Killer is Dead: first review scores 35/40 in this week's Famitsu

Killer is Dead has received a 35/40 review in Famitsu, marking a strong first appraisal of Suda51's violent action-brawler.

Polygon has translated Famitsu's piece on the game, in which it received a 9/9/9/8 from each of the magazine's four critics, resulting in a 35/40 score.

The article suggests that the game lets players pull off flashy combos even by button-mashing, which may not come as positive to fans of intricate move-sets. On the flip-side, one reviewer felt that the control scheme suffers from being too clunky.

Editor Reona Ebihara explained, "The unique world setting isn't for everyone, but the exacting balance between hilarity and insanity is definitely worth seeing for yourself! The airy, fast-tempo action lets you do all these flashy attacks even with button mashing, so it's great to play.

"There are a lot of features packed in here, making it seem a bit complex at first, but there's a certain depth to it that makes it a lot more approachable than you'd think, which I like."

Jigoro Ashida added, "The intricately detailed and unique game world is so wonderful. It really feels artistic to me. The atmosphere can change just like that with each mission, which adds to the charm. The difficulty's a bit on the high side, but the better you get at the controls, the cooler you start looking onscreen, which inspires you to keep going."

Motoki Shinohara concluded, "The game's hard overall," he wrote, "but taking advantage of the weapons (which offer a wide variety of ways to attack) gives you a lot of battle strategy to work with. However, some of the battle controls are a bit lacking in explanation, which leads to some unnecessary stress."

Killer is Dead hits PS3 and Xbox 360 on August 27 but in the meantime you can check out the game's latest batch of screens, which show off a ghoulish candy land. Seriously.

Are you excited about the game? Let us know below.