Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days Reviews  

The Good: Good characters, decent story, solid gun play, a few good epic moments

The Bad: Blurred out gore and nudity?, bland environments, dated graphics, linear to a fault, just all around 'bleh'

The original game stunk pretty bad and was dubbed one of the worst games of 2008. With the sequel on the way most people expected it to be just as bad, but it's not much better. The original's only stand out was the cops vs. robbers, and undercover cop multiplayer modes. The undercover cop mode selected a random person to partake in a bank heist, but the other players didn't know who it was. At the right time you need to take the cash and bail while everyone chases after you. While all this fun returns nothing was added or changed really.

The single player campaign is pretty decent for a weekend rental. The game's story is about two men (Kane & Lynch) who get involved in a bad arms deal and are running from one of the most powerful men in China. While the plot isn't very interesting the game has some high points such as the torture scene, and the fact that these two men are stranded in this communistic country and everyone is against them. You do get a sense of helplessness every so often thanks to the video camera type camera. It looks like you're running behind Lynch with a camcorder. Unfortunately the gore and nudity is blurred out for some reason despite this being an M rating. I found this irritating and it detracted from the game a bit.

There are a good amount of weapons and the game is just hide behind cover, shoot every guy in the room, move on. While it's tedious the game ends before you end up dying of the monotony. Despite this the game makes you switch weapons often because different situations call for different weapons. Some are just more useful than others, and the fact that there are plenty helps. The game also has a balancing issue since some missions will be a breeze and some require tons of restarts. I also wish there are more epic moments like riding the helicopter towards the end, or saving your main guy in his limo and protecting it.

The game is also ultra linear and is a literal corridor shooter. The environments are pretty bland and are just current day China with lots of neon lights and gray rainy backdrops. The game isn't to technically impressive with graphics that look like they are about 3-4 years old. There is just a lot of potential the game could have had if it just took it's time and really developed these two characters better. But despite all this the game is worth a decent weekend rental if you like mindless shooters with a mature storyline. If you hated the original you probably won't come back, but people on the fence should jump on this side.