fight in which you'll be mashing the square button to hell since Mondo will need to break his guard.
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| Prepare to battles some colorful bosses. |
Similar to the likes of James Bond, Mondo will be romancing the beauties here and there. Gigolo Mode is where you'll be experiencing it. The goal here is to win the heart of a beauty. To do that Mondo will have to buy her presents so that she'll end up sleeping with him. Run out of presents and/or kill the mood, you fail the mission. I found it pretty funny when Mondo screws up and she ends up smacking him. While not for everyone, it's worth checking out since you can unlock some of Musselback's cool side-weapons.
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| Gigolo time. |
PRESENTATION- Immediately, the first thing you'll notice is the neat cel-shaded visuals. They do a fine job of capturing the mysterious tone of the game. The character models and backgrounds are looking good. However, at times certain areas are so dark you can't see where you're going, which comes as an inconvenience. Another nice aspect is the audio. The voice acting, both in Japanese and English, are both well-made. The voice cast did a good job of performing their roles. The soundtrack is just cool. The many composers who worked on the soundtrack did a great job with delivering some eerie and jazzy tracks.
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| Killer Is Dead looks and sounds good. |
Things can get hectic when you're navigating through the levels, you'll notice the recurring amounts of screen tearing that can cause some annoyances. Also, there were some technical issues were the game suddenly froze for a couple of seconds, not game-breaking but takes you away from the action for a moment.
OVERALL- I had a lot of fun with Killer Is Dead. The interesting story, slick gameplay, and nice presentation were my favorite parts of it. Don't be surprised if you end up finishing the game sooner than you expected, it's pretty short. It took me about eight hours to finish it on Normal difficulty. On my Hard mode run, it took me even less.
Despite some setbacks that detracts a bit from the experience, it's still worth trying. Since Suda teased a sequel if Killer Is Dead does well, I'm interested in seeing what happens to Mondo next.
IMPRESSIVE
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