The UK Official Xbox Magazine has published its Kane & Lynch 2 review - and given the sequel a seductive 9/10.
The mag's whopping six-page review, which indicates that the sequel is a huge step up from the first Kane & Lynch, kicks off by praising Dog Days' audio.
The game comes without a musical score, which means 'an ungodly amount of time and effort has been spent solely on the ambient noises of Shanghai', says OXM.
So impressed is OXM with the title's sounds, it says the audio "surpasses even Dead Space in its craftsmanship". Praise indeed.
"Yeah, yeah," we hear you cry, "but how does it play?"
Very nicely, as it turns out. OXM's Kane & Lynch 2 review reads: 'The no-expense-spared attitude to audio is found in everything, from voice acting to writing, to visuals, to the shooting, to the level design, to the multiplayer to the beautiful main menu.'
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days
181:43 "Welcome to Shanghai" trailer
- Now playing
- More videos
- Share this
The story is praised for not 'force-feeding you plot', but comes with a warning that there's 'some genuinely disturbing stuff in Dog Days'. Not for the kids, then.
It plays 'faster than Gears Of War' - and that's not the last comparison to Epic's series. OXM calls Kane & Lynch 2 a game 'with less room for thought than Gears, but one containing more moments of rigid panic'.
Co-op is solid and - unlike the first game - is playable over Xbox Live, something OXM calls 'massively important'.
The mag knocks off that magic point because of the final third which it says veers into the 'ridiculous', and there are some gripes about 'slippiness in the way that characters animate and attach themselves to cover'
Overall, though, the 'stunningly detailed levels', 'great shooting' and 'gorgeous audio' are more than enough to make Kane & Lynch 2 a bit special.
The full six-page review is in OXM issue 63, which is with subscribers now and out in shops this week. Buy your copy of OXM and have it delivered to your door.
Comments
20 comments so far...
pmantis on 2 Aug '10 said:
What console is it better on?
I am a graphics whore and need pleasing.
mogel94 on 2 Aug '10 said:
God damn this comes out while Im in Egypt. NOOOO!!!
anytime on 2 Aug '10 said:
Going to get this, the atmosphere is intense and i want it now. (review mafia 2 please)
Miss_Wacy on 2 Aug '10 said:
wow didnt expect this to score so high, def getting it this month along with mafia 2
Mark Hayhurst on 2 Aug '10 said:
If you're a graphics whore you should be buying a top end gaming PC. Then you'll always have it on the platform it looks best on.
voodoo172 on 2 Aug '10 said:
I've played the demo on PS3 and tbh I wasn't that impressed with it, to me latley it seems a lot of tps's are very samey.
Fair enough on the score, maybe it's just not my cup of tea.
thedriffter50 on 2 Aug '10 said:
A 9 out of 10 ? LOL what a joke...I played the demo twice...first I enjoyed the MP but the second time it was basically unplayable.
Just a warning to you who are suspicious about the high review...Remember the first Kane & Lynch ? The devs bribed GameSpot to give them a good review but the reviewer couldn't go through with it and got fired.
Dont trust the reviews Kane & Lynch deserves to go to flopcity.
ledickolas on 2 Aug '10 said:
9/10?? Really??
The demo didn't communicate AAA to me. It seemed a bit bug riddled and just a tad generic.
I'm really not keen on the graphic style either, I like different but it's really jarring, I thought it would give me an epileptic fit. And I'm not a sufferer.
To be fair to it, it was far better than the first but still didn't illicit any excitement from me. I tried, I played it three times.
Maybe it's just not for me?
Silentbob293 on 2 Aug '10 said:
Demo's take a lot of time to develop, Who knows what stage the demo was produced and what code it utilized, older build. So it is possible the Demo is not representative of the final product, AI and other mechanics could be different in the final build. It is a possibility.
glennerzzz on 2 Aug '10 said:
mafia 2 got a 7...
JD_Method on 2 Aug '10 said:
So what are you saying? If anyone likes the game, they must be being paid off?
People have opinions, and sometimes yours differs. I'm not a big fan of Halo or Gears of War, yet they've consistently gotten high scores. You just have to agree to disagree.
And I don't think the actual developers had anything to do with the whole Gamespot thing. They've been quite open about it and said how awful it was to be caught in the middle of all of that. Nobody really knows what happened. There's no concrete proof.
And no, the game doesn't deserve to flop. The first game had its flaws but it was still really enjoyable, and the second one seems to have been improved immensely. So you didn't like the demo? Fair enough. I did and so did many others, and I'll be pre-ordering this game soon.
FlimFlam on 2 Aug '10 said:
The clue there is in the 'I played the demo twice' bit. Hardly the staunchest qualification for an informed opinion on the whole experience... The game should flop because you didn't like a 10 minute snap shot of the game?
I thought the Skate 3 demo was poor, but the game was ace. If it isn't your thing then fine, but to spout a load of utter nonsense in an attempt to... Ah, I dunno what you were trying to do to be honest. Make yourself look like a troll? Congrats, mission accomplished.
I thought the demo was ok... didn't grab me as a must buy, but that's a pretty decent score there. As always, I will be waiting to see what Edge say...
thedriffter50 on 2 Aug '10 said:
@JD_Method - Fair enough but you will find out when you get it how bad it is.
@FlimFlam - Just because I played it twice doesn't mean I don't know what i'm talking about. I played twice but I played very enough to get the feel of the game.
I never want to give negative comments to any games but when a games this bad I just have to give my opinions and i'm not '' trolling ''. Tell me what's the point of the internet if we can't Bi*** ?
JD_Method on 2 Aug '10 said:
With respect, I've played and enjoyed a lot of games which people would call terrible. The Saboteur, Turok, Mercenaries 2, Serious Sam HD, Watchmen and of course the first Kane & Lynch all come to mind. Those games weren't met with glowing reviews across the net but I had great fun with all of them.
I'll make up my own mind whether it's bad or not, thanks.
gnokgnik on 3 Aug '10 said:
The demo sucked. End of story. If the demo's not representative for the game, well hell, why bother with a demo...?
FlimFlam on 3 Aug '10 said:
You must be able to see that the quality of demo's vary greatly though, surely? Because they are plucked from various stages of development, they usually splash 'THIS IS A DEMO AND MAY NOT BE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE FINAL PRODUCT' all over the screen before it starts.
Sometimes even when a demo is shonky, you can see a kernel of a great idea or gameplay. Sometimes you don't, and then sometimes a demo just blows you away and you can't stop playing it (I love it when that happens).
I think it safe to say Kane and Lynch is going to split opinion straight down the middle. I'll wait for a few more reviews personally, though everyone would do well to remember that a review is just a persons opinion, just like we all have ours. thedriffter50 especially, 'don't trust the reviews', well then by the same logic we shouldn't trust anything you say either.
A marmite game then potentially, where everyone will make their own minds up. Personally I'm just glad IO have finished it so they can get cracking on the next Hitman.
WHERESMYMONKEY on 3 Aug '10 said:
I loved the demo, it was just so frantic and gritty. I'll definately give this a whirl at the end of the month.
Then again i really enjoyed the original once i got into it. However it is probably one of the most depressing games (storywise) i've ever played.
aashishb on 3 Aug '10 said:
Why is mafia 2 getting lower than expected review scores this game is being built up loads
thedriffter50 on 3 Aug '10 said:
@ " With respect, I've played and enjoyed a lot of games which people would call terrible. The Saboteur, Turok, Mercenaries 2, Serious Sam HD, Watchmen "
Whoa and I thought I was the only person in the whole world who liked Watchmen. It was a very good beat em up dont see why it got terrible reviews.
JD_Method on 3 Aug '10 said:
Haha. It was pretty good fun wasn't it?
Did get a little repetetive, but overall it wasn't as bad as the reviews suggested.