I'm going to come out and give it to you frankly: I enjoyed this game, and it was good. Nothing more. Nothing less. It levitates between everything and never strays too far into the bad and neither the brilliant. I enjoyed my time with the troublesome duo and their adventure through the run down and grotty areas of Shanghai.
The game sees Lynch - a recovering and medicated psychopath - a year or two after the events of Dead Men. Having set up a new life in China, Kane arrives to help him with one final deal. The deal that would put them through retirement without worry.
And then shit goes horribly wary. But, in an untraditional
method of story telling, there is nothing for Kane & Lynch to save or claim revenge for. (The only thing that was of revenge, was quickly solved.) Kane & Lynch are doing it for themselves, and no one else. Their main priority is escaping in one piece - deal or no deal. It's something to admire in the sea of earth savers and wars to win.
I'd like to point out the take on graphics - as has everyone else.
The entire game is done through what looks like a cheap camera phone or hand held camera, and uploaded onto Youtube. Lights create shines and different colours strewn across the screen and explosions and guns shots create a pixilated mess upon your screen. When running, the camera shakes side to side in a nauseating method, which can thankfully be turned off for those watching. What I noticed was, when in game, it didn't bother me; but when I stepped back, I began to get a little spaced. All in all, the graphics are pretty bog standard in this day and age. If the overlay wasn't in place, I would've never have mentioned anything about them other than, "meh." But with it all in place, it's fascinating to watch as it plays out.
From a gameplay stand, it's incredibly generic. Gone is the tactics and squad commands of the first, and in place is a decent third person shooter with an iffy cover mechanic. Seriously. Trying to get into and finding decent cover was a chore and were the only times I died repeatedly. But if it was polished up to scratch and cover placed where it would make a difference in a fire fight, this would be the guide book on how to make a third person shooter for dummies.
Guns did their part, but I have to request that you avoid all SMGs and assault rifles if possible, (although they are scattered every at the end,) as they will occasionally hit the target from a distance, and then on the other hand, the shotguns are almost sniper rifles at the range they can reach. I played through most of the game with a shotgun and pistol or magnum.
A neat feature added in is the "Down but not Dead." This is where you are floored, but can crawl to cover and recuperate, or stick around and try and bag yourself an achievement. In multiplayer it becomes a pain in the arse. As you blast someone with a shotgun, they might do the same. Both of you are down, shooting aimlessly and trying to get into cover. Some muppet wanders over, kills either yourself, (with you forfeiting whatever loot you have,) or kills the enemy, stealing your kill.
Multiplayer is pretty good. Or really good? Depends who you play with. I played a round of cops and robbers, and people were strategically planning out their game. It was fun to peg it out with a million dollars in my bag and escape. The other two modes are just variations of themselves. Fragile Alliance is where the team must escape together to bring in the big money, or one could turn on the group and escape with the cash himself. Undercover Cop is the same principle, barring one of the players is a cop who must bring down the team, without alerting the others or being killed himself. Undercover Cop requires you to play it cool and miss the NPC cops, but making it look like it wasn't deliberate at the same time.
Overall, I'd only give this a rent recommendation, due to it's length and rather briefly entertaining multiplayer. But if you want to find out what the terrible twosome are up to, and enjoy a bit of antiheroing, I'd heartily say pick this up from your rental store.
- Joel.
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