Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days Review:

In 2008, IO Interactive, famed developer behind the Hitman franchise, took a risk on a bold new IP called Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, a game which despite its decidedly adult criminal theme and innovative co-op/multiplayer modes was welcomed with mixed reviews. Fast forward to the summer of 2010, where co-op is now the new "Bullet-Time" and the Xbox 360's hardcore shooter audience has further fragmented into subdivisions all craving something new and different to supplement their Halo/CoD/Battlefield cravings. Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days appears to bring all the goods to be a hit this time: a fresh and intrepid visual style, online-co op and a new-and-improved Fragile Alliance multiplayer mode. Will it be enough to earn IO Interactive the big score?

Set a few years after events of Dead Men, a lucrative "deal" lures the now weary and desperate career criminal Adam 'Kane' Marcus to the seedy underworld of Shanghai where he is reunited with former partner in crime and medicated psychopath James Seth Lynch. While Kane is still estranged from his daughter and only family, Lynch has somehow managed to eke out a decent living as a debt-collector and has found some contentment in a relationship with a younger Chinese woman named Xiu. Like Kane, Lynch hopes this deal will finally set him up for life. The plan all goes to hell however when one of Lynch's side jobs gone awry results in Kane accidentally killing off an important figure in the Shanghai criminal underworld, and in an instant, Kane and Lynch's priorities must switch from securing their deal to simply escaping the consequences and getting out of Shanghai with Xiu alive.

The tagline teaser on the back of the box proclaims "Experience 48 Hours of Hell", and in terms of pacing, Kane and Lynch's campaign mode holds true to this description. Much like the disembodied cameraman who provides the jerky, video documentary-style POV over Lynch's shoulder for the majority of the game, the player is thrust right into the middle of Kane and Lynch's nightmare-cum-reality as they attempt to escape from Shanghai and what would seem like the entirety of both the city's police force and its organized crime elements, moving from one hyper-violent shoot out to the next. Not to give too much away, but Kane and Lynch are in for a BAD couple of days, and we're talking REALLY bad, as in the Jack Bauer or John McClane variety, multiplied by two, and that's just the stuff that happens in the cinematics. In addition, the game has 11 chapters of nearly non-stop run and gun action, with enemies that increase in number and lethality with each encounter. So when the game approaches its third act and our anti-heroes (who all throughout the game have shown no signs of being in Shanghai for nothing other than complete self interest nor having any sort of true military training) turn around and head back into the belly of the beast Rambo-style for a little revenge, the plausibility of the story falls flat on its face. Granted, few people who are planning to pick this game up will be interested in the plot, but it's a shame, given the game's potential for a serious, engaging adult story.

Gameplay:

Anyone who is familiar with Gears of War or any other recent 3rd person shooter will be able to jump right into Dog Days with very few adjustments. The popular 'roadie run' has been replaced by a more realistic middle-aged sprint befitting of the ageing Kane and Lynch, and is assigned to the Left Bumper rather than the A Button. In a cool twist on the 'wounded crawl' from Gears, the Left Bumper can also be used to speed up crawling on one's back when the player has been temporarily incapacitated from the impact of an explosion or gunshot wound, in order to reach cover and get back up safely. Fortunately, players who have been knocked down can get back up on their own without the help of their co-op partner, and they can even try to get up immediately in the open if it suits them, but they are extremely vulnerable in this state and can easily become easy pickings for their enemies (especially in multiplayer), so finding cover fast is essential to survival. Players can also blind-fire from cover and transition from cover to cover as well, just like in...wait for it...Gears of War. Gears had a great formula, so why mess with it, right?

The problem is that IO Interactive essentially stopped there, leaving much to be desired in the combat system's execution beyond the basics. For example, there are literally no explosive devices in the game aside from gas canisters, fire extinguishers and acetylene tanks that can be picked up, thrown and then later ignited by gunfire, or stationary gas and/or chemical tanks which can be shot to achieve the same effect. While it makes sense that thugs like Kane and Lynch would have little experience with military grade weaponry in the first half of the game, where they are essentially up against local Shanghai gangs and low pay-grade mercenaries, the story eventually escalates to the point where they are engaging in regular firefights with Chinese SWAT teams and even private military, where one would think that they would at least be able to salvage some hand-grenades from some of the dead bodies. Even if they had grenades however, it's unlikely they would be very effective against the enemy as the game also lacks an accurate targeting system for throwing explosives. The player can only aim with the reticule in the general direction of the intended target and hope for the best. Pulling RT while looking in the direction of the thrown object will prompt the player's character to aim, fire, and detonate the explosive automatically, which is great for clearing out a group of oncoming enemies in a pinch, but since there is no guarantee where the makeshift bomb will land, using this method becomes almost as dangerous a proposition for the player as it is for the target.

Shockingly, Dog Days' combat system also lacks any sort of melee attack whatsoever. Kane and Lynch can put nearby enemies (not civilians, strangely) into a choke-hold and either execute them or use them as human shields, but in order to do so they need to be quick enough to get the jump on the enemy first, or attack the enemy directly and risk being shot at point blank range. Unfortunately most players will find themselves doing much of the latter because the game's stealth mechanic boils down to simply moving while crouching and hoping you get lucky. While the game makes several attempts to make you feel as though there is a silent or non-lethal way to infiltrate a level, in the end the exercise is futile. You will always be seen or discovered eventually and have to shoot your way out.

The end result is a campaign mode that hinges almost entirely on repetitive shooting gallery-level mechanics alone, which would be far more distressing if the actual shootouts were not so entertaining. Fortunately, What Dog Days has in its favour is a wide variety of guns that are fun to unleash on the AI and multiplayer opponents, as well as an unrelenting assortment of venues all over Shanghai complete with destructible cover and objects to rip apart with your bullets, including downtown slums, high-rise offices, and even an entire airport. And while the above flaws also make their way into the game's multiplayer modes, so do all the benefits, including even more original levels that are just as fun to play in.

Graphics:

Without question, IO Interactive deserves to be commended for bravely choosing an edgy, thematic visual style and following it through to completion. While the grainy, low-res video camera filter look has been done before in games such as Manhunt, never has it been done with such panache. A large part of the appeal is due to the aforementioned disembodied cameraman, who not only appears to follow Kane and Lynch in their desperate attempt to escape Shanghai like a silent third fugitive, but also but also edits the footage on the fly (e.g. "COPS"-style mosaics are immediately thrown up over exposed genitals or when an enemy, civilian or even the player him or herself takes a fatal gun blast to the face, and dramatic cutscenes in-between stages are cut in a gritty, violent style matching the dark mood and nature of the game). While there is actually no one behind the camera, IO doesn't shy from continuing to play with the concept throughout the game, allowing the camera to be rocked by explosions that are powerful enough at times to interrupt the video signal and making the screen freeze, or at one point, having a SWAT policeman shove his hand in front of the lens to conceal the brutality Kane and Lynch are being subjected to during a cinematic.

Graphic tarts should not be misled by the retro-filter effects however, as Dog Days is brimming with detail. From the protagonists Kane and Lynch themselves to the Chinese civilians that mill about in the streets, alleyways and slums, the game's character models are highly detailed, especially in the face, and it is only on closer inspection that one takes notice of the recycling of certain characters. The benefits of course is a game that moves at a rock-solid 60-frames per second (a perfect match for the Betacam video aesthetic), and large numbers of enemies that can quickly flood a room and overwhelm the player just enough that survival from a firefight is never 100% guaranteed. Each environment is also rendered to look as lifelike as possible and at the very least is about 10-30% destructible, making each of the game's aforementioned shooting-gallery set-pieces extremely fun for players to tear up and attempt different strategies on multiple playthroughs. The same is true for the multiplayer character models and levels, which often feature scripted in-game spectacles in the opening seconds that are at times even more impressive than those in the campaign, such as a bomb exploding in a downtown subway station platform that sends panicked civilians and thick clouds of smoke pouring out of a tunnel while the criminals are running in, or an armoured bank van being violently rammed off a bridge just before the players pillage the crash site for its valuable contents. Most importantly, Dog Days' visuals are incredibly consistent, as virtually all the cinematics use in-game assets or take place within the game itself