Kileak: The DNA Imperative

Kileak: The DNA Imperative
North American box art
Developer(s)	Genki
Publisher(s)	JP Sony Music Entertainment Japan NA / EU Sony Computer Entertainment
Director(s)	Nakaji Kimura
Designer(s)	Tomoharu Kimura
Programmer(s)	Kenji Shimizu Wataru Ishizuka
Artist(s)	Tadashi Shimada
Writer(s)	Manami Kuroda
Composer(s)	Kimitaka Matsumae
Platform(s)	PlayStation
Release date(s)	JP January 27, 1995 NA September 9, 1995 EU September 29, 1995
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player

Kileak: The DNA Imperative, known in Japan and Europe as Kileak: The Blood (キリーク・ザ・ブラッド, Kirīku za Buraddo), is a first person shooter video game developed by Genki for the PlayStation video game console. It was released on January 27, 1995, in Japan by Sony Music Entertainment. It was followed by a North American and European release in September 1995 by Sony Computer Entertainment as a launch game for the platform.

In Kileak: The DNA Imperative, the player controls an armored mecha – the SJ 107 assault suit – through the series of floor levels within a South Pole observation base. Each floor is connected by an elevator, which the player must find in order to proceed to the level below. The suit is equipped with various weapons, some of which require the suits battery power to operate. The story follows an International Peacekeeping Force operative named Matt Coda as he attempts to stop a scientist, Dr. Kim, from conducting unethical genetic engineering research. As the game progresses, the eponymous "Kileak" is revealed to be an ancient extraterrestrial creature that is the common ancestor of all life on Earth.

Kileak: The DNA Imperative was designed by Tomoharu Kimura, and programmed by Kenji Shimizu and Wataru Ishizuka, with the soundtrack composed by Kimitaka Matsumae. The game received criticism for its gameplay and level design, but also received praise for its smooth 3D graphics. A sequel to Kileak, titled Epidemic, was released in 1996 in North America. Both Kileak and Epidemic were made available through the PlayStation Network store in Japan on September 16, 2015.

Gameplay

A screenshot of the first floor, showing the player attacking a flying enemy. The bottom of the screen shows the status of the SJ 107 suit, and the remaining ammunition for the current weapon. An automap is also displayed at the top-right corner of the screen.^[1]

Kileak: The DNA Imperative is a first-person shooter,^[2] in which the player controls an International Peacekeeping Force (IPKF) polar operative Matt Coda in an armored mecha, the SJ 107 assault suit. The player can move freely in a two-dimensional space and rotate the camera in any direction. The game is set in a South Pole observation base, which is composed of floors connected by elevators. In each floor, the player must find an elevator in order to proceed to the level below. The requirements are varied between floors, with many levels requiring the use of key cards to open locked doors. Some doors are opened by solving puzzles.^[1]

When reaching the elevator to the next floor, the player is giving an option to save their progress to their memory card, allowing them to continue in another session. Throughout every floor, the player can find ID Cards and Record Cards, which are used with the computer terminal for downloading a floor map and playing recorded messages respectively. At certain points in the game, the player can also acquire Armor ROMs to enhance the suit's defense system, which reduces damage from enemy attacks.^[1]

The heads-up display shows an automap and the amount of ammunition for the currently selected weapon, along with the suits remaining health and power. The SJ 107 can equip a variety of weapons, ranging from conventional armaments such as a machine gun and a rocket launcher to more exotic weaponry such as a laser gun and "erosion gun". While most weapons use ammunition, some run off of the suit battery. The energy decreases over time, and can be charged by picking up batteries or using an energy unit. When the energy is critically low, the suits driving power, radar and weapons would cease to function. If the SJ 107 suit takes too much damage or runs out of power, the game is over and the player must restart from the beginning or from the file they have previously saved on.^[1]

Plot

Kileak: The DNA Imperative takes place in the year 2038, when the International Peacekeeping Force headquarters receives an urgent message from undercover agent Franco Fukazawa in the Byfloss Group's South Pole observation base, where it was commanded by a scientist named Dr. Kim. The helicopter carrying the IPKF's "White Lightning" team – which consist of operatives including Matt Coda and Carlos Potrero – is dispatched to investigate, but is shot down by an anti-aircraft missiles before arrival, separating Coda and Carlos in the process. Coda emerges from the wreakage and sets out toward the South Base, while Carlos is still in radio contact with him despite being separated.^[1][3]

Within the South Base, Coda and Carlos learns that Dr. Kim genetically engineered a race of mutant creatures.^[4] During the course of the game, Coda find a series of record cards that contain logs from Dr. Kim. Among them were where Kim reveals that a creature – known by the name of "Kileak" – is the first life form to have appeared on Earth,^[5] and the progenitor of Earth life.^[6] Elsewhere, Carlos finds a researcher,^[7] who says that an intercontinental ballistic missile containing mutant DNA is ready for launch.^[8] Coda reaches the lower levels, and prevents an ICBM from launching.^[9]

Advancing deeper into the South Base, Coda encounters Dr. Kim, who transforms himself into an alien-like life form.^[10] Coda succeeds in killing the monster, and escapes from the South Base. "Kileak" reveals to Coda that the human race started long after the creature's civilization was obliterated by a comet.^[11] The base collapses, and a space station containing "Kileak" ascends into space.^[12]

Development and release

Kileak: The DNA Imperative was produced by a Japanese game developer, Genki,^[12] and released by Sony Music Entertainment (SME) on January 27, 1995 in Japan.^[13][14] The game was designed by Tomoharu Kimura, and programmed by Kenji Shimizu and Wataru Ishizuka. Its music and sound effects were handled by Kimitaka Matsumae. Nakaji Kimura of SME served as a creative director. The game's scenario was written by Manami Kuroda. The illustrations were designed by Kō Yokoyama, while Tadashi Shimada of Banana Studio served as an art director.^[12] The characters' voices in the Japanese version were performed by Akio Ōtsuka, Kenyu Horiuchi, Rokurō Naya, Yasuo Iwata and Yoko Soumi.^[15]

Kileak was released by Sony Computer Entertainment in North America on September 9, 1995 as a launch game for the PlayStation console, alongside other titles such as Ridge Racer and Battle Arena Toshinden.^[16][17] The game was later released in Europe on September 29 as Kileak: The Blood, and was also a launch game in that region.^[18]

Reception

Reception
Review scores Publication Score AllGame [19] EGM 6.875/10[20] Famitsu 31/40[14] IGN 3.0/10[2] OPM (UK) 4/10[21] Maximum [22] Next Generation [23]

Kileak: The DNA Imperative received praise from critics for the smooth and fluid 3D graphics,^{[2][16][19][20][21][22][23]} but it also faced criticism for its monotonous level design^{[2][21][22][23]} and very limited controls, particularly the inability to strafe.^[16][20] The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly repeatedly compared the game to Robotica, a very similar Sega Saturn game released at almost the same time as Kileak, with varying opinions: Danyon Carpenter said that Kileak, though "a little boring", was "definitely the best one", while Al Manuel held Robotica to be clearly superior in strategic design, overall fun, and most especially control.^[20][24] Maximum's review also commented on the striking similarity between the two games, and judged Kileak to be "far superior to the Saturn title" but mediocre in absolute terms due to its dull and repetitive gameplay.^[22]

The Official UK PlayStation Magazine stated that the enemies are "suitably menacing", but criticized Kileak for its "uninspired" and "shallow" gameplay, and described the game's audio as "Brian Eno on Valium". The magazine also complained that two consecutive levels were identical apart from differences in their "wallpaper, mood lighting, and layout".^[21] IGN similarly felt that the levels are "all very homogeneous" as they shared similar enemies and graphical detail. They commented that Kileak "does deserve some credit for taking the action beyond mere shooting [...] but it's pretty much a case of too little too late."^[2] Next Generation wrote that the Kileak "has more common with Wolfenstein 3D than Doom", and concluded that "[g]raduates of PC school of exploration games will find it naive and repetitive."^[23] Writers for Famitsu called the game "suspenseful", and described it as a "robot sci-fi version of Wolfenstein."^[14]

In a 2012 article on Japanese-developed first person shooter games, Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku felt that Kileak "wasn't very good", criticizing its computer-generated cutscenes.^[25] AllGame's Shawn Sackenheim found the collection of enemies unoriginal, and was unsatisfied with the visuals, noting that "[p]lenty of repetitive textures and locales make Kileak highly repetitive and uninspired". However, he applauded the cutscenes, which tend to "jump in at major plot points and during transitional periods where the game needs to be loaded".^[19] Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com commented that the controls "weren't too bad back in the day, but they're the game's downfall today".^[16] Bob Mackey of USgamer listed Kileak: The DNA Imperative as one of the worst launch games for the PlayStation, alongside Street Fighter: The Movie and Total Eclipse Turbo. Mackey wrote that Kileak "may sound like a techno-thriller from one of Tom Clancy's many ghostwriters, but it's actually one of the numerous Doom clones to take advantage of the mid-90s FPS fad."^[26]

Sequel and other media

A sequel to Kileak: The DNA Imperative, titled Epidemic,^[27] was released in Japan on December 29, 1995 as Kileak: The Blood 2: Reason in Madness,^[28] and in North America in October 1996.^[27] Epidemic shares visual and gameplay similarities to its predecessor, and retains the corridor-like environments.^[27] Both Kileak and Epidemic were released as "PSone Classics" titles through the PlayStation Network store on September 16, 2015, in Japan by Clarice Games.^[29]

Most of the tracks from Kileak and Epidemic by Matsumae were released in an album, Kileak: The Blood – Sound Tracks & Remix, on March 21, 1996. Containing 10 tracks, it was published by Sony Music Entertainment under the catalog number SRCL-3496.^[30]

References

Further reading

• キリーク・ザ・ブラット ― オフィシャル・ビジュアル・ブック [Kileak: The Blood ― Official Visual Book] (in Japanese). Sony Magazines. May 1995. ISBN 978-4-789790031. 

External links

• Kileak: The DNA Imperative at MobyGames