Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is a video game developed by IO Interactive, published by Eidos Interactive under Square Enix available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. It is the sequel to Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. On July 14, 2010, it was announced by IO Interactive that Kane & Lynch 2 would be releasing a week earlier than scheduled. Announced in November 2009, the game is described as having a new visual style inspired by documentary films and user-generated content. According to the press release, “every aspect of the game has been designed to deliver a fresh perspective to the words ‘intensity’ and ‘realism’.” A pair of teaser videos accompanying the announcement present game footage in a distorted surveillance camera perspective. Dog Days will be presented from Lynch’s point of view, rather than Kane’s like in the first game. A playable singleplayer and multiplayer demo was released on the Playstation Network on July 21 2010 and on the Xbox Live Marketplace on July 26 2010. A demo has also been released on Steam on July 27 2010.

The game switches the lead in the series, putting players in control of “self-medicated psychopath” Lynch. The story begins with Lynch having found peace in Shanghai and attempting to “make a fat deal where the pay is beyond his wildest dreams and nothing is going to get in his way.” Players in the campaign mode of Kane & Lynch 2 will take control of Lynch who is backed up by the previous series protagonist Kane. The online enabled cooperative mode will allow players to play as Kane. Unlike Dead Men, players will only be able to arm up two of any weapon they can grab from dead enemies and cannot be swapped between allies. The combat system has been modified from the original game. Players can now take cover through a button press as opposed to originally being automatic depending on stance.

While still having regenerating health, players can get knocked down while being able to immediately get back up.
Fragile Alliance returns along with two new variant modes (Undercover Cop, Cops & Robbers). The returning mode still has a group of players attempting to grab as much money as possible while escaping police forces and possible traitors. Undercover Cop follows the same fashion while a randomly chosen player must prevent the team from escaping. Cops & Robbers has a group of player controlled police officers going against the criminals still planned to grab money and escape.

The end of each match will allow players to buy new weapons from their heist money.

There is also a single player variant called Arcade where players must accumulate as much money as possible for high scores while surviving increasingly difficult rounds.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is releasing in a somewhat unenviable position. After controversy surrounding the last game and a generally lukewarm response from critics, some were surprised that a second game was greenlit so quickly. It’s good then that Dog Days makes such a strong first impression, with its handheld video style visuals and the return of the violent, mature themes that defined Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. But what everyone wants to know is whether Dog Days solves the problems that plagued Dead Men: the dodgy controls, the story that fell apart, the lack of online co-op, and more.

To a degree, it does, but issues remain in IO’s tale of criminals in a desperate situation.

Dog Days is a considerably streamlined affair in comparison to the first game. There are no more heists, not much in the way of stealth missions, hell, there’s not even much variety in the whys of what you’re doing. You’re pretty much always shooting and moving forward. In a way, this is refreshing – that other stuff was not executed well in the last game.

Of course, the flaw there is increased repetition. The shooting mechanic in Dog Days is more functional than it was in Dead Men, but it still feels a little behind the times in comparison to third person shooters in 2010, and the cover system still frustrates as much as it helps. This is compounded by weapons that have been hobbled in effectiveness by IO’s desire to make them feel more realistic.

Guns early in the game are inaccurate pieces of junk, and you’ll spend as much time looking for better guns as you will your plan of attack. This is more a problem for you than the enemies you’ll face, as Dog Days is one of the few games I’ve ever played where fodder opponents take more punishment than the player can.

The real draw of Kane & Lynch 2 is the story and presentation. At this point, you probably know about Dog Days’ particular presentation style, evoking user created video content on sites like Youtube. However, the influence of modern and classic crime thrillers is also omni-present. Similar to the tonal similarities the original Kane & Lynch game shared with the film Heat, Dog Days evokes films like Collateral and The Departed.

Where the original game’s narrative collapsed under its own weight about halfway through, Dog Days actually holds itself together remarkably well. It’s rare that a game can make you flinch. Jump scares, sure. They’re easy, and movies have made us all numb to them after the initial shock. But for a game to really crawl under your skin, to sit there and disturb you, where you’ll watch awkwardly as a character sobs like everything has been taken from them, because it has, that’s… unexpected. I’m unaccustomed to a game taking story seriously enough that it can actually be criticized for expending its emotional payload too early, or for descending so far into nihilistic violence that I felt like I needed to come up for air sometimes.

At times though, the story Dog Days has to tell feels at odds with the game it exists in.

The body count in Dog Days numbers in the hundreds (with an achievement/trophy for 1000 kills in campaign), moving Kane & Lynch beyond mass murder and into wartime atrocity territory. In a mindless action game featuring supersoldiers pitted against monstrous hordes, this is something that I barely notice; in Dog Days, it’s hard to ignore. The absence of things to do other than shoot undermines the game a bit. The narrative is still effective, still intense, still emotional, but it’s weaker perhaps than it could have been.

And then there’s multiplayer, and its cousin Arcade mode. Multiplayer is broken down into three modes: The returning Fragile Alliance, and a pair of variations on the theme, Undercover Cop and Cops & Robbers.

Fragile Alliance partners you with other players on a heist on a strict timetable. You’ve got four minutes to get in and out alive with as much money as you can collect, but there’s a wrinkle; any player can betray the other players, collecting more cash. Of course, the payoff might be bigger working together, and traitors face the wrath of other players and enemy AI alike. Undercover Cop randomly assigns a Serpico amidst the expat thieves, who’s goal is to stop the other players once the heist is in motion. Cops and Robbers divides players into opposing teams, with Robbers attempting to pull off a score and escape and Cops attempting to stop them. Arcade mode takes the multiplayer modes and fills them with bots.

While multiplayer’s concepts are strong and interesting, they rely even more heavily on the shooting and cover aspect of Kane & Lynch 2 than single-player. It’s nice that they’re there, and fun can be had, but the online aspect fails to lift above its humble underpinnings. There is online co-op this time around though.