This unblockable attack was called the elimination kill, and the way it worked was pretty simple. The kill meter was your gauge for how much damage you inflicted on the other characters in the fight. Once this meter was full, you were energized by bolts of lighting from the sky (all Highlander style) and were given a limited period of time to corner an enemy. All the other characters cowered and slunk away since this was an unblockable attack, but you selected one, tracked him down, and then killed him in an unbelievable and obscene way. Examples include Oddball's method of jumping up onto your shoulders and wrenching off your head and Belladonna's oh-so-special way with a cattle prod (she stabbed you with it and electrocuted you - at which point you exploded). More on them later. Players on the scampering side soon learned to kick and hit other opponents toward the player looking for blood. Since the kill meter only filled when you struck someone, Thrill Kill effectively rewarded the most aggressive players, and players used to turtling in other games will definitely lose out.

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Controls were very basic: two punch buttons and two kick buttons. You moved freely through the 3D environment with the D-pad. Each character had several grappling moves; for some you simply press a punch and kick button simultaneously, others required a move or two on the D-pad first. One of the most outrageous was Belladonna's "mount." She jumped on the back of her opponent, forcing him on his hands and knees, and then she slapped him across the buttocks with her cattle prod. (Did we mention that Thrill Kill unabashedly throws in moments of in-your-face sadomasochism in addition to all the spurting blood and gore?)

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The game would have had eleven characters, including three boss characters who wouldn't have been playable until they were beaten. Some of the characters included Dr. Faustus, a madman with a bear trap for a mouth and a very sharp scalpel; Imp, a midget who walked on very sharp stilts and knew what other uses sharp sticks can be put to; and Mammoth, a very, very big guy who happened to be the "pure embodiment of primal rage and fury." Each one of the characters had four unique alternate outfits. Belladonna, for instance, had a naughty nurse's outfit, a little black number with stilettos and stockings, a French maid's uniform, and another one that isn't nearly as... sexy as the first three.

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From what we saw, the game was graphically very impressive. The incredibly detailed 3D polygon characters were composed of 650 polygons each, giving them all incredible definition. All of the characters moved, kicked, and punched extremely fluidly. The levels were all textured and featured amazing lighting effects. (The blood-smearing effect on the floor and walls was also pretty cool.)

Yep, blood spilled freely in Thrill Kill (like when you played a team game and you grabbed one of the opponent's arms and held them so your buddy could freely whale away on him), but it was all in good fun. The whole game had a very B-movie feeling, an almost campy "Army of Darkness meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre" air about it. So people shouldn't have taken it so seriously. But they did, somehow.

 

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