Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

"Craziness all around!"

Kane & Lynch is the new game from IO Interactive, the same people that brought us the acclaimed Hitman line of games. It captures the same kind of feel that Hitman presents, but focuses less on stealth-action, and more on tactical action, and not in-depth tactics like Ghost Recon, but just three simple tactics to assign to squad members like in Gears of War.

Just like the name of the game, you control either Kane or Lynch (or both in offline co-op). The story opens with Lynch breaking out Kane on a gang's behalf, but the campaign quickly turns into a big revenge plot. Both Kane & Lynch have huge personal problems that make for an interesting dynamic as the story progressed from weird to insane that placed Kane & Lynch robbing a bank, causing a prison riot, and leading an independent revolution.

The gameplay is fairly standard, with nothing spectacular, but for the most part it is a standard third person shooter, with a few faults. I had some problems with squad members obeying my direct command, as sometimes they wouldn't mind running into the heat of battle vastly outnumbered instead of trying to take cover. Taking cover can be kind of tricky too, it's not like Vegas or Gears where you press a button for cover, instead you just kind of automatically go into cover when you line up a certain way behind something, which proved to tricky on frequent occasions. My last gripe is that enemies wouldn't react to shots; it would seem like playing multiplayer where they wouldn't react to being hit until they fell down dead which gave them all the time in the world to fire back when attempting to reload or find more cover. A lot of these faults are minor though, and only get really aggravating several times through the campaign. Though they sure did urk me from time to time, I managed to get by them and enjoy the awesome mission variety and gripping story that Kane & Lynch delivered.

The multiplayer is also impressive. Playing co-op with a friend is fun, just make sure you have a big enough television for the action cause split screen co-op can limit the scope of action, and it is disappointing to see IO not make online co-op an option. I was surprised that IO forewent the normal deathmatch and instead came up with an innovative co-op/competitive multiplayer game called “Fragile Alliance” where everyone starts as robbers pulling off a job, and if you get taken down, you become a cop and must take out their former allies for a big bonus. This unique multiplayer variant was a lot of fun when there were matches available; as there was seemingly limitless possibilities to how any match could have unfolded.

Graphically, this game has a very similar look to Hitman, as Kane & Lynch and the supporting cast and enemies look like they were designed and animated right out of the Hitman games. This isn't a bad thing, though that engine is starting to age and it looks fine, I just don't know if this will hold up that well a few years down the line. Aurally, the soundtrack is amazing. Certain parts of the score kick in at just the right moments to add in to the intensity of the campaign, add in all the rampant gunfire surrounding you and it feels like being the center of attention in an action film.

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is a good game all around. The campaign is a blast to play through, though the aforementioned faults in gameplay may ruin the experience for some. If you can get by that, you are in for one heck of a story, and the online multiplayer is just as much fun and innovative to boot.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/04/09

Game Release: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (US, 11/13/07)