Ah Suda51, if I ever get to meet him in person, the first question I’ll ask is, “what do you smoke, and just how much when you come up with these brilliantly awesome but totally wacky ideas?”, and I am afraid it would be something the human race has not discovered yet.
Originally available only on the consoles, Suda51’s Killer Is Dead made its way onto PC via steam, letting computer gamers finally experience the craziness of Suda51. In it, you play as Mondo, a tough as nails assassin who gets sent against some of the worst criminals in this world. He is usually accompanied by his uber-hyper assistant Mika who helps Mondo along the way.
The game is bloody, like Suda51 bloody.
The gameplay is fairly simple, it is a hack and slash game, and follows most of the genres convention. So basically, you’ve got your attack, block, dodge and special attack mode. However, the way they are implemented marks the key difference here. Most of the special actions you perform, or the weapons you use will rely on the Blood Gauge. The more you have, the more powerful attacks you’ll get to use. You can either fill this gauge by killing your enemies and absorbing their blood, or performing blood focused finishers on them.
The finishers are perhaps some of the coolest features in this game. If you manage to perfectly destroy an enemy using combos, you’ll get to finish them off. There are 4 ways you can do that, and each way provides boost to one of your stats. For example if you were to use a blood finisher you’d get blood for your blood gauge, and instead if you were to use a moon finisher, you’ll get more moon points, which you can use to upgrade your character. These kinds of finishers are not only cool to look at, but can provide gameplay boosts as well, meaning you’ll want to be more strategic with them. One of the key weapons Mondo has is the gun that replaces one of his hands, and you can use it to pick enemies off from afar. My favourite ability though, is the adrenaline boost, which if used in the correct time frame will allow you to slash an enemy furiously as time slows down around you. A classic. Do note though, that doing so requires blood so it’s a good idea to keep it moderately filled every now and then, oh and properly use your block ability.
The block mechanic is also really simple and can be used to either counter or dodge enemy attacks. One aspect I like about the counter are the animations, and you’ve got a variety depending on where your enemy attacks from. Basically put, the way Mondo will counter a frontal attack will be different than how he counters one from behind. It is fluid as it is stylish. Also did I mention the game is bloody? Well, the game is bloody, like Suda51 bloody.
The good thing about all the features I have mentioned above are that they’re seamless and absolutely fun… if you use a controller that is. I will go into detail on why the PC version is extremely disappointing later on but for now lets talk about the game a little more, specifically the graphics.
Overall the art style is pretty unique in this game, supporting a style you would find in classic animations, adding to the charm. However the graphics on the other hand look really messy every once in a while and the shadows really dark. It isn’t that the definition isn’t there, and you can’t make out some scenes, but instead they’re very bland and look like they’re from a game’s early alpha where things still need to be textured and properly rendered.
Length wise, other than the main missions, you’ll have some side quests to complete, which include the challenges and the infamous Gigolo mode. The challenge modes are given through a nurse that you find throughout the game levels, Scarlet. She is hidden in each level, and if you manage to find her will give you a blood boost, and unlock more side missions. In the infamous Gigolo mode, well basically you have these levels where you’ve got to successfully impress a lady. There are steps that you need to take in order to properly win her affection, and a gauge to fill. To fill it, while the women are not looking at you, you have to stare at their private parts which once filled will allow you to shower the female with a gift that needs to be bought separately. Now the girl won’t always like your gift, which can result in failure, so be careful. Also, if they catch you staring too much, prepare to get the little pervert slapped out of you.
Now, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding this area, talking about how the game objectifies women… but here is a thing, oh wait two things. Firstly, you can totally ignore these side missions as they do not heavily impact the main game, and secondly this game is inspired by classic anime in the sense of structure and symbolism, where there used to be a lot of this going on (See Cowboy Bebop), so you can see where the inspiration comes from. I am not saying if this is right or wrong, but if you feel like the game is offensive towards you, then you are probably not its intended demographic and can safely skip it.
Coming to the plot, what I really liked was the games anime-ish storyline that seems to draw some inspiration from classic anime such as Cowboy Bebop with the bounty hunting and stuff. At some points it does seem like it tries too hard to be funny, but the rest of the time it is genuinely amusing, and you’ll be hard-pressed to skip some cutscenes. Unlike the graphics, the character design is top-notch, giving them a very stereo-type filled but classic anime vibe. Lastly, the dialogues are very 50/50 in my opinion, where at times, they are really cool, but the others, very corny. Overall though, the story is pretty entertaining and cowboy bebop fans will love it.
The advanced settings for the graphics are severely limited
Finally, lets talk about the PC specific features and problems. Honestly, the game is for the most parts, a mess on the PC. Even though it runs pretty well, it does not have many standard PC options. The advanced settings for the graphics are severely limited, there are no changeable key bindings including mouse sensitivity settings, and worst of all the game is locked at 30 fps for some reason.
What is more is that, it is absolutely frustrating that you can’t properly make use of mouse and keyboard to play, as there seem to be hints of mouse acceleration enabled that really slows down your camera movement. Also, they did not rework the menus properly for the mouse, and you have to use your keys to select your items. That wouldn’t be so bad if the bindings weren’t so illogical. Basically to select something, you cannot even use enter and instead have to left click. Of course, if it was paired with WASD for interface movement, it wouldn’t be a problem, but nope! You can’t even use WASD at times and have to resort to the arrow keys, and it is not ergonomic using a mouse with the right hand and arrow keys with the left. I don’t think they have thought this through or properly worked on it. Instead, if they really didn’t want to recode the menus, they could’ve utilized the mouse wheels with the left click for movement, making it easier for both. At least you don’t have a locked screen resolution, because no one can mess that up for the PC *cough* Deadly Premonition *cough*.
Furthermore, there are some glitches around that mess with both the graphics and gameplay. One of them seems to be the call one, where the sequence never ends… hindering your progress. Also, I am not sure if it is just me, but the loading times can be a bit long and the keyboard and mouse buttons a bit unresponsive at times.
To sum it up, the base game is still interesting and as fun as ever, albeit with a few flaws but the PC port is nowhere up to the standards, and you’ll have to resort to using an Xbox controller. Now it isn’t as bad as the port for Deadly Premonition, and you can actually play it without needing custom fixes, but it isn’t acceptable as well. For £19 the gameplay experience is right, but the PC experience isn’t, I’d say wait for some glitches to be fixed and controls to be refined. I hope developers will pay extra care to these features whenever an old game is ported to PC.
Still though, if you have a controller, and want to play this game, then go ahead, as the price is pretty good and throughout the game you’ll get to go through some interesting scenarios, filled with creative characters, all held by a satisfying hack and slash back bone.