Killer is Dead

Killer is Dead
Studio	Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher	Kadokawa Games Xseed Games Deep Silver
Senior Developer	Goichi Suda
Erstveröffent- lichung	August 1, 2013 August 27, 2013 August 30, 2013
platform	PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 , Windows
genre	Action game , hack and slay
Game mode	Single player
medium	1 Blu-ray Disc , DVD-ROM
language	Japanese / English with German texts and subtitles
Age rating	USK PEGI

Killer Is Dead is an action game developed by Grasshopper Manufacture under the direction of video game designer Gōichi Suda ("Suda51") and released in August 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 . On May 23, 2014, a version for Windows was released under the title Killer Is Dead: Nightmare Edition , which includes an additional level of difficulty.

The player controls the main character Mondo Zappa, a contract killer and womanizer , by a located somewhere in the near future science fiction scenario. The game was largely positively received by the critics, although the individual reviews were very different. While the unusual graphic style and the catchy combat controls were particularly praised, many critics described the plot as confused and incomprehensible. A special game element, a kind of flirtation simulation, which leads to a one-night stand after successful implementation , has been judged to be sexist several times .

action

scenario

Killer Is Dead is set in a near future, in which, for example, space travel to the moon or bionic body parts are part of everyday life. The 35-year-old hit man Mondo Zappa lives on a houseboat with a young girl named Mika Takekawa, whom he has taken in. When he wakes up one morning with a bionic left arm and no memory of his past, he decides to take a job as an enforcer at an agency that works for both the government and private individuals. There he receives killing orders from his boss, the cyborg Bryan Roses, which he carries out together with Mika as his personal assistant and supported by employees of the agency.

history

During an assignment in which Mondo is supposed to execute a woman who has turned into a monster, he finds out that she was on the moon shortly before and that a certain David is said to be behind the transformation. Another execution order from a client named Moon River, who grew up on the moon but was driven from there by David, also fits this. Mondo tracks down David in a large castle on the "dark side" of the moon and can defeat him in a fight, but cannot complete his mission. Back on earth, he offers Moon River to live on his houseboat in the meantime.

Further orders to Bryan's agency also repeatedly lead to a connection with the moon and with David, who tries from there to influence the earth with a dark force. In addition, a mysterious masked woman, "Dolly", appears in Mondo's dreams and tries to manipulate his missing childhood memories. Still, Mondo finds out that David is his own brother. Dolly also influences Mika, which almost succeeds in getting Mika to kill Bryan. Mondo can only with difficulty prevent the dark force from pulling him under its spell via his bionic arm during further execution orders.

Mondo visits his brother one more time in his castle. He rejects an offer from David that Mondo could become ruler of the moon while David himself takes over the earth; instead he defeats and kills his brother. Mondo is now completely overwhelmed by the dark power and he takes on David's role as the evil ruler of the moon. Moon River and Mika, in tears, understand what happened when they see the blood-red moon from the houseboat. Eventually, Moon River turns to Bryan's agency to have Mondo executed.

Gameplay

The game is divided into main missions, which tell the story, and optional side missions. In the main missions, which are gradually unlocked and can then be selected from a main menu, the player controls the Mondo character from a third-person perspective . Mondo's main weapon, with which the computer opponents are fought with combobased attacks, is a katana . In addition, he can use his bionic left arm as a firearm in long-range combat, later with optional additional modifications, for example as a drill or as an ice cannon, with which opponents can be slowed down. When using the arm, however, it consumes " blood ", which must be replenished by the katana in close combat.

Mondo can block counterattacks or avoid them with quick evasive movements, another button breaks the opponent's cover. Defeated enemies leave behind objects that gradually increase Mondo's maximum life energy and the amount of blood in the arm, as well as so-called moon crystals, which serve as a kind of in-game currency with which improvements such as new attacks or healing options can be bought. Each main mission ends with a boss opponent who generally has to be defeated in a multi-phase battle. After each mission, a statistics screen in the form of a "pay slip" is displayed and the player's performance is assessed.

In addition to the usual side missions, such as defeating certain groups of opponents for a while, so-called gigolo missions are a kind of flirtation simulation from the first person's perspective, for example in a bar. Mondo has to keep eye contact with a woman as long as she is looking at him but look at the breasts or in the crotch when she looks away, which fills a "courage bar". When this is fully charged, Mondo can give the woman a gift such as flowers, perfume or jewelry and thus fill another bar. If this is full, there is a one-night stand, for which the woman at Mondo thanks Mondo with an improvement for his bionic arm.

reception

Killer Is Dead was rated very differently in the trade press. At Metacritic , it achieved 64 out of 100 points in 39 evaluated reviews, with the individual reviews ranging between 40 and 85 points. German-language publications tended to rate the game much more positively.

GamePro magazine awarded 85/100 points. Above all, the reviewer praised the game's comic graphic style, which uses high-contrast cel shading , as fitting and never monotonous, and highlighted the successful Japanese and English synchronization and the soundtrack. However, the graphics are technically not up to scratch and camera problems sometimes arise.

Mathias Oertel from 4Players felt drawn into the bizarre and absurdity of the Suda51 game, but the alleged connections established with cryptic dialogues were often not resolved. He described the combat system as catchy and saw it as comparable to that of games like Devil May Cry , God of War or Bayonetta . With regard to the graphics, he complained about camera problems and the recurring tearing . The game principle of the gigolo missions sounds sexist at first, but is presented so exaggerated and caricatured that it cannot be taken seriously. Oertel described these game sections as an interesting change, but they are not exciting and varied enough. The magazine gave the rating 80%.

GameSpot's Mark Walton was much more negative. The game is full of eccentricity and has an impressive look, but the plot is completely confusing and the combat system is unpolished (“unrefined”). GameSpot awarded the rating 5/10 (mediocre, 'mediocre').

IGN Entertainment got the same rating of 5/10 . Reviewer Marty Sliva described the battles in Killer Is Dead as uninspired and disappointing compared to games like Devil May Cry . The individual missions are too incoherent and cannot choose between pathos and humor, for example when you are rescued by a magical unicorn , fight a demonic Russian train or roam a villa in the style of Alice in Wonderland . In addition, Sliva found the way in which sexuality was portrayed in the game to be obnoxiously immature (“offensively juvenile”), uncomfortable (“discomforting”) and unappetizing (“gross”).

Web links

• Official site of the game
• Killer Is Dead at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alex Mahan: Killer Is Dead proves that games can't be reviewed without mentioning misogyny. In: examiner.com . Archived from the original on January 2, 2015 ; accessed on March 22, 2014 (English). 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Thomas Wittulski: Killer is Dead in the test: Suda-tastic! In: GamePro . Retrieved March 20, 2014 . 
3. ↑ Killer is Dead. In: Metacritic . Retrieved March 20, 2014 . 
4. Jump up ↑ Killer is Dead (PS3). In: critify.de. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on March 20, 2014 . 
5. ↑ Killer is Dead (360). In: critify.de. Archived from the original on March 26, 2014 ; accessed on March 20, 2014 . 
6. ^ Mathias Oertel: Test: Killer is Dead. In: 4Players . Retrieved March 20, 2014 . 
7. ↑ Mark Walton: Killer is Dead Review. In: GameSpot . Retrieved March 20, 2014 . 
8. ↑ Marty Sliva: Killer is Dead Review. In: IGN Entertainment . Retrieved March 20, 2014 .