Not for everyone, but excellent for the niche.
I had a lot of doubts about buying this game. Generally, reviews about it are either really positive or really negative. So until now I refrained from purchasing it.

And well, now that I spent a good deal of time with it, I'm still a little puzzled about why the developer made it like it is, but nevertheless I'm very intrigued by it still. So I'm really happy I did buy it after all.

First of all, I find the control scheme in this game very tight, so it's just a absolute pleasure wandering around in Killer 7's world. It's a little counter intuitive at first, but I got used to it really fast, like in half an hour.

Also, the combat system is thrilling. You have to scan the area for enemies, then quickly aim for their weak spots, or else you get blown up: keeps giving me the chills. :-)

Graphically, Killer 7 is also very pleasing for a GameCube/PS2 entry. Its colour palette is reminiscent of Okami's, and the cell shaded art style gives the game a certain 70s like cool, even though the game is situated in the 2000s.

The soundtrack is a mixed bag. I like most of the songs and sounds I heard so far, but I don't really get what's the deal with the "voice overs" (if you could call them that) of the NPCs.

Save points are rather scarce in the game, which I find a little annoying, especially since other aspects of the game like the controls, seem to want the simplify things. I don't mind a hard game, but I want to be able to save more oftenly than Killer 7 allows me. Now I had to backtrack in order to save my progress if I wanted to suddenly quit the game... :(

So, all in all, the core elements of the game, like the gameplay, the graphics and sound are well executed in most cases. Which makes for an excellent game for anyone willing to put some effort into it. That's why it's not a game for everyone. I understand if some people just want to play games the way they're used to, instead of changing their ways for some oddball effort like Killer 7. But for those willing to try something new: this game is anything but broken, so fear not if you have been considering buying it.

Killing time
Killer 7 is a game which you either love with a burning passion or hate with extreme loathe. This is because of the game mechanics, which render freeroaming completely impossible. It doesn't help that the controls take some time to get used to, but after some hours a player most likely will be storming through stages like an expert.
The game isn't exactly easy, nor it is the most difficult. The design leaves openings for the player and most of the time failures are because of the player's slow reaction time or nervous playing. There are times that feel very disturbing in the game, which creates the perfect atmosphere for the story.
However, even thou this game is quite artistic and has nicely tuned gameplay it still lacks in certain departments. Most of these are made by choice and some are not, which makes Killer7 hard to review. Killer7 indeed deserves a good grade, but because it is niche game within niche market it does not suit to all players out there. I do recommend to try it out and then see if you like its quirks enough.

My favourite game.
This is without a doubt one of my favourite games ever. It has a beatiful art style, an intriguing story and the gameplay is challenging and entertaining. After playing this game I more or less see Goichi Suda as more than a mere mortal and I think you will too.

Shining dark star
Killer7 is for sure an unmatchable adventure, depicted in toon shaded graphics, with amazingly inventive dialogues, plot, scenarios... everything is amazing in a cinematographic perpective, plus it has laudable and original controls and gameplay. Self-standish under every respect, it's not easy to undersant and appreciate, like any true masterpiece.overlooker masterpiece whose moments you'll never forget after playing.

What I suspected
I already own "No More Heroes" for my Wii, but I thought that it is time to buy Killer 7 for the Gamecube. I only played the first part of the game, but it already looks great. The plain visuals and the characters in the game look really great. The gameplay is not that hard, but it plays differently. Anyway it will be another game for which I will spend quite some time on it.