Kane & Lynch has a plot that is rather heavily inspired by Hollywood action films. One is a gun for hire, while the other is a demented psychopath, medicated up to his eyeballs to keep him civil – hardly a great combination for an example of teamwork dynamics. Kane and Lynch hate each others’ guts, but they need to work together to save their respective hides, and the lives of those that they care about.
This is what happens when you reject a loan application
The mission that we played involved sneaking the duo into a bank vault to find a safe deposit box. In the single player game, players will control Kane, while in the co-operative game, both characters are playable. It’s pretty important to watch each other’s backs – after gassing the civilians, we encountered heavy resistance from the bank’s security, and it took a couple of tries for us to get accustomed with the way the game controls. It’s a bit tricky at first – players who’ve had a bash at Freedom Fighters should know what they’re getting into, but it’s not quite as tight as other games currently on the market. If either player falls, a shot of adrenaline can be given to provide a second chance.
One issue we had with Kane & Lynch is that the game is never particularly clear on what you have to do next. We fumbled around for ages trying to find out exactly what was needed at each point in the game. There’s a bit of a feeling of accomplishment when you do get it right, but those feelings are soon cut short by a bevy of bullets aimed at your head. The action in the game is thick and fast – the enemies are particularly threatening, and it’s crucial to take cover and ensure you cover your allies and partner where necessary. Of course, it’s not always possible to do that – several sections of the level saw our characters split up – Anthony was sent to the carpark to hold off the police, while I was sent to the bank vault to protect our associate while he cracked the safe and set explosives on the deposit boxes.
This Tokyo shootout was soon ended by an group of giant robots
With a Hollywood-style plot and production values to match, Kane & Lynch’s presentation is one of its biggest strengths. The game’s cutscenes are well directed, the environments are quite realistic and the character models and animation are very solid – good elements to have on their own, but IO Interactive has done a great job of tying them together. Throw in another quality soundtrack from Jasper Kyd, and you’ve got quite a package.
We were reasonably happy with the time we spent with Kane & Lynch. The game does have a few minor design issues, but the action is solid, the presentation is fantastic and the game is especially enjoyable in co-op. The game is out in North America now, so we can’t expect any changes from the copy of the game we played. Expect to see a full review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men on PALGN in early December.
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