Game: "Killer 7."

Console: PlayStation 2 (also out for Nintendo GameCube).

Developer/publisher: Capcom.

Genre: Shooter.

Number of players: 1.

ESRB: M, for mature.

Premise: World peace is almost accomplished, until terrorist group Heaven Smile attacks a meeting at the United Nations head-quarters. The terrorists can only be stopped by wheelchair-bound assassin Harman Smith and his seven split personalities, nicknamed the Killer 7.

Game play: Right from the get-go, you are thrown into an odd world created by Suda 51, a Japanese gaming legend famous for his desire to make video games into an art outlet. The environments are designed with an eye-catching use of primary colors and a saturation of black appropriate for the game's heavy mood, while the animation works like a 3-D comic book.

"Killer 7" doesn't play like any other shooting game. Characters move like they are on invisible rails, as they cannot duck, strafe, dodge; in fact, they can't even move backward easily, because that requires another press of a button to turn around.

Adding to the oddness of the game's control is that you are required to switch between third- and first-person perspectives. Gun battles require you to switch to the latter view, and then scan the area for enemies to pick off. This may make the control schematic sound difficult, but actually it fits the game very well and is incredibly simple.

However, the same can't be said about the game's story line. While it's very engaging, thought-provoking and relevant to the world's current events, one thing it doesn't do is make a whole lot of sense. You know the basics about why you must kill your enemies, but the game doesn't give clear explanations after that. The closest thing you'll get to help is by talking to the game's characters, most of whom speak in a gibberish that is understood only through subtitles. Undoubtedly, it will pique the interest of gamers who love complex riddles and endings left to their own interpretation; more-casual gamers will probably be turned off by it. Oddly enough, the writers filled the script with jabs at American and Japanese pop culture; while it may be their attempt to be affable in an otherwise dark game, it takes you out of the story and makes you take it less seriously.

Tips: When an enemy is within your vicinity, you will hear a cackling echo, so be ready to scan and shoot. Also, make sure you read the subtitles. They are the only source of help throughout the game and hold critical information about passing the levels.

My take: "Killer 7" is truly a mixed bag. The story is the main selling point — without it, it's an average platform shooter with odd controls. However, the story is so confusing, it may discourage the more casual gamer from completing it. While "Killer 7" provokes many unanswerable questions, one question it does answer with a resounding "No" is "Should art and games be mixed together?"

Jeremy Castillo is a student at Windward Community College and the editor of the college's newspaper, Ka 'Ohana.