Meticulous, thorough, and inconspicuous. These three things are the vital components that make any hitman a true master of mortality. Unfortunately, I possess none of these qualities, making me the unlikely choice to bring you this review. Alas, here I am. Kill the Bad Guy is a physics puzzler in which you will use a series of devastating hacks, traps, and perfect timing to take down bad guys who have been getting away with murder, and worse, for way too long.
Starting off simple, you will learn the mechanics of the game in the first few levels – how to move objects around and rotate them, in addition to pairing items together to make two seemingly safe items into instruments of death. You can complete any level in whichever way you see fit, just make sure it looks like an accident!
In each level there will be a bad guy (shocking, I know) that you have to kill. You can do so however you see fit, but pay close attention to the mission brief and you can fulfil secondary objectives for more points. Each mission will also have a passport for you to collect, dotted around the map. Once you’ve successfully annihilated the bad guy, you will need to catch his tooth if you’re looking for maximum hitman cred. These additional levels of depth add a replayability value to Kill the Bad Guy. I found myself going back to the earlier levels to try and complete them… completely.
Part and parcel of being a hitman means you can’t get caught. You have no physical presence in the game, so this means that anything you move or alter can’t be within the vision range of anyone – bad guys or civilians. In later levels you’ll also have to deal with CCTV cameras which are a right pain, but they add another element of sneakiness and cunning that you will need to succeed in ridding the world of these really, really bad guys. Being spotted by anyone will alert the bad guy who will then run away. You can kill him in this time, however it’s likely that you didn’t plan on him doing a 180 and sprinting away, so you’re probably better off to restart the mission.
Bad guys are creatures of habit, don’t ya know. Failed to kill the villain in the first day because you were studying his every move and plotting your latest vigilante act? No worries. The next day will always bring the villain back to the scene of his own murder… if only he knew.
The levels, of which there are over 60 (not including bonus missions (ZOMBIES)) are varied and interesting. With this being a puzzler, you will at times be puzzled at how to bring down a baddie. I’ve found that trial and error works best here – though take my advice, Rope+Tree=??? I’ll let you find out for yourself.
WARNING: GCSE English inference incoming. The art style of Kill the Bad Guy is a perfect metaphor for the job that you are doing. Making the world a purer place by wiping out vitriolic scoundrels. There are few colours – white, black, and, depending on how well you do your job, red. This simplistic and minimalistic approach to designing the level allows you to really focus on the task at hand. There are no flashy signs or bright colours to distract you from getting the job done. I love that.
The user interface in the game does its job well, however I’d argue that it could perhaps be improved and made to look a little more aesthetically pleasing. There’s no real problem with it, it’s just not as pretty as it could be and it looks a bit out of place.
The mission briefings often had me laughing out loud. They’re expertly written and provide a nice bit of comic relief if all the killing gets too much for you. My personal favourite is the crazed evil genius who monologues about his plan for so long he is always foiled by the secret agents chasing him.
Kill the Bad Guy is a delightful game, which provides hours of entertainment as you plot to cause “accidents” to wipe out the bad guys. Making sure they are in the wrong place at the right time is great entertainment, and it’s a great game to load up when you tire of other titles. It’s just at the right level of engagement that you can relax while playing it, but you also have to use your loaf a bit.
