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Killer7 Review - PS2

You are Harman Smith, a schizophrenic person that doesn't only have one split personality, but seven (hence the name of the game). Each personality has unique abilities that basically transform Harman into six other different types of deadly assassins, and in killer7 you'll have to utilize all of them if you want a hope in hell of beating the game. It sounds good, it sounds cool, it even sounds innovative unlike a lot of other games on the market today, but does Killer7 have what it takes to push new boundaries and enter into new realms of gameplay never before explored? There's only one way to find out, and that's by reading this review.

Gameplay

Killer7 is a game like no other. We thought we had seen everything this generation of gaming had to offer, and then along comes an action adventure game where you're seven incredibly diverse characters. The gameplay however doesn't really live up to what we were expecting, as the quality of progressing through the game often feels a bit slow and frustrating. Every 10 or so meters, the game stops and you have to choose which direction you want to go by a little part of the screen which opens up in the direction that way is. Often there are 3-4 different ways to go and one can get confused with the angles that the camera often portrays. Sometimes there are two different ways to go which are really close in respect to the angles, and they're huddled up against each other often making the text overlap and hard to read. We wonder why exactly Capcom chose this strange way to move around the game, as it really is something different and not particularly enjoyable.

There are two different levels of difficulty, normal and hard. Normal mode allows you to have access to a little buddy who is hanging from almost everywhere throughout the game named Iwazaru. He'll talk to you through the subtitles and tell you that we're all in trouble, etc, like a paranoid strange person does in real life, but he does help you occasionally. Unfortunately though, he is indeed everywhere and whenever you walk past him you have to stop once again to choose which direction you want to go, even if you've already spoken to him.

Unfortunately the game progresses only by using the forward key. You're stuck on a path, and although you can change directions every now and then, the game doesn't at all let you explore all the nick and crannies. If you like a freedom game, Killer7 is definitely not for you. You either push forward, or you push backwards which makes the character turn around, allowing you to push forward the other way. Throughout the game, there are a lot of rooms called 'Harman's Room' which you can use to revive and upgrade personalities via a television. (continued next page)