Another day another 30 day video game meme
It was really tempting to talk about Killer 7 today. As a whole that was a game I liked better, however I wouldn't necessarily describe it as underrated. It's well loved by it's fans and enjoyed moderate reviews and sales, representing the first real success for Suda 51, that paved the way for things like No More Heroes and the upcoming Shadows of the Damned. It was also completely crazy, the plot featured 7 assassins in the head of a wheelchair-bound schizophrenic. The gameplay, a little bit more than just an on-rails shooter, was more like a satire of linear FPS games stripped to a minimalist form. It was a game that laughed at it's own jokes, and those jokes didn't make sense.
However Killer 7 looks restrained compared to this little gem from Suda 51's past.
I don't really know how to describe it. I guess I'd start by describing it as an adventure game, only the puzzles are arbitrary and poorly translated. Like the game invented it's own set of rules and will at any point change them if you start to work it out. There's a mechanism by which all the puzzles are solved inputting numbers using computer called Catherine, the problem being that often-times these numbers are hamfisted into the puzzle solutions themselves. Catherine itself is basically a safe dial and a few cables in a briefcase that's invoked by increasingly hilarious and epic speeches such as:
"I'm getting that DS feeling... A mystery is concealed here! An endless journey -- The prey protect its soul -- While the hunter hunts the truth. A requiem solely sung for the search! Truth is singular. It's time to go to work, Catherine! The search culminates here!"
And that's just the gameplay, the plot makes even less sense. It sort of starts with this ground-hog day series of events. An investigator travels to this island where there's a terrorist attack, he keeps trying to get out to the airport to investigate it but he keeps getting his progress impeded by someone asking him to solve some other mystery. At the end of the day, the plane crashes and he wakes up at the start of the same day by... falling out of bed. These sub-plots with the other characters are completely bonkers, one particularly memorable plotline has the investigator chasing this brat who keeps spouting off that they're all in a terrible game. The fourth wall is broken, burned and urinated on as the kid threatens to implode the universe with his self-awareness. Another such plot has a miserable pro wrestler blocking a stairway. If that wasn't utterly insane enough, the plot randomly cuts to an entirely different character in a different time line chasing after her pet. A large pink alligator.
The graphics are rough and choppy, somehow stylised and somehow still ugly. The music is catchy enough but has nothing on later soundtracks for Killer 7 and No More Heroes. The dialogue is broken and hilarious. And yet it somehow comes together into something amazing. Suda 51's company, Grasshopper Manufacture, has a motto "Punk's not dead" and his games really encapsulate a punk spirit. They defy any conventional game design, they poke fun at everything and hold style over substance while still being incredibly fun. Flower Sun and Rain really feels like you're looking at the roots of Suda 51, like some kind of gaming artifact. It's fun and funny, and it makes you kind of glad that he dialled things back from 12 to 11.