There Is No Happy Anything...
In my original review of Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, I talked about how players should not be entering the story with any hopes of happy anything. Rather, as in stories like Max Payne, moments of tragedy and death are broken up periodically by scenes of running. There were no real "happy" endings in Kane and Lynch, and there is no joy to be had for our anti-heroes in the sequel. I should warn, if you are intending on playing Kane and Lynch 1, there are spoilers in this review.
Kane and Lynch is short, perhaps five hours long, and the multiplayer is nonexistent, at least on the PC version. The camera bobbing can be turned off in the game's settings, which is a plus for those of you who suffer motion sickness. If you haven't played Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, you won't miss out on anything other than a few tiny references to events that occurred in the first game.
Following the events of Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, Kane has gone off on his own while Lynch has moved to Shanghai to get away from it all, and start a new life with his girlfriend Xiu. As his Swan Song, so to speak, Lynch takes up an offer to smuggle guns to Africa, and enlists the aid of Kane. The two are tasked with dealing with an informant, leading to an incident where the informant's girlfriend is shot by Kane, and the informant commits suicide. As one might expect, the girlfriend was the daughter of a very corrupt government official, and Kane and Lynch just sparked a major gang war. Now Lynch wants out to protect Xiu, and Kane still wants to complete the deal, so he can protect his daughter Jenny.
The first thing you'll notice about the game is the art direction, namely the hand-held camera effect. Kane and Lynch is played through the eyes of a drunken (presumably) cameraman. The effect is not as noticeable while walking, but sprinting will cause the camera to shake and bounce. Io Interactive went to great lengths to add in artificial artifacting, light reflection, realistic bobbing, and other features. Explosions going off near the camera will overload the picture and the microphone, leaving you with a disorientating mix of bloom and muffled static. Lynch's own violent psychosis plays to the story, and you will regularly be treated to his inner monologue, as he struggles to keep his sanity together. It will be Kane's duty, throughout the story, to keep Lynch in check. I haven't been able to find out if the cameraman is canon or not. In numerous cutscenes, characters will visually acknowledge the camera's presence by giving short glances at it, and in one scene a character places his hand over the lens and pushes the camera away, but no one verbally acknowledges that a man carrying a camera (or a flying camera) is following the duo.
Players take control of Lynch for the great majority of the single player campaign, and the game takes up the third person role many of you will be accustomed to. IO Software has made some improvements to the engine, however, as players now have more freedom to move around while in cover, and the cover system is just more functional all around. The cover system still suffers from inconsistency in difficulty getting into and getting out of cover, however, and just like the last game being in cover is not a guarantee that you are out of your enemy's crosshair.
The squad based system that appeared in Kane and Lynch has long since retired. Considering the deaths of Kane and Lynch's "squad" from the original game, I'm guessing they haven't had time to look at resumes for fill-ins, and as such there is no cavalry to arrive and save the day. There are one or two scenes where you team up with Glazer, your partner in the weapons deal, and his men, but you have no direct control over their actions. Kane and Lynch are always together, and Kane does a fine job taking care of himself. Kane may be also incapable of dying, and the adrenaline system used to save downed allies from the original appears to be dead and gone.
Speaking of AI, the intelligence of your enemies, as well as your partner, has significantly increased. Your enemies fight like soldiers, as Lynch puts it early on in the game, generally because they are soldiers in several instances. The type of guns used play a major part in the diversity, but you'll fight everything from low street thugs to high-kevlar well trained military units. Your guns in the beginning of the game are low power, inaccurate, cheap submachine guns and pistols that chew through ammo like it's going out of style, and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from ten paces. As you progress through the game, you'll have access to much better weaponry, including high powered assault rifles, a mounted machine gun, shotguns, and sniper rifles. Each weapon handles noticeably different from its brothers and sisters.
Keep in mind, however, that your enemies are now intelligent enough to flank you. Kane and Lynch 2 is less Kane and Lynch 1 and more Brothers In Arms in the sense that a lot more emphasis is placed on the cover system. Walking out into the open is a recipe for an early death, and several firefights in the game are just long enough to make going back to your save point a real pain. Firefights get intense enough that you may not notice the single soldier making his way down the right hand side, only to find out when he's behind you, pumping an entire clip of his assault rifle in your ass.
Kane and Lynch, as well as the opposition NPCs, are still bullet sponges and can take a surprising number of shots to the face before going down. Rather than killing you outright, you'll be knocked down, where you have a second chance to crawl your way into cover, and continue your shooting rampage. Your health bar is gone, with your status indicated by how much grit and blood is covering the camera.
Kane and Lynch: Dog Days is not worth the full $50 asking price that it was when it released in August and remains at many retailers, and the fact that I found the game on clearance at Target is an indication that long term sales aren't going too well. If you can find it on clearance, more power to you. Otherwise, those of you who use rental systems should give it a week long rent on the 360 or PS3. The week will be more than long enough to get through the single player campaign.
I gave Kane and Lynch: Dog Days on the PC a 4 star rating because it is, at its core, a pretty standard third person shooter with pretty effects and a short campaign. What it does right, it does well, and a small number of frustrations are easily put out of the way in leu of a gripping story filled with death and personal destruction. The multiplayer, however, is nonfunctional (as there are no players) and the cover system still needs work before it can be fully functioning, but should a Kane and Lynch 3 ever come out, perhaps the third time will be a charm.
There is no indication that a third Kane and Lynch will be made, however, although the second ends with enough leeway to segue into another sequel.
