This review was originally published on the Console Purist Facebook group on January 26th, 2019. It has been edited slightly for formatting.
Well, it’s the last week of the future; once it’s February, this
will just be the present day, and we can stop pretending. But until then, I
will still think that we are on a cyberpunk planet of some sort. This is
PlayStation Basement, happening every Saturday in the future and beyond. Every
week I review an odd or obscure PS1 game using a nine-point scale where 9-7 is
Good, 6-4 is Neutral, and 3-1 is Bad.
Twenty-four years ago on January 27, 1995, when today really was
the future, a game came out in Japan called Kileak: the Blood. The game later
came out in North America on September 9th and Europe on September 29th as a
launch title for the PlayStation. In America, this game was called Kileak: the
DNA Imperative. This is a first-person shooter developed by Genki (Kengo:
Master of Bushido, Devilish, Jade Cocoon: Story of the Tamamayu) and
published by Sony that takes place in 2038 about a mad scientist conducting
weird experiments in a base at the South Pole. You play as Matt Coda of the
International Peacekeeping Force who has been sent to investigate the strange
happenings at the Byflos Group’s observation base.
The North American cover art of Kileak shows a dark hallway in
which a battle between a flying machine and a humanoid mech is occurring. The
mech is the player character, the robot is a basic enemy, and the hallway is
much of what will be seen in the game. The Japanese and European covers are
identical to each other, showing the same mech in a background of flames. The
composition and pose are kind of awkward, the shot not representing anything
but a figure posing for the camera with a silly background. I love the look of
the dark hallway, so I’ll take the American art any day.
Graphically, Kileak: the DNA Imperative has a lot of the same
stuff as on the North American cover. The game is all about traversing hallways
and fighting enemies. You start with metallic hallways and proceed into
cavernous and stranger things. Though it’s basic, the settings look nice and
help create an eerie atmosphere. The enemies are all 3D and look pretty nice
with some really weird designs for the monstrous creatures. You won’t see any
flat enemies here like in Doom, Duke Nukem, Disruptor, and other early
first-person shooters. There are a lot of FMVs in this game, most of them
extremely short, but those look nice too. Graphically, I think Kileak works
well, especially for the sci-fi horror that Genki seemed to be going for.
I think I’m a bit of an outlier here, but I really like the
sound in Kileak. The sound effects are of guns and monsters and noises for
having low health. It’s sparse and sharp, helping to drive the isolated feeling
of the abandoned, Antarctic base home. The music is the best at this. It’s all
ambient, Eno-esque loops of thumping hearts, electronic pulses, mechanical
noises, and strange drums. When I was first playing I thought the songs could
be a bit longer before they repeated, but by the end, I was so into the game
because of the harsh repetition, glitch samples, and odd compositions.
Repetition adds to the atmosphere of Kileak.
I know that sounds weird, but, for me, it is true. Kileak is a
repetitive game, and I love it. The game plays like a dungeon-crawler, maybe
more so than even Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. The player has extremely limited
health and ammo. You also have an energy meter, reminding me of hunger and
thirst in Rogue and other old dungeon-crawlers, that determines how long the
mech suit that keeps you alive under the frozen base will last. Energy drains
constantly, but thankfully each of the 15 floors has a place to charge it up.
Some weapons use ammo and some use energy. Since the ammo is limited, as I
mentioned above, the energy weapons are really useful as long as you know where
to recharge it.
The game has a stealth element, with enemies detecting you a
little later than when you can see them. There are also traps in the floor on
some levels. Though there is health, ammo, and energy to find, it’s best to
take the exploration slow, watch your progress on your map, and keep yourself
alive. It’s a tough and grueling journey down under the base to find the
insidious Doctor Kim, but survival is possible.
I was able to complete Kileak: the DNA Imperative, and I
really enjoyed it. I didn’t know what I would think of the game before I put it
in; I had heard it was mediocre and repetitive, but I really enjoyed it. As I
said before, I think the repetition enhanced the isolated feeling and the
creepy atmosphere. The atmosphere really drives Kileak, the music hypnotizing
as you explore the stark realm of Doctor Kim. The story ends up being pretty
interesting, though it’s told through computer terminals, which you might miss,
and an unseen companion that’s always a few steps ahead. Again, the isolation
is key. When I completed Kileak, I felt like a true champ.
I don’t think the game is for everyone. It’s not fast-paced;
it’s not flashy. The environments are dark and don’t change much, and there are
not huge explosions or destructible worlds. It’s a classic “roguelike” turned
sci-fi and horror, and it was great for me. I’m looking forward to getting the
sequel, Epidemic, and playing the spiritual successor, Brahma Force: The
Assault on Beltlogger 9. Maybe you will too.
Kileak: the DNA Imperative receives a Good (8).
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