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by TheDCD on 08.17.10  The original Kane and Lynch: Dead Men was a little hard to take. It wasn’t the subject matter that was hard to swallow, nor the action that the game delivered. It was the fact that we’ve seen most of it before from the third-person perspective, and its short length in the main story mode didn’t do enough to keep us hooked for more than a few hours. Io Interactive and Square Enix have gone to greater lengths with the sequel, Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days, which features an interesting new visual style, along with multiplayer modes to go along with the single player action.
In the game’s story mode (which is about the same length as Dead Men’s, go figure), Kane and Lynch find themselves in Shanghai when they become embroiled in a gang war, due to an inadvertent decision or two. The only way out of this situation is through bloody revenge, and all sorts of crazy moments occur, from cars flipping over to exciting police shootouts to a stage where Kane and Lynch fight their way out completely naked, covered in blood. Again, it ends too abruptly for its own good, but it’s the journey, not the destination, and Dog Days does provide a better one than the first. Part of this is thanks to the game’s new visual style. It plays out like a reality TV show, complete with shaky cam effects, shocking camera movements and real-time environmental detail. It looks amazing, although there are times that the action gets a little too blurry for its own good. (Also, the Xbox 360 edition has some nasty problems with frame rate when you possess the shotgun, so you’ve been warned). The animation is nicely handled, and there’s no shortage of the red stuff, if you’re into that sort of thing. We also enjoyed the humorous censor effects, such as when Kane and Lynch are running around nude.
Another good part of the game is being able to play through it with a friend. Dog Days fully supports a co-op mode, so you can fight alongside a cohort. This definitely makes the game more fun than going through solo, although shooting guys is a good way to relieve some stress (even if they’re poor cops on the wrong beat). Multiplayer is also a strong component of the game, with sessions where you have one undercover cop and a bunch of robbers trying to snag as much cash as they can – and killing whoever gets in their way. There aren’t as many maps as we would’ve hoped, and the lag is a bit noticeable, but it beats what Dead Men had to offer. Io Interactive did a superb job with not only the game’s visuals, but also the audio. There are “F” bombs aplenty and all sorts of environmental noises that make you feel like you’re in the middle of Shanghai. Still, a more varied soundtrack would’ve been nice, something to add to the in-game intensity.
No matter. Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days won’t change the way you look at action games, but it does redeem the franchise to a certain degree, with a solid (if short) single-player campaign that also supports co-op. Multiplayer’s good, too, if you can withstand the shortcomings. These guys might just have a good future after all – if they can survive, that is.
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