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Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days

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Average Customer Rating:	3.5
Release Date:	2010-08-17
Brand:	Square Enix
Model:	662248910093
Language:	Unknown: English;
Weight:	0.2 pounds
Dimensions:	5.4 inches x 7.54 inches x 0.59 inches [Width x Length x Height]

Product Categories

All Games; Shooter; Video Games Trade-In; Shooter; Mature

Product description

Experience 48 hours of hell with two of gaming’s most notorious criminals. In Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, Kane and Lynch face the consequences when a simple job gone wrong sets off a desperate and frantic struggle to escape the entire Shanghai underworld. Experience intense action in Single Player, online and offline Co-op, Fragile Alliance multiplayer and Arcade modes. Ground-breaking art direction, relentless action gameplay, and innovative multiplayer re-define the action-shooter experience and position this product from IO Interactive as the stand-out shooter of 2010.

Features

Kane and Lynch 2

Customer reviews

« GREAT GAME BUT TO SHORT! »

I played the first Kane and Lynch and liked it, at first i wasnt going to get this game but i had some credit on Amazon and decided to buy it and im glad i did. First off as everyone is saying this game is too short but its still fun, if you just like going around shooting stuff this is a great game to get. One of the first things i noticed is the way that it seems that there is a camera crew following you and when you run the camera shakes all over the screen which at first gets on your nerves but you get used to it also for some reason i still dont know why even though i looked it up they blur the head shots as in you kill a guy by a head shot you cant see his face after he dies my guess is the camera crew reason to make it look like there was a news crew following your every move. The shooting in this game is fun it basically seems you go on a revenge mission as Lynch most of the game but as Kane at the end of it and just shoot at any one with a gun in Shanghai. This is a fun action shoot em up game to get if you were a fan of the first game you will be of this the only problem i have with the characters is while playing Lynch you dont get to hear him going crazy all that much as you did when you played Kane in the first one which isnt really a problem its still doesnt match to the first one but its still a great shooter game to get and play thats why it still gets the five stars because it was what a game is suppose to be FUN. I will say that i havent not played any of the multiplayer so i cant tell you how that is because usually i buy these type of games for the story mode so youll have to look at someone elses review for that part but over all like i said 5 out of 5 on quality and 5 out of 5 on fun.

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2010-09-01

« short campaign... but great game overall. »

Unlike many people I was a fan of the first game... the story was solid and the multiplayer was ingenious. Unfortunately it was plagued by crappy controls, cover system, and shooting mechanics. NOT ANYMORE!

Kane and Lynch 2 is a great game... the story isn't nearly as "epic" as the first but it's still solid! Honestly my only complaint about the game is it's too short. Even considering the game takes place over the course of 2 days it's still short.

They took an "artsy" approach to this game and added a grain filter to make it look like you're being followed around by a COPS style camera man, personally I think they got lazy trying to clean up the graphics. When you run it shakes about like the cameraman is running. So far there is an option to turn of the shaky camera but no way to turn off the grain yet... maybe in one of the upcoming updates.

Anyways they totally revamped the gameplay mechanics which I am so glad...
* They adopted a Gears of War style cover system instead of clumsily dry humping a corner hoping the game recognizes they you are trying to get into cover.
* bullets typically go where you are aiming (as long as you're not trying to snipe with an Uzi)
* an actual sprint button added.

There are some things they dropped though... no more grenades and Lynch no longer wigs out and hallucinates. in place of grenades they borrowed from dead to rights where the character will find gas cans & fire extinguishers and throw then shoot them. Also no more squad commands.

A welcome new addition is an arcade mode of the heists where you can play by yourself with a bunch of AI bots... unlike previously where it was mandatory to get 3 friends to join up with you you can just play it by yourself now. If you betray them they will remember it in the next round... while I never had them turn on me without cause they would keep their guns on me and walk backwards a lot after I wiped out my entire team in the first round.

Honestly this game is solid but based on the length of the campaign I'd recommend waiting for it to come down in price unless you;re like me and the heist mode is your bread & butter.

Rating: (4 out of 5) @ 2010-08-27

« Doesn't live up to the first one »

After playing the first game, my expectations were not that high, but I was at least expecting a fun game, with an interesting story and a good co-op mode. The graphics are good, definitely better than the first, but graphics very rarely make a game fun. The difficulty settings seemed more accurate than the first, I played through the first game on the hardest difficulty in less than 8 hours, but this one I got stuck in the second round and had to change it to an easier difficulty setting just to get through it. In the end not a terrible game, the story is intersting although in my eyes not as good as the first, but the controls are unituitive and more difficult than the first and the fun factor was much lower than in the first.

Rating: (3 out of 5) @ 2010-08-27

« Kane and Lynch 2, action for you? »

When I played Kane and Lynch Dead Men I was caught up in in dangerous, fast-paced world that I encountered. The controls in the first game were the most difficult thing to accept along with a story that started out strong but didn't end the same way. Some time has passed since then and now along comes Kane and Lynch 2 Dog Days. All I can say is WOW they nailed this one. Before I go any further I must say that this is one of the "sleeper " hits of 2010.

I didn't expect to be blown away with such a gritty, action-packed romp. This game delivered where it matters most. The presentation is cinema-quality with it's voice acting and sound. The characters deliver spot on performances that make you feel their emotions at every twist and turn. The sound is perfect with booming explosions and gunfire along with excellent background music.

The controls are a great improvement from the first game with fluid and accurate movements and in my opinion and stand on its own with the big boy shooters like Call of Duty and Halo. The graphics are also well done with great attention to detail in every portion of the game. The gritty display and shaky-cam presentation is very movie like and will completely immerse you in this action packed game.

The game is a bit short by most folks standards at around 6 hours, however the game is very well placed and you don't feel at all like the story is rushed in any way. I anticipate downloadable content that will continue the story.

The multiplayer (which I typically shy away from) is comparable with some of the best around. The real fun is in the arcade mode. In arcade mode you face off against the computer in heist's similar to Halo ODST's firefight mode where you complete increasingly difficult rounds. This game also includes a co-op story mode that will be very fun for fans of split-screen gaming.

Kane and Lynch 2 Dog Days improves on all the downfalls of the first game and is easily one of the best shooters of 2010. Unfortunately due to its short story mode (again I felt it was just the right length) it will most likely be one of this year's most overlooked games. If you like action, great gun fights, an engrossing story and good multiplayer modes do yourself a favor and check this game out.

Rating: (4 out of 5) @ 2010-08-25

« A regrettable miss »

IO, one of my favorite studios which brought us the flawed but still beloved Hitman series, the almost classic Freedom Fighters and the very solid Mini Ninjas, took a second swing at their Kane and Lynch property and missed. Big time. I'm a fan of the first game which I always considered to be underrated. The first volume was visually attractive, adequately written, deliberately paced and, most importantly, simple fun. The second is none of these things. To compound this the second outing brings over the two biggest failings of the first in a poor aiming/cover scheme and NPC AI.

The most immediate thing the player will encounter is the new Hong Kong grindhouse/mockumentary cinematic aesthetic. This works in a delightful way in some of the best menus seen in some time. Regrettably it slides into disruptive, unattractive gimmick during actual gameplay. The effort to create an "in your face" and realistic atmosphere with flat haze effects and "hand cam" cinematography gets old, even sickening, very quickly. There isn't a sharp point or eye grabbing effect in the entire 4 to 8 hour game. It's as if your watching a home movie filmed with a cheap video camera that a dozen children have wiped their greasy fingers on. Sprinting for any extended duration actually gave me a headache.

This general "feel" IO was shooting for permeates other elements of the game in unfortunate and undesirable ways. In a universe that is supposed to be dark and unforgiving one would expect the gameplay to reflect. Instead gimmick again triumphs in the "censored" effects. That's correct, the designers thought players would think it was cool that head shots result in a "blurred" effect over the enemy's heads. It's just like in cheap import movies or a documentary. Yuck, yuck, get it guys? This is also done with crotches. You can watch people be stripped nude and tortured with razorblades just no penises allowed.

The terrible art direction might be forgiven if the gameplay was solid. Unfortunately for the genre fan the aiming mechanic borders on infuriating. The first two hours of the game will be spent with garbage weapons behind a unresponsive and uncooperative target reticle. It's not that the aiming is difficult, it's simply poorly designed. By the final level in the game the player should have figured out how to "game" the targeting and so will simply breeze through with their top of the line weapons scoring blurred headshot after blurred headshot on opponents playing peek-a-boo from their cover. In addition to a poor shooting experience Kane and Lynch 2 falls desperately short on the second most important aspect of the cover driven third person shooter: the cover mechanic. For a game which demands the use of cover a well executed and intuitive cover mechanic is an absolute must. The one found here is wonky and troublesome. The player is forced, often through trial and error, to "run and flop", "run and flop", over and over again from cover to cover. There is no organic or natural sliding effects and most levels are poorly enough designed where the directional "from cover to cover" mechanic is a rare and often unneeded treat instead of an ever present natural flow.

This ties into the poor AI. In most levels the player is rewarded by rushing the spawn points of the enemy. By covering the distance quickly with a machine gun or semi-auto shotgun the game's predictable spawn points are easy to dominate. Even if the enemy does reach cover they begin their game of cement shoe peek-a-boo where they crouch in one spot and pop out ever 4.7 seconds to fire at you for 2.3 seconds. Repeat. On occasion an enemy will close and if he does so on a flank you would hope to be covered by your AI partner you will die. Every time.

I will briefly mention the storyline so as not to "give it away". Well, what little there is to give away. It essentially starts as a "get the girl" plot line and then moves to "uh-oh, gotta get out of Dodge" storyline. There isn't a lot going on and the little depth the story has is lost in the medium of its presentation. If you're paying attention you'll get it and it's not awful but it makes little tangible difference to the enjoyment you will or will not get out of the game. It's the sad looking orange slice next to your three pounds of hash browns. Hope you really like oranges.

The final point to cover is the multi-player. Considering the pathetically short campaign I hoped for a robust multi-player experience with exciting maps, weapons and diabolical backstabbing. The multi-player I got was borderline broken. The three play styles are conceptually fun (Fragile Alliance, Undercover Cop, Cops and Robbers) but functionally disappointing. In the confined areas of the maps and short playtimes there is neither substantial opportunity or real incentive to actually plan a double cross on your opponents. Cops are given little incentive other than to wait their turn to be robbers again. This is aggravated by a terrible selection of weapons. The few weapons that are worth your time are unlockable by DLC that has yet to be released but I'm sure you'll be asked to pay for. The overly healthy amount of life given in the single player campaign translates to muliplayer as well. This results in frequently needing multiple players to even kill even a single opponent, circling him and pouring magazine after magazine into them like a pack of wolves with Parkinson's bringing down a Moose. The alternative is to try to get really, really close and shotgunning him before he can turn around and back up 10 feet. There goes your well laid trap or the need to ever, ever use the cover mechanic in multiplayer.

All of this is not to say the game is totally devoid of redeeming features. The cut scenes take much better to the chosen aesthetic than the gameplay. Both the cut scenes and the choreography of the players draw effectively from popular culture and media sources such as Heat even if they do so a little too heavy handedly. The checkpoints are set out in a way that is convenient and almost invisible. Many of the pacing and mechanical issues are slowly resolved through the game and by the time you get to the final levels it is almost fun. Of course it also abruptly ends at that same point.

The bottom line is that if you're a huge genre fan this game is worth a rent just so you can see what it is that IO tried to do here. It's not a totally broken game so it might just be worth that $10 or an occupied slot in your Gamefly account. On the other hand there is little here to recommend this game to the casual or non-genre fan. One thing that is true for all parties though is that at well under 10 hours playtime and a broken multi-player experience this game does not deserve a retail purchase. I have to give this game two stars. It deserves 1.5 stars but since it's not literally broken, it began to come around at the end and it had glimmers of true creative competence I'm going to say two.

Pros:
*Awesome menus
*Well constructed check point system
*At least tried to bring fresh ideas to multi-player
*Reliable servers
*Some intense cut scenes

Subjective qualities/food for thought:
*Fairly easy
*Didn't try to be anything other than a noir 3rd person shooter
*Kane and Lynch are back in all their nihilistic glory
*The music sets an unexpected vibe

Cons:
*Art direction so bad it's insulting
*Gummy shooting mechanics
*Fumbling cover mechanics
*Predicable AI
*Obvious spawn points
*Aborted storyline