Parents' Guide to killer7

This strange, violent action game is so repetitive, disturbing, and clunky that only fans of the odd or the disturbing will love this game. killer7 is one of those games that gained its fame by being so weirdly bad that it has to be seen to be believed, sort of like a cheesy B-movie. From the very start, the game feels like it's some sort of hallucinogenic fever dream you can't wake up from … and it only gets stranger from there. There's the team of hitmen that are actually manifestations of a wheelchair-bound elderly man who just so happens to be a cosmic deity. You'll get advice from an apparent ghost dressed in a full body S&M latex suit. The more you try to make any bit of sense out of the plot, the more confused and frustrated you're likely to get.

Things don't get much better when it comes to killer7's gameplay. For starters, while the game has a distinct art style, the dark and brooding presentation lacks any real detail. Even this remastered version fails to add anything other than a somewhat smoother framerate. Navigating through each stage is a mess, as you clumsily run from intersection to intersection, with an occasional puzzle to break up the monotony. Once the action shifts to the first-person, "on-rails" shooter sections, the game gets a bit more fun. These play out a bit like a carnival target shooting game, though with creepier targets and more blood spray than you'll see at the county fair. Still, even this gets repetitive quickly, and before long, you just feel like you're going through the motions. With such a convoluted, difficult to follow, and occasionally disturbing plot as the only real payoff, there's not a lot of motivation to keep you going once that sense of repetition sets in..