My current editor, G. Christopher Williams, has started alternating the monthly Multimedia column with me at Popmatters. He decided to start with a bang and I thought I'd highlight it for anyone who frequents this site.
Of all the games that deserve credit for being ahead of their time, Killer 7 gives new meaning to the term. It's rife with ambiguous plotting, totally alien controls, ultra-violence, and social commentary. As a video game, it's very taxing to analyze because you have to be on your A-game with multiple fields at once. Suda 51 is making an allusion to global politics while you're shooting an invisible suicide bomber while a little girl chants weird taunts at you. The controlled camera means he has control of your eyes more than usual, the shifting camera means you're juggling multiple identities at once.
It all just starts getting to be a bit of James Joyce and Ulysses in the end. It's not that there isn't a coherent narrative or game going on, it's that the presentation is wild, experimental, and impossible to catch in one sitting. I've played the game all the way through before, but after getting a third into it I stopped taking notes and decided to just go for the ride.
Williams downright nails it.
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3 comments:
I've honestly not played K7 yet and I've seen no reason to. Not because I hate Suda or anything, I just think his titles are games I'm meant to appreciate wildly out of context for myself. No More Heroes falls into this category as well.
~sLs~
I've honestly not played K7 yet because Gamefly doesn't ever have it in stock and neither does Gamestop. I guess I could ebay it.
You can pick it up for like 5 bucks off Amazon used. It was originally a Gamecube title and works like a charm on the Wii. I've heard the PS2 version works fine though.
I think sLs makes a good point about it though, you might just enjoy watching videos off it on Youtube. It's a very strange, confusing game.
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