Killer is Dead

Grasshopper Manufacture's Suda 51 has always had a love for assassins. His two most popular games, Killer 7 and No More Heroes, have already explored both the insanity it takes to become a person who murders for money and the mundane lifestyle they lead between romanticized jobs. The duo now have a third game joining their ranks as Suda 51 is once again putting gamers in the shoes of an international killer for hire.

Famitsu has the goods on what Suda 51 has labeled the latest in his "assassin series" titled Killer is Dead. His own team Grasshopper Manufactuer and publisher Kadokawa Games were responsible for last years guilty pleasure Lollipop Chainsaw. The cel-shaded look of his other two assassin games will be making a comeback, but Suda 51 no longer wants to work on outdated technology. The HD consoles are his current goal.

"We're trying to make a game that we'd only be able to make right now, at this point in time. The result is seen in our unique high-contrast shading seen in the graphics, as well as the high speed wrestling-like action."

Killer is Dead stars 35 year old hit-man Mondo Zappa. His world is set in the future where people travel freely from the moon and have cyber-implants to improve human performance. He is hired by the Brain Execution Firm to travel around the world, killing high level executives, evil geniuses, and those also out for Zappa's life. Far more serious and professional than boneheaded rookie Travis Touchdown, Mondo Zappa has been described as a no-nonsense "James Bond-esque" assassin with one mechanical arm concealing a sword and the other a cannon similar to Mega Man.

"It's the story of a man who doesn't show himself much in the public world, but still worms his way into society and mercilessly eliminates the evil dispersed in it. It's a personal story, not one that's conscious of the chaos going on in the real world at the moment, but you might get more than a taste of that in the end anyway."

It's often hard to get a good read on Suda 51. On one hand, he is passionate about everything he works on and loves to make video games. However, his projects oftentimes present an all flash exterior and widely miss the mark of fun gameplay. His crisp sense of direction has declined since his insane debut Killer7 on the Gamecube, but if he ever had a time to finally get serious again, it seems like this could be it.

Killer is Dead will be released this summer in Japan. No word on a Western release yet.