Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

A man on death row is busted out of his prison transport and is thrust into a violent game of do or die. That man is Kane, his newly-appointed partner is Lynch. They are both class-A scumbags, and they have to work together despite the fact that there's no love or mutual respect for each other. What follows is a strictly linear traipse through many different environments ranging from bank vaults to Japanese night clubs. You'll kill many people and pick up lots of different guns...but how much fun will you have (if you pardon the macabre use of the world "fun")?

The answer is some, but not as much as you'd like. The weapons are all pretty much the same with a terrible targeting system. Precision targeting is almost non-existent in this game and hit detection is all over the place. The ability to take cover behind walls, pillars, etc. is very faulty and works only half the time. Some scenes are also too dark to make out what's going on.

There's plenty of swearing, and the voice acting is quite good. Jesper Kyd's gloomy score sets the tone perfectly. This is not an upbeat, cheery game. It's about ugly violence and grim revenge. For this reason alone very much earns its 18/M-rating. The presentation of this violence however is not that graphic, literally. The graphics are of PS2 quality. They may be in 1080p high-def but they look real bad.

I hear a sequel is in the works. More freedom to roam and an ability to upgrade Kane and Lynch as characters would be a welcome addition. Better graphics would be appreciated too. Above all, the guns and targeting need to be improved. Kane & Lynch makes for a decent bargain bin game, but don't pay top dollar for it.

Graphics C Sound B+ Gameplay C+ Lasting Appeal C

Kane and Lynch is such a weird game, It's not fun, but it's so interesting that I had to finish it.

Gameplay wise it is a sequel to freedom fighter. The squad mechanics are there but it legs dept. The guns sound powerful and they hurts powerful but the animation when you hit the enemy feels weak. The game does have very nice destruction mechanics so it feels satisfying when you leave a combat area.

The game sound good. It has powerful effects that makes it so I don't want to listen to anything in the background and the constant dialogue, keeps thing interesting and the music is good.

The UI is so clean, it doesn't want to obscure the image, so much of the game the only UI, is a single dot on the screen.

The characters and story is so weird to me. It feels like a really unlikable crime movie,which I can get behind. It's remind me of the Danish gangster film Pusher, where the main character is just desperately clinging for straws to keep him above water and he has to betray every person, and all the trust he has built.

The voice acting is so good it really hits that crime film vibe. Especially kane's voice actor, I love him and I l his also performances as BJ blazkowicz.

I did find the game entertaining but there is a drastic drop, when you stop being in cities and begin being in South America. It is insane how tedias and bad it becomes

kane and lynch is so ambitious, but it feels like there has been much cut off it. It's just not fun to play The Story is interesting but it also dies half way through and becomes horrible and the ending is complete garbage.

But it is an interesting little title and would absolutely recommend if you are into interesting bad game.

Kane was ready to pay for his crimes. He was done. But then the prison transport is knocked over on the way to death row, and after barely making it out alive, he's confronted by his former mercenary buddies, the surviving members of the lazily named The7 – the brothers Beardo and Baldie. They have his estranged wife and daughter... and now he has to retrieve the loot that the other duo believe he stole from them on their final, and failed, operation. He comes back out of retirement to save his family, partnered with(well, he's there to make sure you do as you're told... why is it this plot wasn't used sooner? This is like Heat the video-game(well, different story), and yes, it's as awesome as that makes it sound) the psychopathic Lynch, who murdered his better half. You follow them for a couple of the worst days of their lives, and countless of people *will* be left dead in their wake. Every "Chapter"(note that you can only start at the beginning of those if you quit; while you are in the game, you can replay from the most recent "Scene", and those are frequent so you never have to redo a lot, and it autosaves) consists of you and him(and usually a team) carrying out an attack on a building(like a bank, corporate headquarters, a dance club, etc., and situations like a robbery, a hostage exchange, a jailbreak(!) and the like), get whatever objectives you have done, and get away in one piece. This is a third-person tactical shooter, a bit like a Freedom Fighters 2.0(which, in turn, was Red Dawn interactive). You can give the orders Follow, Attack target and Defend(the latter being directional), and you can not get through this by pretending you're Rambo of the sequels(especially in MP). Using and protecting the people there with you is vital(you can take out anyone else, and this supports grand crowds, similar to what they did in Blood Money), and you can pick up additional clips from them, swap weapons with them and bring bring them back from near-death using adrenaline shots(!), and they can do the same for you(don't rely on it too much, you'll overdose; also, this is highly psychological, with flashbacks and your guilty conscience haunting you as you lay there in what may prove to be your last moments). This is intense, action-packed and exciting throughout, and it never gets to be repetitive. It is also extremely short... I completed it in about a single day(and there's only three difficulty settings and no unlockables, if two memorable endings), and that was the day I helped my brother move out of his place. There is little to no HUD, and in general this is quite minimalistic(the keys are intuitive, you can sit right down and play this). No health-bar, you can't reload(it does it on its own) or tell how many bullets are left before it's necessary to, and anything not being "used" fades into invisibility. It is also pretty streamlined, and while I find this to be a troublesome current trend in this medium, this gets away with it impeccably well. Why, and am I being a massive hypocrite? Because the risk isn't gone, and it doesn't take control out of your hands(well, the rappelling, if cool, kind of is)... and no, silly person(why would you even ask that?). Yes, it's linear(let's be honest, that's a typical approach), still, it comes off as if you are set free in a regular, real-life location. The environment interaction is nifty, with cars blowing up and glass having remarkably poor lead-stopping abilities. There are rail-shooter levels, where you're in a car. You really get a sense that no one can trust anyone else(they second-guess each other constantly, and somehow it doesn't get to be irritating) in this world. The characters(with a cast mostly consisting of anti-heroes) have personality and backstories, though you don't remember them all. Still, this is genuinely emotionally engaging and affecting. The cinematography is great, and this is cinematic and visual, with fantastic graphics(all cut-scenes are in-engine or pre-rendered, and look amazing), gorgeous lighting, and beautiful gas, smoke, fire FX. This has a bad-ass score(all of the audio(including acting!) is marvelous) by Jesper Kyd. I have not tried multi-player(as I could not get it working... one time I tried it temporarily deleted my DVD-drive! There's supposedly a 2-player mode... I'm not sure it works for the PC, it asked me to connect an X-Box joystick...?), but the rule set definitely sounds excellent. You can double-cross your friends, and the idea is to get away with as much of the loot from a bank robbery as possible. Yeah, matches are probably short. Up to 8 players, and close to proper co-op. It's not terribly surprising, coming from IO Interactive, home of awesome, unique(-ish) concepts for games. You carry one gun and one sidearm, as well as two kinds of grenades(pineapple and "distraction" kind), and you use SMGs, shotguns, machinegun, assault rifles, pistols and a sniper(your enemies can use all the same ones, and that last-mentioned is one of the several stand-out challenging occurrences). You can also mêlée kill(anytime you're right by them, there's no "fighting"), with a blade in your hand that comes out between two fingers. This has one of the best cover systems I've tried, so easy and instantaneous to enter/exit, blind-fire and aimed(hold down right mouse button anytime), and such a wide use of the view(without leaving the safety) is possible, meaning you will hardly ever be caught with your pants down(I'm scowling at you, The Godfather: The Game! And Enter the Matrix! And many others). You can wound others, and then finish them off, like Contracts. There is a lot of brutal, disturbing content, bloody violence and strong language(no sexuality or nudity) in this. I recommend this to any fan of the genre and the concept(if you want to play a Michael Mann movie, this is one of the better ones). 8/10

i just bought this game this morning, i was very happy of what i bought i thought to myself this was worth my money i can see why they want to make a movie out of this a very good story, very good plot line, very good characters i just freaking love

for the people who like hit-man

they need to try something more freestyle, pounding action in Kane and lynch dead men

i recommend you buy it

also there is great multiplayer contents and the co op is very good

i think its worth your money guys

10/10

One of the fewest time killers i had with friends at home was playing co- op with this game, a lot. This is one of the few points Kane & Lynch has at a fun value, with a title like this and a concept like that, it does really feel like an old-school game meant to be played with co-op (like an arcade game whose name i forgot, but consisted in one driving a car and the passenger seat shooting the bad guys at front)

Anyways, the story follows at a psychological drama emotional vibe, and certain strong elements that would put the player in enough stress if it isn't by the story's way of f'ing up the characters lives, and although it doesn't grab enough interest on it's character development it does at least satisfy you with those individual personalities of each that makes a credible duo that are not precisely role models, but personifies our GTA player inside us.

The Sound is decent, although i noticed some of the same music/soundtracks are a bit over-exploited, voice acting is convincing enough to put you on stress through the characters.

Gameplay-wise is pretty Kinetic and non-stop, shootings are exciting whenever you control it (although a bit stiff with recoil when trying to shoot enemies) and blood-packed enough for those who find this satisfying (AKA: Me) And although it can get repetitive at times, there's no stop sign to show at you by the constant number of henchmen coming at you. There is another command system that plays out in a strategic way where you can command NPC's to kill X enemy or take cover somewhere else, i personally found it under-exploited, because i was doing all the killing and shooting to sum up... ._.

Also, level design is sort of simple, some of the maps are pretty short and it could get repetitive to miss out or going all the way around the map in some missions, but also it has a decent amount of variety on it's missions that also offers another level on the "old-school" game vibe that you could really have a grip on.

And although there is also a 2-way ending that has some flaws in it (since one is cannon to the supposedly disappointing sequel and the other is not, and both endings do have some of the same annoying conclusion, it does still have replay value through both campaign co-op and multiplayer.

In conclusion, Kane and Lynch: Dead Man is a Flawed, but Kinetic Shoot 'Em Up Game with Lots of Shooting, Co-op Replay Value and Potential for a Franchise that makes this starter of a series (that i hope doesn't die and deliver us a Better and more submersive K&L3) a kick-ass of a time killer.