Killer 7

Suda 51 is a polarizing figure in the game industry, and Killer 7 is easily his most polarizing game. Purely as a game, it fails in many respects. It is a simple on rails shooter with arcane adventure game style puzzles. Controls are cut down to an absolute minimum in that you hold a button and move forward or turn around and move backwards. Fighting requires pausing your movement and switching to first person for a tensely stationary shooting gallery.

But to judge it for how it doesn't play is missing the point.

There is a reason for the lack of freedom in Killer 7's stylishly flat-colored worlds. You are trapped in a claustrophobic series of hallways designed to unsettle you. And in between the hallways and the monsters you must solve arbitrary puzzles to escape this nightmare. If Resident Evil 4 redefined survival horror by liberating your controls and making you an action movie hero, Killer 7 plays devil's advocate by taking control away and locking you in a dark room.

Killer 7 gives a uniquely unsettling experience that is crafted in all aspects to creep you the fuck out. It isn't really survival horror in the classic terms of the genre, since you'll never run out of firepower, but don't let unlimited ammo give you a false sense of superiority. The lack of resource management does not make this game any less stomach-turning then the best stages in Silent Hill. Enemies start out invisible, with only a crazed laugh to warn you of their suicidal approach. When you switch to first person to shoot them your character is locked in place and you better hope you can shoot faster then they can walk (or run) at you. The game's save rooms, hosted by a gimp-suited man dispensing tutorials, offers respite from the deadly madness outside with its own S&M madness inside.

The story is largely incomprehensible, yet manages to plot out a world that is oddly consistent in its own fiction. Revolving around subjects like international terrorism and world diplomacy, it takes hot-button topics and filters them through distorted sideshow mirrors. You can try to make sense of it, but it might drive you crazy trying. Character dialogue further cements this disconnect between you and the game. At first listen it sounds like the way Zelda does dialogue, all gibberish inflections. However, listen closely enough and you notice bits that match the subtitles. In actuality the dialogue is fully voiced and then run through a filter, making it near incomprehensible, yet vaguely familiar.

Turn off the lights and turn up the sound: like your worst nightmares Killer 7 is reinforced by denying you input and movement. You are trapped on a conveyor belt and sent off into a mad world.