I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T!

To start this off, I should clarify that I am NOT DRUNK! I've had this thought in the back of my head for a while now that I haven't been able to piece together until now. So if there are holes in my insane conspiracy theories, blame it on too much Metal Gear Solid 4 and continue to ignore me and my genius.

Since its release, everyone (myself included) has praised Killer 7 as an example of the video game being more art than entertainment. But just what about it makes it a demonstration of art? Does a videogame need to use obvious cel shading to be considered artistic in merit? Of course not! But then what makes Killer 7 something more than the usual Capcom 'lets appease the Western market with b-grade plots and 80s action movie gore'

And that's when it hit me

I recalled early mentions of a later Goichi Suda directed game, No More Heroes, satiring the modern idea of open world sandbox game. While the game itself did little to captivate on the open world concept compared to the likes of Grand Theft Auto or even Assassins Creed, its lack of substance to the city of Santa Destroy achieved Suda51's goal to satire the likes of GTA with his own unique flare. Examples of satire are found in films, with many minds going straight to the likes of Monty Python team, or Mel Brooks films. Satire must be the key, even if not immediately appreciated by the critics. But in 10 years time, gamers will recall that cult hit that took the piss out of every single action game from the 2000s, even if they don't remember the name (for those untrained in the likes of game knowledge, I refer to the recently released Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazzard)

Now we rewind back to 2005 and Killer 7. Is the artistic merit hidden in elements of satire? I would argue yes! And to further back up my argument, I already have the perfect whipping child for Suda's cult creation. My prime suspect is none other than Resident Evil. Without calling me crazy, there is more to this connection than RE creator Shinji Mikami being a producer on this game.

- Easiest one first, Killer 7 is heavy on the fetch quests and bizzare puzzles. When not deciding which magic ring to use on what area, you were cracking codes and revealing secret messages to add more questions to the plot than answers. RE is probably a bit more focused on its insane puzzles, but what was more a frustration in 1996 becomes a weird headscratcher in 2005.

- No camera control. This one took me a while to place, but it perfectly fits into a RE themed satire. Early titles in the Resident Evil series had many reasons to stick to static camera angles. Lack of control raised tension for the player. The game could use overly pretty pre-rendered images to do more visually than the original Playstation could achieve. But most importantly, the camera angles were cool because they gave you the best cinematic viewpoint. Without bringing back the human-tank controls, Killer 7 has some fantastic cinematic views.

- The enemies like hide and seek. Going back to the static camera of Resident Evil, the player was never sure about what, if anything, was waiting for them around the corner. This kind of peekaboo tactic is RE's main source of horror, but without talking about scares, it just means that the zombies were rarely standing out in the open. The heaven smiles of Killer 7 may not be hiding around the corner wall, but they are still hidden to the naked eye. They must be 'scanned' to reveal their location before the player is attacked.

So, am I crazy? Or have I discovered the source of Killer 7's art cred?