Kane And Lynch 2: Dog Days Review

Posted in Gaming, Reviews by Osborne, August 26, 2010 at 5:36 pm | 50 views, 2 comments

I’m three whiskeys in the first time I launch Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days. It seems appropriate for a grizzled, mature rated, crime saga like this. Considering the first one was subtitled Dead Men, the presence of a sequel is itself something of a well orchestrated heist. The original Kane and Lynch told the gritty revenge story of its two title characters against a mysterious group of mercenaries and assassins. It was a wide ranging adventure, from stateside bank robberies, to gunfights in Japanese gardens, all the way to a Coup d’état in Havana. I loved it. The sequel is set entirely in Shanghai, from the moment it starts till its final jap-pop laden credits. I loved it too, but for different reasons.

Kane and Lynch 2 Dog Days has a very different feel. The basic gameplay mechanics are still there, you can take cover, blindfire, and aim, but the vibe is different. Part of that comes from its art style, and part of that comes from its story.

The art style has been the big feature most talked about by the press, and you really have to see it to understand how gritty it all feels. The screenshots often look a little distorted, like someone in the audience took photos of the TV with a point and shoot. But thats the way the game looks and feels on screen. The camera is loose without being jarring, and definitely has a home-shot kind of feel.

A note on the censoring: this is actually one of the most effective parts of the “grit filter” and I think it deserves some acknowledgement. It doesn’t happen every time. Only when you nail a civilian, or execute a gangster at particularly close range. Essentially a censored filter appears over their head and they rag doll down. Some people have mocked it, but I found it chilling.

You see, videogames very rarely render real bullet physics. A round goes into somebody, blood splashes, and they either go down or keep moving. But any hunter or soldier will tell you that a head shot with a shotgun is a messy affair. The phrase “turned inside out” comes to mind.

The censorship in Dog Days conjures some of that. When a security guard kicks in a door, you light him up, and his face is reduced to a mass of pixels. You know you’ve fucked him up.

And thats a huge part of Dog Day’s “grit filter.” It is making everything feel sharp, glaring, dirty and real. This is also reflected in the lack of music. Now some people have said there is no music at all in this game, and that’s just not true. Instead we have an industrial ambient sort of sound-scape that is . . . well its disheartening almost. Dog Day’s use of sound is amazing. The snippets of radio, rumble of heavy machinery, and screech of torn metal all serve to make a very ominous and bleak feeling game. It actually reminded me of Stalker in some aspects.

Which is somewhat at odds with the story. Like Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, and like every good film noir, this is a story about a dame. You see, at the end of Dead Men, both endings were bad. There was no victory per se. In both cases Kane and Lynch ended up embittered towards one another, having failed to accomplish their goals in regards to the seven. But in Dog Days Lynch has reigned in the psychopathic hallucinations and found himself a nice girl to settle down with. The arrival of Kane for a shady arms deal and the politics of local gang bosses soon put that peaceful time to rest.

Kane and Lynch proceed to fuck up most of Shanghai, killing police, gangsters and civilians indiscriminately.

For the cynical reader it is a story of how the white man will always triumph over Chinese aggressors. Two grizzled overweight American forty year olds prove themselves a more effective fighting force than all the punks, cops and soldiers in the city. The words “fucking China” are used.

A word on the weaponry: Guns are important to me in a game. I like selection and variation. Kane and Lynch offers an interesting combination of gangland weaponry (shorty shotguns, revolvers, and spray-and-pray machine pistols) and authentic Chinese military gear (bull-pup assault rifles, unscoped sniper rifles, heavy machine-guns) that means most of the time you can pick and choose your implements of destruction. The shotguns might feel over powered, but there’s nothing in the arsenal that is a throwaway weapon.

There are all kinds of complaints you could make about Dog Days. That its story never really delivers on the opening promise, or that its combat is repetitive, or that it is too short to warrant a full game. What it comes down to is a question of “do you like dark crime stories?” If you do. If you like heists and cursing and desperate chases, then Dog Days delivers a very unique vision of that. The other reason to consider it is its revamped and enhanced multiplayer.

I would very much recommend using the Arcade Mode to learn your way around the multiplayer. My first session I mistakenly took one of my fellow thieves hostage and executed him within ten seconds of starting the round, labeling me a traitor.

Fragile Alliance was introduced in Dead Men, but it never grabbed me the way the campaign did. Its built on an intriguing concept though, and plays much better this time around. You and a handful of other thugs are tasked with robbing an objective and escaping. You gather money and fight your way across the map to a waiting getaway car or chopper. But the ambitious player can kill his team-mates and escape with all the loot if they’re lucky. Those gunned down by traitors respawn as swat, giving them a chance at revenge.

If you’re in with a good group this can get particularily intense. A tactical advance towards a police line can suddenly become a massacre as you realize you’re being fucked by one of your team-mates. Or if half the team escapes in one getaway vehicle; those left behind suddenly start sizing each other up now that they’re all more vulnerable.

Fragile Alliance now feels like it almost has a small story to it too. There is dialog between our gangsters, and the robberies have some variation to them. Dead Men had all thieves in masks and suits, but now different skins make for recognizable characters. My red-haired viking thief was betrayed by the little Irishman, but managed to escape with a bald liver-spotted fellow with massive sunglasses. Its a small thing, but it does make a difference to the feel of multiplayer.

One caveat: Dog Days seems to be advertising DLC that is currently unavailable. You can see at least four more maps and a whole slew of weapons that are visible but locked. If I see an interesting gun on my load-out list, I want to be able to use that gun. It seems taunting to have them out of reach, especially when I can’t even throw them a credit card number. The value of the DLC will ultimately be decided by the community. If there are still lots of people playing in a few months, then it might be worth expanding the experience. But I’d hate to drop money on a new pump-action shotgun and then have no one to fire it at.

Fundementally, the gripping environment of the singleplayer campaign, and the unique multiplayer offering makes Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days something worth playing if you are into stories of the filth laden underworld.

Played through the entire campaign on PC in 7.7 hours. Tried arcade, coop, and all online modes. 36% of the achievements.

To contact the author of this post: edward.osborne@wildgunmen.com