Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days (PC/PS3/X360) Review

Play with a friend or not at all.

Welcome to the blood stained streets of Shanghai. You hear the bustle of busy streets, the scent of restaurants and the stench of back alley garbage. Will you enter the seedy underground ruled by mobsters and thugs? Do you have what it takes to make it out alive? Your name is Lynch. You have a knack of murder and a love of blood. Welcome to Dog Days.

The story is trite and underdeveloped. It is simply a revenge fantasy, nothing more. If, perhaps, the characters grew or developed throughout the mere four-hour story mode, I would feel something for their predicament. The narrative tries to tug on heartstrings with lost loves and estranged relationships but misses its mark. Instead, Kane and Lynch are the same murderers at the end of the tale as they were at the beginning. Many moments where a plot twist or character development would fit naturally are instead filled with violence. Lynch’s response to gentlemanly conversation comes from the barrel of a gun. 

Combat is a straightforward third person shooter that relies heavily on the cover system. If you’re away from cover in combat, Lynch will become a corpse almost instantly. The enemy AI is endowed with the innate ability to pistol snipe you from superhuman distances while, seemingly, knowing your exact location at all times. There were occasions where I flanked a group of enemy units. These units immediately began attacking my AI partner. The second I turned the corner to engage the targets, every single one immediately turned towards my positions before I could fire a single shot.

However, AI Kane seems to have caught a severe case of stupid. A solo player going through the story will be forced to kill ninety percent of the enemies. Your AI partner, at best, is a temporary distraction for enemy fire. There are also times where he will not even enter a firefight, conceivably re-lacing his digital shoes in another room, leaving you to be flanked by swarms of armored, assault rifle toting soldiers. You cannot issue orders to make fights simpler. The only advantage to his existence is that he cannot be killed by enemy fire.

Aiming has been greatly improved. The actual shooting aspects are quite stellar. The controls are tight and responsive. I found that as long as I was within the affective range of whatever gun I had on hand, there were very few misses that were not my error. Weapons are a standard affair: pistols, submachine guns, rifles, shotguns, and light machine guns, and are rather unmemorable. One gun has no perceivable difference besides ammo capacity and recoil than any other weapon in its category. A shotgun by any other name fires buckshot as sweetly. Bullet physics are also quite enjoyable; giving the player the ability to affectively destroy portions of the environment gives a realistic feel. Ammunition can penetrate and destroy some cover, such as wooden fences, cubical walls, and couches.

For all the realism and detail that was put into the environment – all the settings were littered with common items making the rooms quite immersive – the textures were supremely sub par. Walls and floors are lazily colored and textured in large blotches of colors. It simply does not stand up to other high profile titles and the quality we have come to expect with this current generation of gaming. Character models are spot on; however, clothing, hair, and skin texture are just off. At times, you looked more like a shiny doll than an actual member of the human race. Lip-syncing also never quite matched up.

Where the graphics and textures seemed feeble, the sound shined. Levels full of the ambient noise of vehicles screeching through the streets and people moving and talking drew me into the environments more. Battles took place in market places and stores, each with a unique ambiance now punctuated by the sound of gunfire and explosions. Tense theme music is added to fight sequences, giving the player an uneasy calm in between firefights. At times, the gunfire seemed to detract from the soundtrack, as it boomed above all the ambient noises and theme music.

The voice acting, on the other hand, was hit or miss. The main characters have very good performances by their actors, but minor characters are just cliché. The writing is less than ideal, calling for the actors to curse every four words. Yes, I know these are bad men. They kill people. You don’t need to point it out every time they open their mouths.

Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days supports split screen and online coop and also sports three online multiplayer modes (Fragile Alliance, Cops and Robbers, and Undercover Cop). The coop is far more enjoyable then simply playing the title alone, avoiding the frustration of poor AI. The multiplayer modes are a fun addition and add a bit of time to this short story, but the multiplayer also seems to be repetitious, often ending in roughly the same way.

At the end of the day, Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days is not a perfect title. The graphics are poor, and the settings are unoriginal. But the game play mechanics are crisp and fun, the sound is lovely, and the details are enjoyable to explore. If you can look past the derivative story and have a Coop partner, this might be a title for you. Overall, it is a very fun title with fairly good replay value if the multiplayer is your cup of tea, but not as polished or critically brilliant as it could have been. If you are a fan of the first, looking for a good third person shooter, or are looking for solid coop gameplay, then you should take a good look at this title.

- Ben

        Story:                 12/25

        Gameplay:          15/30

        Graphics:            11/20

        Audio:                 12/15

        Replayability:        7/10

Total: 57/100    Meh