Review: Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men has become something of a cult classic over the years: A game remembered for its uncompromising characters and poor squad controls. Its sequel, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, immediately fixes many of those flaws by abandoning the squad altogether. Now it’s just Kane and Lynch, as per the title.

The most striking thing about Dog Days is its visual style. Everything looks like its being recorded through a handheld digital camera: Light glints off the lens while rain and blood dirty it, artifacts pop up when scenes change, the camera shakes violently when you run and crumples to the ground when you die, and when riding in a car the camera actually sits between seats looking up. It’s almost voyeuristic the way it moves, and this style gives the game a surprisingly intimate feel.

Unfortunately the audio also sounds like its coming though a digital camera. While gunfire is loud and brutal, voices are oddly quiet, and if a character is facing away then it becomes even harder to hear. There’s no option for subtitles, so it’s difficult to follow the story, what little of it there is.

Kane is in town for a job with Lynch, but the game spends no time setting up that premise. Kane shows up, then people start shooting; then I’m in a car and more people start shooting; then I’m with a bunch of teammates and we’re still shooting. I don’t know what’s happening or why. Major plot points are eventually explained, and I’ll admit it is pretty interesting how the catalyst for these 48 hours of hell is one random act of violence that doesn’t particularly stand out amidst all the other violence in the game. It’s just life as normal until you kill the wrong person. However, for the most part the story seems like an afterthought.

Which is not to say the characters are an afterthought, they actually stand out as the most memorable part of the thin story. We don’t have much context for all the violence, but we do see its effects on Lynch through his desperate attempts to keep his life together and his unraveling psyche. The banter between the two men is just your typical AI squad talk, but it’s delivered with such world-weariness you can’t help but feel sympathy for them. They sound constantly exhausted, and considering the breathless pace of the action this isn’t surprising. Combine all this with the docu-like visual style and these rather flat characters suddenly spring to life.

All of this would make Dog Days a must-see movie, but this is a game, and how it plays is important. Well, it plays like a cover-based third-person shooter. No more, no less. The controls aren’t as tight as they could be (I often overshot a target as I turned towards it) and enemies take way too many bullets to kill, but these are minor annoyances. The game is a perfectly competent shooter even if it’s nothing revolutionary.

The shooting is more important in the multiplayer, where interesting characters can’t offset any flaws. Again bullets don’t do much damage. You’ll often run out of ammo while shooting a guy point-blank, and as you’re reloading he’ll kill you instead. Unless he has to reload. Then it’s a race. You can buy more guns as you earn money and rank up, but you lose it if you die so it’s best to just keep the cash.

Fragile Alliance is the central game mode: You’re part of a heist group trying to reach a getaway vehicle. Anyone that dies respawns as a cop, so the worse you work as a team the harder the match becomes. At any moment someone can turn traitor and steal your money, but that makes them a target for everyone else. It’s a great idea, but since you get a “criminal loyalty” rating everyone can see if you’re a reliable teammate or not. It seems to discourage back stabbing (apparently there’s a lot of honor among thieves) and makes each match rather predictable.

The better mode is Undercover Cop, which plays the same as Fragile Alliance but one thief is actually a cop who must kill the others. You know someone is a traitor from the get go, and this knowledge keeps nerves on end and suspicions high. Being the cop is thrilling, trying to maneuver behind people and waiting until they’re alone to pick them off. And there’s a perverse joy in watching someone turn traitor and do your job for you, only to pop them in the back when they’re done. It’s also pretty funny when someone turns traitor and ends up accidentally killing the cop. This is an inventive and consistently fun mode.

The same can’t be said for Cops & Robbers, an objective-based deathmatch. Here, the guns you buy play a much bigger role since you keep them even after you die, which means those of a higher rank have an advantage. A big advantage. It’s very frustrating (i.e. hair pulling, expletive spewing, controller breaking, rage quitting, and more) when an opponent runs around with a two-hit-kill auto-shotgun and all you’ve got is the basic assault weapon. When a match ends and everyone has six to eight kills except for one guy with 28, you know something is unbalanced. Stick with Undercover Cop.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is an average shooter with memorable characters and a great style. These men may be psycho killers, but after crawling through the grime of Shanghai together you’ll get pretty attached to them. That’s more enough of a reason to play this game, though maybe not quite reason enough to buy it.

Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days
IO Interactive/Square Enix
Reviewed on Xbox 360 (also available for Playstation 3 and PC)
$60 on Amazon.com
Available now