By Sam Coles:
Kane and Lynch Dead Men was a controversial title
and not because of its content with violence or the game being particularly bad,
but it got a former Gamespot employee Jeff Gerstmann fired because he gave the
game a 6 out of 10 and they’re being sponsored by the company who published the
game at the time. Is the game that bad? No, but it does have a few flaws that
makes the game frustrating in some sections? Yes. However it is an enjoyable
action thriller with tense situations.
You play as Kane (singleplayer) who is on death row
for his crimes as a mercenary however it’s not long until he meets Lynch who
proceeds to tell him to get down and then a truck runs the police van off the
road. You’re then embroiled in a daring escape as you dodge gunfire from the
police and hold them back as you defend yourself in a donut shop as SWAT
surround your position. They then escape and it turns out that Kane’s old
mercenary friends have kidnapped Kane’s wife and daughter as they want
something back from him. The game starts out somewhat grounded in reality with
the thriller aspects as you rob a bank to making an exchange in Asia, but then
it turns into a military scenario where you’re destroying tanks in Cuba it’s
just a bit jarring compared to the rest of the game.
The story is interesting enough to keep you engaged
with tense situations like the bank heist where you’re holding off the police
at the front entrance, coupled with the psychotic episodes that Lynch has where
he ends up shooting everyone whether they’re armed or not it adds a bit of unpredictability
to the plot. I have to admit there too much profanity I not being prude but
they say “fuck” or “shit” in every sentence they spew which can get a bit
tiresome.
Gameplay is a third person shooter like Gears of War
as was the case with most action games from 2006-2011 before the sandbox game
took over. You have your standard cover based shooting which can be a chore
sometimes because the game doesn’t have a dedicated cover button and instead
you have to angle yourself correctly and this has resulted in with me having
several shots in my chest where Kane was making his mind up to take cover or
not. It’s not just about shooting although that is majority of the game, there
are different scenarios such as you performing a heist where you abseil down a
building and then proceed to shoot the place up in a tense standoff. The
locales are interesting and varied compared to the game’s sequel.
Graphically it doesn’t look too bad, not great but
it’s not awful looking the blood effects are good as it splashes on the wall
behind them when you shoot enemies in the head. The animation hasn’t aged well
as they seem to act like manikins with stiff and unnatural movement which is a
shame because Gears of War came out around the same time which had much better
animation with character models.
The major problems I have with this game are the hit
detection and the A.I with your partner. The hit detection can be awful where
you can’t tell if your bullets are doing damage or not. I would highly
recommend grabbing a friend and play it all the way through because your A.I
partner is not very smart as he tends to charge out into the open, you can play
it locally which is great.
Kane and Lynch Dead Men has its flaws but is an
enjoyable action game with really tense situations it’s super cheap these days
and is a great laugh to playthrough with a friend.
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