2-Ring, Color Back Manual, NTSC on Back Insert
| Genre: First Person Shooter |
CDs: 1 |
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| Publisher: Sony |
Released: September 9, 1995 |
| Developer: Genki |
UPC: 7 11719 41022 5 |
| Sony ID: SCUS-94102 |
PSRM: 000980 |
| Players: 1 Player |
Memory: 1 Block |
| Accessories: None |
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| ESRB: Teen – Animated Violence |
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| Box Copy:
Deep beneath the South Pole permafrost, a crazed scientist has unearthed an ancient DNA code, dormant for 2,000,000,000 years. Is this discovery of the “ultimate evolution”? Or does he now hold the damnation of mankind in his grasp? Only YOU can stop him!
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Variants
Well, this came out of nowhere. So Kileak goes from no variants to two. I’m guessing Sony thought Kileak sold just well enough to have a second print but with budget cuts where they could be made, specifically removing color on the back manual. They also edited the back insert.
The main difference is that the back of the manual is now in black-and-white, and then the back insert fine print’s last line starts with the U/C and not NTSC. Then there are both 1-ring and 2-ring disc hub variants. This variant has been confirmed for sure.
1-ring disc, black-and-white manual, U/C on back insert
2-ring hub variant of the above.
2-ring hub, black-and-white manual back, U/C on last line of insert
Misprints
- There are no known misprints.
Review
Here’s a genre I’ll never understand. Kileak is part of a practically dead breed of animal known as a ‘mech’ corridor FPS (first-person shooter). Like Doom and Duke Nukem, you’re your own eyes running around shooting stuff. However, what keeps Kileak from ever being any fun is the one thing its niche template is based around; tediously mind-numbing exploration in vast, boring levels. Everything looks the same, and it’s even worse when there are only three textures to a level (if this place had that many lights the heat it generated would have melted the frozen prison it was stuck in).
To its credit, Kileak tries to implement a lot of adventure ideas; card keys, memorizing switch settings, and exploration. Where it fails is the level layout and visual cues. After 5 levels deep, everything still looks the same. There are only about 4 total textures to each corridor, and once you finally get to actual rooms, there’s nothing in them. Every few moments you may come across a desk or even a book library, but when put in perspective there’s no way to believe it’s a lab, much less a secret breeding ground. Enemies aren’t very varied, and if anything, you’re simply doing the same thing over and over; only the color of the weapon blast and creature shape changes.
I’ve tried over the years to get through this game, even now with an Action Replay, and I just can’t do it. Eventually, when there’s nothing else to do and I can psyche myself out, I’ll be able to play all the way through. For now though, Kileak: The DNA Imperative is still just a launch day memory, and not much more.
The Good
- No Easy Controls
- Nice ‘mood setting’
The Bad
- Lackluster Graphics
- Bland Enemy Designs
- Music is forgettable.
Final Score: 3 / 10 – Laughable
Kileak is a set of ideas put to paper that then had no chance to be refined before being burned to disc.
Screenshots
Videos
Trivia
- Known in Japan as Kileak: The Blood
- Genki seems to have a knack for launch games. Besides Kileak, they also developed the home version of Virtua Fighter 3 for the Dreamcast launch.
- No known variants for a long box release.
- Bernie Stolar gets a nod in the manual.
- The first ever first-person shooter for the PlayStation.
- Sony’s answer to the Saturn’s Robotica.
- Gerri Sorrells, who is un-credited in this game, has been in some interesting video games.
- Dennis Falt, who is also un-credited, has some great voice work under his belt.