I for one, am bored of goody-goody heroes. Save the world from alien invasion here, overthrow an evil dictator there and rescue the attractive women while you're at it. No doubt they go home and spend their free time rescuing kittens that have got stuck up trees before organising their local neighbourhood watch as well. Give me a gun-toting anti-hero any day.
Well it seems that Io Interactive have been listening to my wishes. The duo of Kane and Lynch make a particularly unsavoury pair, with Kane the ex-mercenary and Lynch filling the role of pill-popping psychopath. The banter between the two, which more often than not puts even my levels of swearing to shame, contrasts neatly with the usual friendly chat between characters (Alyx, I'm looking at you), providing a refreshing change from the norm.
The game starts off in spectacular fashion, with one of the most adrenaline-filled starting levels I've experienced, as you're busted out of your prison van by a group of masked gunmen. As bullets fly through the air and your screen slowly clears from the haze of the crash, you're dumped fully into the deep end, with police, helicopters and SWAT teams all taking a pop at you before you make your escape.
It doesn't stop there either, with the game moving from one thrilling set-piece to another. Robbing banks, car chases, rappelling down buildings and breaking into prisons all provide some brilliantly cinematic levels and serve to keep the game moving along at a steady pace (although I found the last couple of levels more 'meh' than 'wow').
Gameplay itself is pretty straightforward and fast-paced, consisting purely of shooting the crap out of everything, so it's a relatively brainless (but enjoyable) experience. Constant shoot-outs with the police also serve to give the game more than a whiff of the movie Heat, especially one of the later levels which sees your team engaged in a fully fledged street battle, a la the Pacino/De Niro/fat guy who was once Batman gun battle of the film.
The levels are only really let down by one in particular that features a particularly unintuitive bit that had me slamming the mouse in frustration for hours before figuring out the deceptively simple but very unclear solution.
Combat, though, is a rather less polished affair than the set-pieces. While the game features a cover system, it's nowhere near as accomplished as, say, Gears of War. Just walking close to an obstacle makes your character take cover, leading to some inevitably frustrating moments when you'll find yourself stuck up against a wall when really you just wanted to run past it.
While you can blind-fire from behind cover, of far more use is the ability to pop out and take aim for more precision. But this is blighted by the fact that shots sometimes disappear into the object you're taking cover behind and, on occasion, your character will fail to fall back behind cover when finished, leaving you stuck in the middle of the crossfire and, more often than not, dead on the floor just a few seconds later.
Perhaps my biggest annoyance, though, was that at times you can empty entire clips into enemies who seem impervious to your fire, most notably in the car chases where you can headshoot the pursuing policemen to no effect.
Apparently, bullet-proof noggins are standard issue with the US police nowadays. There's also some slightly awkward squad control too (when is squad control ever not?) although, unlike Freedom Fighters, it's hardly ever needed.
Annoyances aside, the game features some brilliant multiplayer options, and visually it's a maelstrom of beautiful carnage. Despite actually looking ropey on next-gen consoles, on PC it really sparkles, with crisp, detailed characters and gorgeous scenery in some trademark inventive settings - although if I was forced to pick faults, the explosions are a bit lacking.
Though somewhat let down by its combat, Kane & Lynch is still well worth a play, even if it's just for the cinematic feel of the levels, the refreshingly different characters and the excellent multiplayer.
While it's never too challenging and is pretty short - racking up only about seven hours of play - if you want to feel like a bad guy but without the police chase, prison and bum rape that normally follows, then shooting up the place as Kane provides a good end to a bad day. Or maybe that's something I should discuss with my shrink...
Suzy Wallace
// Overview
Verdict
Crime does pay!
Uppers
Some brilliant levels Interesting characters Non-stop action Rappelling down buildings!
Downers
Combat is sometimes unsatisfying Automatic cover doesn't work very well
It seems to be having the same "crash after a minute" problem as Gears of War - if you had that problem with Gears, stay clear of this like it's a spew covered leper, despite it's supposed awesomeness, as you'll be flushing 30 quid down the crapper. Unless you fancy upgrading to Vista and kissing goodbye to a) A stable OS, b) the 200 odd quid Vista costs and c) 800megs of your RAM.
I repeat - if gears of war crashes for you after 1 minute, so will this. But this has no "windowed mode" fix.
I bought a copy of this and Ive never - not ever been so insulted with how a product has disappointed, no disgusted me in the shear depths of boredom and mediocrity. The graphics are of PS2 standard - the level architecture is paramount to retard spaghetti. (Ive just made that up I know but it just seems so apt).
I can only assume the publishers of this game hate gamers?
I have to say that reading your review I actually wondered if I was playing the same game. Bought it today, and it wouldn't run (kept crashing after 1 min). Then I updated the Games for Windows, and it does now run, though the sound is f**ked.
Cinematic? Maybe if it were 5 years old. It has a couple of nice graphical touches, to be sure, but it suffers from boring world detail. Also, how can you recommend a game that's all about shooting when you say the combat sections are lacking (which I agree with you, oh so much)? Max Payne was cinematic, there was a game that got combat right.
I only paid Ł20 for it thankfully, as if I had paid more I would have felt completely robbed. Suzy, I'm disappointed that you can't see past the graphics to the mediocrity of this game. It further reinforces my belief that we are experiencing a serious lack of gameplay in the titles of today. When did people forget that they're supposed to be fun?
Haven't played through the whole game yet, but the game's fun enough for me. Not to be compared with bioshock or whatever. But if you've ever played hitman, it looks like the same graphics engine, a little dated but fun enough to play. Seven hours seem to me an awful lot, because i've been playing for 3 hours and already i'm in cuba. So it cant last any longer, about the multiplayer... . Who buyes a game like this for mp?!?
Score should be somewhat like a 6, not any higher. Story, humor and action makes up for the lousy graphics and gameplay. And if you just have to play it for 5 hours, whats the problem.
Man this game is a missed opportunity, finished it by now. But must say they really messed it up, especially the last levels. Sound not working, glitching in graphics. Crappy storyline, and so on and so on. Read about a gamespot employee got fired after placing a bad review of this game. Must agree with him, this must not rate higher than below average. The 7.9 this server is giving it, is far too high.
Agreed. I finally got around to completing it last night. I would say that the ending was anti-climactic but that would imply that the game was reaching some level of climax, which would be misleading.
I'd give it 60% if I were feeling generous, but really it's more of a 54. Flush this turd!
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Some brilliant levels
