It’s the little mishaps at E3 that make the show worthwhile. For example, after having played Suda 51’s next title at Sony’s massive booth, I went off to XSeed’s much smaller display to get in some hands on time with Ys: Memories of Celceta. As I waited behind another journalist, though, I noticed that the Xbox 360 demo unit for Killer Is Dead had some odd system text across it.
I toyed around with the controller a bit and soon found myself in a debug menu. There appeared to be a level select, which had thirteen numbered levels, each with a name that was, presumably, the assassination target for a given mission.
The E3 demo consisted of the sixth of these missions, or at least part of one, and took maybe twenty minutes to complete. It’s unclear just how much longer the mission would actually be in the retail release, and it would probably be more challenging than what I played (Mondo Zappa seemed heavily buffed, if his health and blood meters were anything to go by). There are also other modes of play, beyond just the main story, so concerns as to the game’s length based purely on this would seem somewhat premature.