The name Killer 7 first surfaced back in the early days of the GameCube when Capcom famously pledged its ‘Big Five’ games. The announcement was instrumental in promoting belief in the new Nintendo console throughout the industry. The GameCube’s architecture differs fundamentally from that of the Xbox and PS2, and many feared that misgivings amongst third parties about the machine’s power would send the newborn console following in the Dreamcast’s tragic footsteps. Capcom later redressed the ... more >>

The name Killer 7 first surfaced back in the early days of the GameCube when Capcom famously pledged its ‘Big Five’ games. The announcement was instrumental in promoting belief in the new Nintendo console throughout the industry. The GameCube’s architecture differs fundamentally from that of the Xbox and PS2, and many feared that misgivings amongst third parties about the machine’s power would send the newborn console following in the Dreamcast’s tragic footsteps. Capcom later redressed the widespread assumption that these five games would be ‘Cube exclusives, asserting that it had never explicitly said any such thing, but by this time many publishers had already followed suit and the small purple box’s future started to look a lot rosier.

The Viewtiful Joe games, which eventually did indeed find their way onto PS2, are the most celebrated legacy of this series of events. Now perhaps the most eagerly awaited Capcom title finally finds its way onto Gamecube and PS2 towards the end of both systems’ lifespans.

The game follows the adventures of Harman Smith, a schizophrenic hitman with seven split personalities. An evil criminal mastermind, Kun Lan, has unleashed the dreadful ‘Heaven’s Smile’ on an unsuspecting world. The violent and indiscriminately murderous beings come in several different forms and are characterised by their grisly grinning, rictus-like smiles. Harman acts as the go between for the so-called ‘Smith Alliance’, and the seven alternate personae within him each have differing skills and abilities, which the player will need to make full use of if they are to put a stop to Kun Lan. Garcian Smith is the psychic leader of the alliance, whose abilities include invisibility. Brute force is provided courtesy of Dan and Coyote, whilst Mask De Smith wears a mask and carries a grenade launcher. A girl, Kaede, rather terrifyingly spurts poisonous sprays of blood at her foes, Kevin’s speciality is the knife and Con Smith makes a superb scout, with sharp eyes and ears providing reconnaisance.

The game is directed by Gouichi Suda, of Grasshopper Manufacture fame, and has an extremely stylish and seductive look. Using cel-shaded graphics and environments, the game seems inspired in equal part by the traditions of film noire, western graphic novels, demonic anime and myriad horror films that feature some dark, alien monster. A shoot-em-up, the game is that increasingly rare thing: an all new, innovative IP with masterpiece aspirations, and as such is one of the more interesting gameplay experiences on offer in summer 2005. << less