I want to start out by saying I chose neither the title nor the picture for the Killer is Dead piece. I am terrible at titles and sometimes leave it up to editors to come up with them for me. You can see what I put in the title field in the back end in the URL.
There’s a lot of craziness going on in Killer is Dead, which I guess is standard for a Suda 51 game. But it does something I wish more action games would do. It gives the player an area to play taking a break. It allows the game to broaden its horizons beyond combat and puzzles. It’s amazing how simply allowing a character to enter and relax in a bar can add to their character, even one as seemingly devoid of character as Mondo Zappa.
Imagine if you will any action game that structurally allowed players to have the characters get some downtime. And I mean real downtime, not a fake out where something goes wrong and they’re off on another adventure. Think of it as an easy listening track between hard rock anthems. The possibilities for character development and expanding their methods for interacting with the world beyond killing or otherwise high-octane action. I mentioned Uncharted 2 having a scene that does just that, but upon further thought Beyond Good & Evil does this as well, albeit it isns’ts obvious given the open world nature of the game.
Yeah, so sit back and read my column at PopMatters. Just try and avoid the T&A on your way there.