User Review : Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

"Dead Men" How right were they?

Just as ugly as Lynch himself
Quite often we can over complicate things and go into to much detail to describe things, when really they could be described in one word. So if I had to describe the art direction and overall impression of this games graphics engine it would have to be “dull” Heres some meanings I found while cycling through the dictionary. causing boredom; tedious; uninteresting not lively or spirited, not intense or acute, and lacking keenness of perception in the senses or feelings. All these meanings suit it down to a T. This is immensely disappointing as the IO Interactive team were behind the Hitman series which was famous for its ability to take the PS2 to its limits. Infact that could be the problem, as I swear some parts of this game could be done in a AAA PS2 game.

Its not all bad news though as it does have its moments in the sun. For one thing the pair of Kane and Lynch have been modelled quite well, and despite some very lame effects there’s a few moments were the lighting has been done brilliantly well. There’s also one particular mission that deserves a mention. it’s a mission which involves you and your psychopath buddy to walk through a packed to the rims night club. And when I say “packed to the rims” I mean it literally, There’s defiantly more then 500 characters on the screen at once dancing and get this, unsynchronised as well, without a frame rate stubble in sight, take note EA. The cut-scenes aint half bad either. The problem is that these moments a few and far between.

A Jack Thompson wet-dream
Sadly the game doesn’t get much better in the sound department either. But if you’re a fan of a word that begins with F and ends with UCK which most gamers are because of frustration well then you may well have found your new favourite game. There’s more swearing in this game then I’ve had hot dinners. But besides this obvious perk in the game there’s some solid voice acting going on. Not only in cut scenes is the voice acting top notch but the conversations and arguments that Kane and Lynch have during gameplay have been done greatly as well. But it seems as if the voice acting was the only aspect in sound that got any attention as the rest is all pretty generic stuff.

Talk about "Dead men"
The strongest element of the gameplay is what your there for. The story, while original is still very believable. I mean these two men are despicable nut jobs and yet your right there feeling every bump of the ride and hoping all goes well through to the end. This leads onto some great character development. Listen to me I sound more like Peter Jackson more then a game reviewer. But I guess that just shows the similarities between movies and films are getting bigger and bigger. The character development is summed up brilliantly towards the end of the game were you the gamer have to make a moral decision. I wont go onto any further detail as it would just ruin the whole thing for those of you who have yet to play it yet. As the story progresses your chucked into a number of ridiculous situations, and this is another facet that this game doesn’t get enough credit for. One moment your in your own daughters grave trying to protect her while a mansion sized truck is trying to run you over, and just to top it of there’s gunman on this truck trying to pop you of. Another situation has you breaking into and out of a bank in a van as a getaway vehicle, and then cops hot on our tail trying to bring down justice on yo a$$. Most missions genuinely will be memorable, in reality I would say some of the missions I played through were some of the most entertaining and exciting I’ve seen in a video game.

I haven’t had to point out many gripes in a game in my short reviewing career but boy am I getting my fare share here. And well…I’m just getting started unfortunately. A little game called “Gears of War” introduced a new trend in gaming and that was having a fully dedicated cover system, many have tried to duplicate it and so many have failed, and well this is just another you can add to that long list. The problem is, is that there’s no certain button you have to press, it all depends on player position. This leads to a lot of 50-50 moments were your not quite sure if the game will pull you into cover mode, which makes for many frustrating moments. And all this does is build up anger to release some more 4 letter words.

There’s not a lot this game does right when it comes to playing the darn thing but perhaps its strongest element that has been forgotten by most, is the squad element. First of all the control scheme is clunky, but your squad is more useful then most will think. You have the option of controlling them as a team, or you can go for the more complex outlook and command them separately, which means you can have your guys spread all over the battlefield taking care of there sections. What also makes them helpful is the fact you can swap weapons with them or just nab some ammo from them if your running short. But just as I mention something good about this game I have to bring it back down with yet another con. We should all know how smart…err…sorry, how dumb Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson are, yes?, I would normally say “dumb as two planks”..well hey I guess I’ am saying that in a way. The two blondes being the two planks. Hows that aye? Not bad? What the f**k is this kat on about your probably asking yourself, I ask myself that same question everyday. But what I’m trying to lead onto is how dumb the AI is in this game. The cover system that I was talking about before is arguably the main reason for this. Ya see the AI has just as much trouble as you do trying to get to cover. And quite often you will find your enemy on the side of the wall in plain sight, and he’s thinking he’s in cover so he Doesn’t re-act. This is not the only time you will see your enemy taking no notice of what’s going on. You could hassle free, pop of two of three enemies in a tight situation and yet the third and final enemy will not move a muscle.

Meh Ive had it.
I only rented this game, as I knew it was doomed from the start, so in turn I didn’t have enough time to get online. So yet again I only have the word on the street to go by. And from what I hear its like $h!t sex. Good while it last’s but will wear of after that. Plus with only 4 maps, the lasting appeal will die out pretty quickly I’d say. You would also think there would be online co-op as this is made for that type of mode and yet were left dissapointed once again.

Conclusion:
There certainly wasn’t a lack of hype around the release of this title. And this was perhaps its undoing, as it set the mark a bit to high and the game just try’s to hard. This was the overall impression I got anyway. The graphics on one hand are some of the blandest I’ve seen in a next gen title, the gameplay is as loose as a goose, haha I’m a poet and don’t know it. Certainly it has its moments for sure, but this is a title that does not do the IO Interactive team justice as they are much better then this.

Stick to Hitman I say
At time of print, there was no official word from IO Interactive of a sequel, and to be honest lets hope it stays that way. However Hollywood is making more progress with news apparently stating that Kane and Lynch is next in line to receive the film adoption treatment. I hope this is true as I can honestly say it would probably make a better action flick then a game. However if they were to make a sequel to this game, heres a few major points that they will need to look at.
-Re-vise the control scheme
-Chuck the current cover system, and start from scratch
-Polish up on the visuals.
-Re-vamp the AI
-Improve level design.