You hear laughing in the distance, insane laughing that plays with your ears. You quickly ready your gun and scan the area for Heaven Smiles, the bizarre enemy that stalks almost imperceptibly towards you, ready to explode when they get close enough to do some serious damage. You can't see anything, but the laughing still persists. You turn around, your heart pulsing, hands sweaty scanning the area once again for Smiles. In the sky! A micro smile! You try and shoot it down but this one is too fast for you - the micro smile laughs again before blowing himself up. You're not damaged but the micro smile has temporarily blinded you. You hear more laughter, getting louder, getting nearer. As your sight returns, you ready your gun once more and scan the area. There stand three zombie looking Smiles, the scariest image you've seen in a long while. Not necessarily because of how they look, but more because you're about to be killed by self-destructive lunacy; they're going to take you with them and laugh while they're doing it. They're too close, they explode, you fall to the ground - but they have the last laugh?

Welcome to killer7, the game that I can only describe as an artist's nightmare. It will mess with your head like few other games can, there's a lot to it and it's damn scary too. It takes a lot to understand killer7's fear though; it's not your typical Resident Evil-type fear, oh no. Before we get the fear, it would help to know exactly how the unique control system manages to heighten the tension very well.

With killer7 you can only move in one direction - forwards. You can turn around 180 degrees and run back the way you came, of course, but technically you're going forwards then as well. Moving your character is as simple as pressing a button to make your character run down a set track in the current room or corridor. It's more complex than it might sound though, as more often than not, there are junctions and choices of route - think of it as a train that can split off onto a multitude of tracks. One example is a junction of hallways, where you can choose which path to take with a press of the thumbstick and then you continue down that road. When you come to things like rooms, characters to talk to and objects to interact with, these choices will come up again. You might be running down a hallway with a door to the right. When you approach this door, you're given the choice of going into the room to the right, (press right) or you continuing down the hallway (press up).

Don't mistake killer7 for having linear gameplay just because of the 'on-rails' movement though, because I'll tell you for a fact that it's far from linear. You'll be running back and forth like there's no tomorrow, mainly for the puzzles. You might solve a puzzle in one wing of the building, only to see that it triggers something in another wing - so you have to find your way there and then you might have to come back to where you started to use an acquired object. It's just as involving as Resident Evil, if not more so, but scarier because if there's a Smile-infested path ahead then you're going down it mate, don't even think about avoiding it!

So what is the killer7? Basically, it's a group of killers - 7 of them in fact! The leader of this motley bunch is Harman Smith, a wheelchair-bound old man with, let's just say, questionable mental health. You don't really get to play as Harman much; he just appears every now and again as the story unfolds, which is excellent, may I add. Harman only communicates with the front man of killer7, Garcian Smith, who makes it clear that he's a cleaner, not a killer. You use Garcian mainly for resurrecting the other six members of killer7 - he collects their heads and brings them back to the last save point for resurrecting. Lots of the exciting story revolves around Garcian too.

There are six members of killer7 who you mainly play as for most of the game and they have major differences. In order to advance, you will need to recognise your killer's abilities and use them accordingly. Special moves require vials of thin blood, which can be acquired by blowing limbs off the Heaven Smiles, or killing them with one shot by aiming for their weak spots - you also get thick blood from the Heaven Smiles, which can be used to upgrade the six personalities in many respects, including speed and power.

In order of personalities, Dan Smith is the most adept killer. He's an all round killer with bags of style and he likes to swear too. With vials of blood, Dan can charge his shots up to three times (consuming three vials) - with his charged shots he is particularly good at eliminating Heaven Smiles that duplicate. Dan really is the man. KAEDE Smith is the only woman in killer7 and she really is a minx. KAEDE is in touch with a certain spirit that grants her access to special abilities normally used out of combat, such as the ability to break down barriers. I won't spoil all of the character's abilities, because I don't want spoil any one bit of this masterpiece. KAEDE is the only member with a scope on her gun, so you can use her to take Smiles from afar.

Con Smith is fantastic. He is the fastest member of killer7 and wields two pistols, which he can shoot and reload dangerously fast. One of Con's special abilities allows him to sprint for a short amount of time too. Coyote is the member of killer7 with a real attitude; he's a former thief and so able to pick any lock that gets in your way. He can also jump really high to reach ledges and has a charged shot to use in combat. Coyote is one of the best!

Kevin Smith looks like an old guy with glasses and probably is, too. [I thought he was a tubby looking m***er-f***er that writes, directs, stars in and occasionally has lines during his own series of movies. Oh, wrong Kevin Smith. Nooch! Not-So-Silent Ed] Kevin is the second fastest in the group, behind Con Smith, using throwing knives that can be charged up as his weapon of choice. The advantage of throwing knives is the absence of weapon reload times. His out of combat ability lets him turn completely invisible for a short period of time, which allows Kevin to escape certain death by vanishing and sneaking past Heaven Smile undetected - his invisibility allows him to do other things that will remain classified in this review!

The last member, MASK De Smith used to be a pro wrestler. This makes MASK De Smith an extremely large guy and his face is hidden behind a mask for the whole game. When you actually hear his voice you'll be quite surprised, because it's nothing like how you would expect a wrestler to talk! He wields two grenade launchers and has the much-valued ability to break through objects in the way and blow down walls with his grenade launcher. He's also especially adept at killing certain types of Heaven Smiles, just like Dan.

The story in this game is amazing; all of these characters have some kind of background and learning about them is amazing. Not only that but there are many things going on in the world of killer7 and towards the end, when everything reaches a climax, you'll see everything you've just played come together like a jigsaw. My jaw has dropped on countless occasions throughout the game, as something dawned on me and suddenly things I've seen fall into place. The man behind killer7 is a genius, make no mistake. On the other hand, he has a very sick and twisted imagination - and to be honest, it's probably the sick and twisted elements that make this game.

On the subject of sick and twisted, where do I start? There's a dead guy called Travis who helps you on your adventure, well, not so much helps as sometimes drops a helpful hint or reveals a small part of the story. I don't think Travis has any eyes and the way he talks is actually quite scary - I also think Travis is gay - every time you see him he's wearing a new black vest, with a camp word written in florescent pink across it! How about the ghost who literally drops the from ceiling tied to a rope, gagged and bound in a gimp suit called Iwazaru, who always calls you master and sticks an innuendo in his riddles like "we're in a tight spot" - which is quite comical coming from someone wearing neoprene. He also talks in a fairy spooky voice but you'll soon pick up words like 'tight,' which are used again and again in his sentences, like picking up words on holiday from a Spaniard. Clever that.

Now, what about that little girl's head that you'll find in a number of places throughout your adventure, who talks about her rather disturbing childhood in a disturbing voice and gives you crucial rings, which you take out of her mouth and equip. Ummm. There's also the ghost of a little boy, who tells you how to go about fighting certain bosses through riddles. You can't forget that man holding a mask either - shoot the mask and the mask fuses onto his face to give you valuable puzzle-solving information. The mask craves thick blood though, so make sure you can afford his services! Weird, eh?

Playing killer7 is a lot of fun. You're just walking through a garden for example, admiring the beautifully cel-shaded environments from a preset, scrolling camera perspective and suddenly you hear some insane laughing. Now you have to switch to first person with your guns out, scan the area for Heaven Smiles and blow the hell out of them when they appear. While this is simple for the first level or so, just wait until you get onto the higher levels and you're faced with a multitude of different Heaven Smiles that require some thought to kill them - or a special member of the killer7 to even touch them. On normal mode, most Heaven Smiles have yellow highlighted weak spots and if you successfully shoot that spot, it's fatal. However, on hard mode the weak spots aren't highlighted, which is extremely hard for Poison Smiles, which can only die by hitting the weak spot. IT'S COMING TOWARDS ME - ARRR!

I'm no girl when it comes to horror games - I love them. But killer7 had me turning the game off at one point. I just have this fear of dying in the game. When half a dozen Heaven Smiles are crawling towards me and I couldn't shoot them down in time, I lost my bottle and turned it off. It was a stupid move because I hadn't saved it for a while, but it gave me time to clear my head. You'll have to play it to fully understand my actions there but when they're coming towards you with their hideous faces laughing insanely with their disturbing cackling, it really is like something straight out of a disturbing nightmare. Speed Smiles, they're scary too, running at you with their bodies jittering in sharp, robotic movements, to make it hard to hit their weak spot. Another Smile, which is actually called Another Smile, crawls on the roof above and when you have a few of those crawling towards you, as well as some Smiles on the ground, then you'd better pack yourself a change of underwear. Just imagine a properly done House of the Dead using a controller, but this one oozes quality and has been made with care.

Let's talk about Harman's room then. This is the place where you can save your progress via Samantha the maid, upgrade your characters with the thick blood you collected, thanks to the insane doctor stuck in the TV, plus you can switch to Garcian here too, as well as all the other characters. However, you can switch to the normal characters using the start menu and change characters on the fly, providing they aren't asleep. At the start of every level some members of the killer7 are asleep. If you need them, you can wake them up in Harman's room providing, you've killed enough Heaven Smiles. You have to be strategic here and think about which ones to wake up. The last thing that needs to be mentioned is Samantha; when she's dressed in a maid outfit she is submissive and lets you save your game. However, you might enter Harman's room and she could be asleep in the chair, or dressed in some kinky outfit. She won't save your game when she's in either of these states. There's more to Samantha than meets the eye…

So, your level is coming to an end. You know this because you have reached the Gate Keeper, who wants however many soul shells to pass. This happens on every level. You'll pass the Gate Keeper, into a hall where you can hear techno music coming from the Colosseum, into a large room that leads to a long hallway. Before this long hallway, the ghostly boy appears. Every long hallway introduces you to a new Heaven Smile. Brace yourself, this is frightening. You go in there to be greeted with a new Heaven Smile, with only a riddle from the boy to know how to defeat it. Also the music playing in the hallway is so frightening - it's hard to describe but it just adds to the intensity. Once you've passed him, you're almost at the boss battle - and every level has at least one boss to defeat - if you're lucky, the little boy gives you another riddle to help you defeat what lies ahead.

The boss battles in this game are superb, one of killer7's many strong points, actually. There's always some kind of figuring out to be done, some new technique to killing the boss. When you get the technique, you're well on your way. They feel old school, they feel polished and they certainly get the heart racing. Just make sure you go in there with some thin blood vials to heal yourself up and to charge your shots. It's also times like these where I'm glad there is no such thing as ammo! I've wasted so many bullets on things that I thought might have contributed to killing the boss!

The musical score with killer7 isn't just good. It's not just very good either. It's the best music I've ever heard in any game period [Better even than Halo 2? Heresy! Burn him! Arbit-Ed]. It's so ambient and very scene setting. You become familiar with noises as the game progresses too; a harsh noise for "there's a puzzle here that needs solving" and a calming acoustic guitar strum for "congratulations, you've solved that puzzle!" Background music is there to either calm your nerves before scaring you again, or to get you on the edge of your seat, hoping that the next save room contains Samantha in her maid outfit. Obviously, the Heaven Smiles make up for a large part of the sound and they do a good job of making your heart race. A ghostly laughter that sounds like it's behind you keeps you on edge, that's for sure. The dialogue in the game is made up of proper English voices with attitude, all of which are well acted and fit the characters perfectly - and for all the weird characters in the game, expect a new demonic sounding language and a lot of reading. It's a perfect balance in my eyes!

The game is graphically superior to anything out there too. [Right, that really is it, prepare the Hunters! Prophecy-Ed] Although the camera angles are fixed, so you only get to see the polished areas, the sights around are a wonder to behold. It's not your typical cel-shading either, it's more of an insane cel-shading effect that just adds to the brilliance that is killer7. You really have to see it to believe it, like most aspects of this game. I just remember the first time I turned the game on and saw the cut scene with Garcian dressed in white, with a large case, walking along the street. All he was doing was walking along - nothing too special, but it looked out of this world. My face really did light up. Not only will you get see a cel-shaded mind screw, you'll also get to appreciate lots of anime style story chunks. If you like anime then you're going to like killer7 with its approach to story telling. Also, if you're a detail freak, look out for the killer7 members changing their clothes from time to time!

The only downside with killer graphics is loading times. Every time you enter a room, change characters, view cut scenes, talk to somebody - almost all the time. The PS2 version suffers badly from this, whereas the Cube version gets off the hook a little bit for shorter loading times, however, they both sport breaks between the action and when you have to go through a door to enter an empty hallway to go through another door, that's like fifteen seconds unnecessary downtime that we could do without! Still, the game lasts fairly long and you can go through it on hard mode for some differences in puzzles and an increased difficulty in combat, which is always a bonus for hardcore fans.

In the end , killer7 is a game everybody should at least try. Well, everybody who's over 18 and it's 18 for a reason too kids, too many sexual references and disturbing religions that won't sit too well with young audiences. [Now you've just made them want it more! Ed] It's not your usual type of horror! I like something different though and Capcom have hit the nail into the head with killer7. It's eye-candy from start to finish - sometimes you forget you're playing a game and feel like you're controlling the outcome of a blockbuster film instead. The boss battles are some of the best I've experienced, the graphics are some of the best I've seen, the musical score will make every game I review after this one pale in comparison and the unique gameplay will be something that I miss when I finally have to put this gem down. Indeed, killer7 is more than just a game; it's a necessity.

Reviewed by Dexter Pearson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).