Kane And Lynch 2: Dog Days Review
Developer: IO Interactive
Publisher: Eidos
Dog Days is the sequel to a game that in all honesty, nobody really wanted. The first outing for the duo was early on in console life cycles and was met with mixed response, but certainly didn’t warrant a sequel.
Still IO plowed on and produced a sequel.
On the face of it the game is actually quite promising. Documenting Lynch’s further descent into madness, the game takes place in Tokyo, and has an interesting art design. Created to look like a you tube video, the screen goes blurry when moving at speed, and there is blocky blurring of the textures to add to the authenticity. For the most part this works, and actually leads to a really good looking game.
The interesting multiplayer also makes a return seeing players work together to compete objectives and earn cash. The twist comes when it becomes possible for players to turn against their team mates and take them out, resulting in a bigger loot for those who make it to the end of the level. A further level of intrigue comes when the killed players re-spawn as police, tasked with taking down the robbers, making the balance between taking out your enemies close enough to the end that you can get away, and far enough away that they wont escape a lot of fun.
Sadly this is about where the fun for Dog Days ends. Initially interesting, the protagonists quickly become unlikeable and annoying. This becomes problematic when the game asks you to mow down countless numbers of enemies that the player is more likely to associate with than their own character.
The guns are also problematic. IO have opted to make the weapons more inaccurate, probably to make them look and feel more realistic, a nice idea In principle, but it ends up just being annoying rather than fun. There’s a reason most games don’t opt for this approach.
Kane and Lynch 2 is an entirely forgettable experience. It goes on about 2 hours too long, the characters are idiots, and the weapons are so inaccurate they can be unusable at times. If you loved the first game, and god knows why, then you’ll want to at least check this out, otherwise steer clear.
| Breakdown | Score |
| Graphics:The game looks good, and the YouTube like video effects are really nice for the most part. It can look a bit shiny when it rains but that’s about as bad as it gets. | 8/10 |
| Gameplay: Frustrating, annoying , and very often not fun, the mechanics generally work fine, but this does little to rescue the game. | 4/10 |
| Story:The main protagonists are absolute idiots with little to no redeeming features. There is a story, however, so if any story appeals to you then by all means take a look. | 4/10 |
| Replayability: It’s likely that most people wont even get to the end of one play through of this game, either due to pure frustration or just boredom. | 3/10 |
| Value For Money At: If there’s not much else to play and you really love 3rd person shooters then maybe this is worth a look. The multiplayer is the best thing about this game, so if that’s what you want from a game then don’t discount this game completely. | £20 |
| Overall: A sequel that nobody asked for or wanted. Buy it If you’re interested in the multiplayer, but don’t say we didn’t warn you. | 4/10Not Good |
