There are special games, and then there are those rare gems like Killer7. The game is an oddity in every aspect. From its inception, through a strange development cycle, and even into its shaky release, nothing about it did things by the rules and you can tell its creators loved every aspect of it. As the last of the ill-fated Capcom Five series (remember, P.N. 03?),
Killer7 was released in the summer of 2005 on GameCube and PlaySation2. Because a good portion of the people that bought this game on its initial release, you can find this pretty cheap. The not-as-pretty PS2 version goes for significantly less than its anti-aliased GameCube counterpart. It might sound ridiculous but the GameCube version isn't the superior because of cleaner visuals, but because it's one of the few multiplatform releases from the era that controls better with the little purple box's controller. But this is jumping ahead, let's talk story and premise first.

What starts as your typical action game fodder quickly becomes a layered tale that tackles broader issues, such as the consequences of murder and the importance of perspective, that leads up to a timeless battle between good and evil that can be interpreted in many ways. Killer7 begins simply enough with you in the role of Harman Smith, an assassin for hire that has been called to take on a cult of terrorists that call themselves "Heaven Smiles." These whacked crazies have been made into self detonating explosives by a shadowy figure that you've been assigned to take out. But unlike most videogame assassins, Smith "suffers" from having multiple personalities (seven to be precise, each with the surname Smith) and uses their distinct personalities and abilities to make his/her way through missions. From there, the story spirals into an insanity-fueled dive into narrative territory that might scare David Lynch.

Action takes many forms in this game as you'll be navigating through a multi-pathed network of rails and shooting at enemies from a first person perspective. Heightening the sense of displacement and disorientation, the game's on-rail controls rely on having the player moving with the A and B buttons (X and O for you PS2 people) while trying to "hear" your enemies. For reasons not fully explained at the start of the game, the Heaven Smiles are invisible to the naked eye and cannot be seen in the third person perspective. As you move from room to room, you'll need to keep an ear out for their ghoulish laughter (not unlike the equally bizarre Enemy Zero) then quickly flip over to the first person perspective to see them. Each Smile bleeds large amounts of blood as you fire at them and feature an instant kill weak spot. The more you're able to get these guys to bleed, the more blood you can collect for upgrades, character unlocks, and super moves. Along the way you'll find a few puzzles here and then that are straight out of PS1-era Resident Evil, but with the tendency to include references or displays of graphic violence and sexual content. For a game that looks and sounds so different, the gameplay itself is fairly easy to understand once you "get" the language the game uses.

Speaking of different, two of the most incredible and noteworthy aspects of this title is easily its masterfully unique use of visuals and sound. Killer7 is perhaps the most cel-shaded game ever created. Stripping away any reliance on photo-based textures, the game's comic book appearance frequently displays nothing but smooth gradients or bold colored shapes to describe a setting through mood before more tangible qualities. This effectively creates an appropriate atmosphere in a way that I never seen any other game before or since. The soundtrack and audio work heard throughout the game is top notch and deserves the cult status is have acquired since the game's release. Part chill-out lounge, part psychotic nightmare, fans of electronic music in general would probably dig listening to it even outside of the game's context.

Killer7 is clearly not a game for everyone. Its controls may for initially obtuse and the story requires multiple playthroughs to grasp even the faintest idea of what's really happening beneath the story's surface, but it is uncompromising in a way that no other game is. It is dedicated to its methods and interactions where other games would start spoon feeding you content through a tutorial. I think it is because of how many aspects of this game can be loved or hated individually that Killer7 can be so disliked and loved by so many. Each piece of its inner workings are open to interpretation, from the smallest nuances to the largest parts, are waiting to purposely challenge the player into getting a reaction from them, either positive or negative.