Okay, so after the last game, I needed to cool down and play a much better game. That last one got a little heated, but thankfully, I can try out something that may calm me down and be a joy to play. So, with that all said and done, let us play through a gafanhoto Manufacture game. gafanhoto made a lot of underrated titles, such as Killer 7, Shadows of the Damned, and the great Wii franchise, No mais Heroes. So, naturally, I really enjoy seeing their name on anything. With that being said, I can’t wait to talk about today’s game, Killer is Dead
~Story~
Killer is Dead was made some time after Killer7 and No mais Heroes. Inspired por James Bond movies, Suda51 wanted to make a mais dark and mature game, unlike the cheerful Lollipop Chainsaw that was released around the same time. When the game came out, critics in America were very critical of it, claiming it to be confusing and not as refined as other Suda51 games. Is it as bad as others make it out to be? Well, considering Kane and Lynch 2 got 8/10s, I don’t really care. So, let us start. Killer is Dead takes place in a world where lunar technology and moon tours are a thing. So, basically, this is like Catherine, in a sense. The main character, Mondo Zappa, a man with a katana and a robotic arm who is an assassin (Because Suda has never had those characters before). Well, he’s referred to as an Executioner, really. He takes jobs por the government from clients to take out Wires, creatures created from a virus on the moon that turns them into different abominations. While he is doing hits, he meets a man named David, who seems to know Mondo and wishes to become king of earth from his mansion on the Moon… I hope that you got all that, because the story spirals into insanity from there. David is just kinda hanging out elsewhere from that point, and the rest is Mondo taking hit jobs from bizarre clients, with his hits involving a yakuza with a tiger inside of him, a giant robot who is the president of a música industry, a gentlemanly vampire, a giant alien monster, an evil train with a human face inside named Thomas, and a hipster woman that haunts people dreams and in between missions, Mondo must seduce women in order to upgrade his arm cannon… Yes, that is what we are going for. Now, critics have said that the story makes no sense… And I can see what they mean. I know Suda51 isn’t one to write stories and they can be pretty crazy, but No mais Heroes, while crazy, had some limitations to it and was actually a really good story. Killer is Dead is just pure chaos. I haven’t played Killer7 so I don’t know how that one’s story is, so I can’t compare it to Killer is Dead, but Killer is Dead is pretty crazy on it’s own. But, does that stop the game from being fun?
~Gameplay~
Despite the insanity of the story, Killer is Dead is a pretty fun hack n slash game. Throughout the game, your goal is to make your way through each crazy level and kill every enemy in your way. You can beat them violently with your fists, slash through them with your sword, and turn your arm into either a rapid fogo gun or a giant drill and kill them ease. It can prove to be quite fun to go through levels and feel like such a badass. The Wires come in different forms, from just the canhão fodder ones to giant, heavy ones and fast, agile ones. You will always need to change up your style for when you fight them, and every time, it is just so much fun. The level design in this game is something I really love. Sure, I could be focusing on the insane fight in front of me, but I just want to look at these levels. You got a mansion (Remember, on the Moon), a crazy dream-like house with disoriented stairs and crazy puzzles, a giant tower that is falling apart, a Japanese oriented garden, and much mais that are just fun to look at. I am really glad that gafanhoto stuck with the cel shading that they used for No mais Heroes. You can have your games look realistic like GTA, but in a few years, those don’t always hold up. Compare cel shaded games from the past to other games around the same time that tried to look realistic. Halo: Combat Evolved looked good back then, but now… ugh. But, other games on the same console, like Jet Set Radio Future, just look amazing, even to this day, just because of the art style. And Killer is Dead certainly isn’t an exception.
Another thing I loved about Killer is Dead are the bosses. I have played through the game at least three times, and can’t think of a boss I didn’t like. No mais Heroes, while I still amor it, did have a few bosses that were… Not good. But Killer is Dead all has great bosses, but very challenging ones. And the bosses can get pretty disturbing at some points. Seeing the first boss, Alice, turn into a giant insect as her body breaks to form this new body was disturbing. Also, Thomas growing a human face wasn’t that easy to watch. But, for a game that can get disturbing, it can have some funny moments, and I can respect it for having a sort of style, while some may find it jarring. Oh, and Mika is there………. Ugh. I don’t like Mika, okay? She’s annoying, and not useful in the slightest. In fact, I think she did mais harm than good. She is the worst part of this game in my eyes. Okay, with that out of the way, everyone else is very enjoyable. Mondo is a very deep character. Not Travis deep, but can be very emotional for a guy with one facial expression. But when he wants to be, he can be the smoothest guy around, as shown through the dating mini-games.
In this game, you need to do mini-games to unlock new weapons, and a lot of people didn’t like it, for reasons I will get to later. You need to do what you can to seduce the girls por staring at them, when they aren’t looking, and give them gifts when necessary. If you are successful, you will get closer to that weapon. You can go for the Brazilian girl, a geisha, a vampire lady, or a nurse, but you need to do challenge modes, not Gigolo missions. Now, this game got some controversy for these missions, deeming them as sexist and offensive material. They even stated that Catherine did a better job at this (A lot of Catherine in this article). But I think that it wasn’t that bad. I can see what they were going for, but hey, this game can have some great women in it. Like Vivienne, and……. Well, Mika sure as hell isn’t there. But aside from Gigolo missions, you can also do other missions, which I found to be very difficult. No joke, I was having an already bad dia and when I kept losing at one side mission, I slammed my controller on the ground and cracked it open. It still works, but now it feels weird to hold it. That was very dumb of me, I will admit. But hey, at least the game has tons of variety going for it, so that’s a plus. And lot’s of replay value, if you want to 100% it.
~Ending~
~SPOILERS AHEAD~
Okay, so aside from most of the insanity, after Mondo kills the dream woman,Dolly, he finds that he does in fact know David, and it turns out that David is actually Mondo’s brother and that he lost his arm because David tried to kill him, and at the beginning of the game, David was the character you play as. Let me explain. In the first mission, you play as a mysterious figure who saves Mika. It was thought to be Mondo, but was actually David, and he saved Mika so he could use her to spy on Mondo, back when he worked for the same organization that Mondo works for. However, for every Wire Mondo kills, he absorbs their energy, called Dark Matter, and slowly becomes mais and mais corrupted. Mondo decides to head to the Moon to kill David. And this is an awesome fight. The first fight with David was actually pretty intense, and showed how challenging he was. But now, he is in a three phase fight. The first is just like last time, but the segundo has Mondo and David fully absorb the Dark Matter and become their Super-Wired selves. After which, they both are dressed in their usual assassin attire and fight on the surface of the Moon. This is an insane fight and I amor it. I’m a real sucker for rival battles. It’s no Travis Vs. Henry or Dante Vs. Virgil, but it’s still good on it’s own terms.Oh, and it’s playing a remix of Beethoven's No.9 Symphony, 4th Movement, and it is amazing If Suda51 knows one thing, it’s how to make final bosses…. Most of the time…. Some of the time……. Two times. After David is killed, but Mondo is infected with the Dark Matter, and instead, becomes the new villain, and rebuilds David’s castle, and… that’s it… I thought I got the bad ending, but no, that is how the game ends. I mean, I’m sure it’s poetic in some way, but I don’t see it. Well, that was… not that great an ending, but at least is wasn’t Kane and Lynch 2. Sorry, I’m still angry over that.
~Legacy~
Killer is Dead is not a game that was respected all that well. It was seen as either being too confusing or was just not that great. It also didn’t help that it got seen as sexist por some people. But, it did manage to come out, which I think is good enough really. Also, por some miracle, when I bought this game online, I ended up getting the Collector’s Edition of the game. It came in a fancy box, and included the game’s soundtrack and an art book for it. Needless to say, I was surprised, because I only paid five dollars for just the game. I wanted to pay mais for a game like this, and with all that stuff inside of it. But, hey, I’m not complaining.
~Verdict~
Critics did not care much for Killer is Dead, which is a damn crime, if you ask me. They’ll call Kane and Lynch 2 a great game, but will ignore Killer is Dead just because of a few insane plots and gameplay that, yes, isn’t as good as other Suda games, but still good on its own. I think that people had too much expectations of this game, because of No mais Heroes, but I think, if you ignore that fact, Killer is Dead is a great game. The story can be confusing, yes, and the Gigolo Missions can get exhausting after a while, sure, and Mika is a piece of flaming gutter trash, no doubt about that, but I still enjoyed this game. If this is Suda’s lowest game, then I’d say his track record is pretty good. So, with that being said, Killer is Dead gets my Excavation Worthy, just short of getting a Hidden Gem. Goodbye.
~Story~
Killer is Dead was made some time after Killer7 and No mais Heroes. Inspired por James Bond movies, Suda51 wanted to make a mais dark and mature game, unlike the cheerful Lollipop Chainsaw that was released around the same time. When the game came out, critics in America were very critical of it, claiming it to be confusing and not as refined as other Suda51 games. Is it as bad as others make it out to be? Well, considering Kane and Lynch 2 got 8/10s, I don’t really care. So, let us start. Killer is Dead takes place in a world where lunar technology and moon tours are a thing. So, basically, this is like Catherine, in a sense. The main character, Mondo Zappa, a man with a katana and a robotic arm who is an assassin (Because Suda has never had those characters before). Well, he’s referred to as an Executioner, really. He takes jobs por the government from clients to take out Wires, creatures created from a virus on the moon that turns them into different abominations. While he is doing hits, he meets a man named David, who seems to know Mondo and wishes to become king of earth from his mansion on the Moon… I hope that you got all that, because the story spirals into insanity from there. David is just kinda hanging out elsewhere from that point, and the rest is Mondo taking hit jobs from bizarre clients, with his hits involving a yakuza with a tiger inside of him, a giant robot who is the president of a música industry, a gentlemanly vampire, a giant alien monster, an evil train with a human face inside named Thomas, and a hipster woman that haunts people dreams and in between missions, Mondo must seduce women in order to upgrade his arm cannon… Yes, that is what we are going for. Now, critics have said that the story makes no sense… And I can see what they mean. I know Suda51 isn’t one to write stories and they can be pretty crazy, but No mais Heroes, while crazy, had some limitations to it and was actually a really good story. Killer is Dead is just pure chaos. I haven’t played Killer7 so I don’t know how that one’s story is, so I can’t compare it to Killer is Dead, but Killer is Dead is pretty crazy on it’s own. But, does that stop the game from being fun?
~Gameplay~
Despite the insanity of the story, Killer is Dead is a pretty fun hack n slash game. Throughout the game, your goal is to make your way through each crazy level and kill every enemy in your way. You can beat them violently with your fists, slash through them with your sword, and turn your arm into either a rapid fogo gun or a giant drill and kill them ease. It can prove to be quite fun to go through levels and feel like such a badass. The Wires come in different forms, from just the canhão fodder ones to giant, heavy ones and fast, agile ones. You will always need to change up your style for when you fight them, and every time, it is just so much fun. The level design in this game is something I really love. Sure, I could be focusing on the insane fight in front of me, but I just want to look at these levels. You got a mansion (Remember, on the Moon), a crazy dream-like house with disoriented stairs and crazy puzzles, a giant tower that is falling apart, a Japanese oriented garden, and much mais that are just fun to look at. I am really glad that gafanhoto stuck with the cel shading that they used for No mais Heroes. You can have your games look realistic like GTA, but in a few years, those don’t always hold up. Compare cel shaded games from the past to other games around the same time that tried to look realistic. Halo: Combat Evolved looked good back then, but now… ugh. But, other games on the same console, like Jet Set Radio Future, just look amazing, even to this day, just because of the art style. And Killer is Dead certainly isn’t an exception.
Another thing I loved about Killer is Dead are the bosses. I have played through the game at least three times, and can’t think of a boss I didn’t like. No mais Heroes, while I still amor it, did have a few bosses that were… Not good. But Killer is Dead all has great bosses, but very challenging ones. And the bosses can get pretty disturbing at some points. Seeing the first boss, Alice, turn into a giant insect as her body breaks to form this new body was disturbing. Also, Thomas growing a human face wasn’t that easy to watch. But, for a game that can get disturbing, it can have some funny moments, and I can respect it for having a sort of style, while some may find it jarring. Oh, and Mika is there………. Ugh. I don’t like Mika, okay? She’s annoying, and not useful in the slightest. In fact, I think she did mais harm than good. She is the worst part of this game in my eyes. Okay, with that out of the way, everyone else is very enjoyable. Mondo is a very deep character. Not Travis deep, but can be very emotional for a guy with one facial expression. But when he wants to be, he can be the smoothest guy around, as shown through the dating mini-games.
In this game, you need to do mini-games to unlock new weapons, and a lot of people didn’t like it, for reasons I will get to later. You need to do what you can to seduce the girls por staring at them, when they aren’t looking, and give them gifts when necessary. If you are successful, you will get closer to that weapon. You can go for the Brazilian girl, a geisha, a vampire lady, or a nurse, but you need to do challenge modes, not Gigolo missions. Now, this game got some controversy for these missions, deeming them as sexist and offensive material. They even stated that Catherine did a better job at this (A lot of Catherine in this article). But I think that it wasn’t that bad. I can see what they were going for, but hey, this game can have some great women in it. Like Vivienne, and……. Well, Mika sure as hell isn’t there. But aside from Gigolo missions, you can also do other missions, which I found to be very difficult. No joke, I was having an already bad dia and when I kept losing at one side mission, I slammed my controller on the ground and cracked it open. It still works, but now it feels weird to hold it. That was very dumb of me, I will admit. But hey, at least the game has tons of variety going for it, so that’s a plus. And lot’s of replay value, if you want to 100% it.
~Ending~
~SPOILERS AHEAD~
Okay, so aside from most of the insanity, after Mondo kills the dream woman,Dolly, he finds that he does in fact know David, and it turns out that David is actually Mondo’s brother and that he lost his arm because David tried to kill him, and at the beginning of the game, David was the character you play as. Let me explain. In the first mission, you play as a mysterious figure who saves Mika. It was thought to be Mondo, but was actually David, and he saved Mika so he could use her to spy on Mondo, back when he worked for the same organization that Mondo works for. However, for every Wire Mondo kills, he absorbs their energy, called Dark Matter, and slowly becomes mais and mais corrupted. Mondo decides to head to the Moon to kill David. And this is an awesome fight. The first fight with David was actually pretty intense, and showed how challenging he was. But now, he is in a three phase fight. The first is just like last time, but the segundo has Mondo and David fully absorb the Dark Matter and become their Super-Wired selves. After which, they both are dressed in their usual assassin attire and fight on the surface of the Moon. This is an insane fight and I amor it. I’m a real sucker for rival battles. It’s no Travis Vs. Henry or Dante Vs. Virgil, but it’s still good on it’s own terms.Oh, and it’s playing a remix of Beethoven's No.9 Symphony, 4th Movement, and it is amazing If Suda51 knows one thing, it’s how to make final bosses…. Most of the time…. Some of the time……. Two times. After David is killed, but Mondo is infected with the Dark Matter, and instead, becomes the new villain, and rebuilds David’s castle, and… that’s it… I thought I got the bad ending, but no, that is how the game ends. I mean, I’m sure it’s poetic in some way, but I don’t see it. Well, that was… not that great an ending, but at least is wasn’t Kane and Lynch 2. Sorry, I’m still angry over that.
~Legacy~
Killer is Dead is not a game that was respected all that well. It was seen as either being too confusing or was just not that great. It also didn’t help that it got seen as sexist por some people. But, it did manage to come out, which I think is good enough really. Also, por some miracle, when I bought this game online, I ended up getting the Collector’s Edition of the game. It came in a fancy box, and included the game’s soundtrack and an art book for it. Needless to say, I was surprised, because I only paid five dollars for just the game. I wanted to pay mais for a game like this, and with all that stuff inside of it. But, hey, I’m not complaining.
~Verdict~
Critics did not care much for Killer is Dead, which is a damn crime, if you ask me. They’ll call Kane and Lynch 2 a great game, but will ignore Killer is Dead just because of a few insane plots and gameplay that, yes, isn’t as good as other Suda games, but still good on its own. I think that people had too much expectations of this game, because of No mais Heroes, but I think, if you ignore that fact, Killer is Dead is a great game. The story can be confusing, yes, and the Gigolo Missions can get exhausting after a while, sure, and Mika is a piece of flaming gutter trash, no doubt about that, but I still enjoyed this game. If this is Suda’s lowest game, then I’d say his track record is pretty good. So, with that being said, Killer is Dead gets my Excavation Worthy, just short of getting a Hidden Gem. Goodbye.