Kane & Lynch: Dead Men review (X360)

Who was it that once said ‘There’s no such thing as bad publicity’? Obviously me in the previous sentence but certainly publicity has been rife for Kane & Lynch recently, over the apparent firing of a certain games journalist for a negative review of the game, advertised on that very site. His firing probably had nothing to do with the game at all, nor the content of the review, and more that a rumour has been blown out of all proportion, but it makes a fun water cooler story for games fans, and brings more attention to the game in question, albeit press about a negative review.

Unfortunately, the game really is a little bit of a let down, especially after the marketing machine got behind it perhaps raising our expectations even more. Giving you control of Kane (a pseudonym) and in cooperative mode, James Lynch, you’re both about to go to the electric chair when the powerful gang ‘The7’ breaks you out to gracefully allow you to pay your past debts to them while threatening your family. The story develops by the book with few surprises, seemingly providing excuses to throw the action between some varied and crazy set pieces, until the end where the ending(s) hardly satisfy after the short but sometimes frustrating campaign. It’s a shame that the game is focused on characters that we don’t like much, but the moral ambiguity seems to be the point.

I wonder how many times the Lynch joke has been used

The game plays a little like gears of war, giving you guns, cover to hide behind (if you get it just right) and a teammate to boss around (and sometimes a full squad). It’s nothing spectacular, but generally works pretty well according to what we’ve all become accustomed to by now. You’ll never be stuck on where to go even in the more complex locations as a direction marker appears when you press down on the left stick, and the combat is generally enjoyable once you’ve got over the initial comparisons, especially when you start throwing back tear gas grenades at your enemies and using Lynch to flank them.

Initially the graphics look wholly unspectacular, but the general design and locations seem to improve throughout the game, and when you notice that every bullet you fire seems to have some kind of destruction on the environment it’s not hard to see past the initial plain styling of a box room with items put into it. Especially when you realise that most rooms are built that way in reality.

Can I make it through this whole review without swearing?

Musically the game is (ahem) sound, with dramatic and engaging tracks to get you as pumped as the characters. That said, it’s becoming less and less of a standout feature because it seems that few games of recent times genuinely get the music wrong, and we’re at a stage where the technology isn’t the limiting factor in the audio quality. Perhaps innovation can only really come through dynamic music in future. (Come back Unreal’s dynamic mod music – all is forgiven.)

The voice acting is performed with excellent characterisation and flair, but the entire game seems to be a bit liberal with its swearing, and I can’t help but feel that the same thing could have been achieved with a less gratuitous script. Perhaps we can forgive this too because in real life two death row inmates may not hold their tongues when on a cop killing spree.

Missed the point

While there may be certain aspects of the single player game that leave a little to be desired (I think it can be summed up by the achievement unlocked by doing nothing and letting your squad mates do all of the work in a level), it seems clear that the game was designed with Coop in mind; each player plays one of the main characters having their own viewpoint of the events that take place. It is only available locally, so no online cooperative action through the campaign, but the game seems to work very well as a split screen experience, perhaps above the single player, because it doesn’t feel tacked on but a good use of the storyline and characters.

Similarly, the online mode is a clever and original take on multiplayer, called Fragile Alliance. You and a group of balaclava wearing team-mates are bundled into a situation where you must loot as much stuff as possible, killing cops and general security in a multi round session. The twist is that if you kill your friends you’ll gain their loot, and win more points, but they’ll then spawn as a cop intent on taking you down. Revenge and trust plays as important a place here as they do in the campaign cinematic where trust is mentioned about 5 times in as many seconds, and it’s a delight in suspicion and paranoia (as well as providing good causes for further achievements).

So it’s not all bad?

It’s a shame when a game makes us feel let down, but expect little from the game and you’ll enjoy the majority of your experience. Certain moments made me very impressed with the crowd technology, for example the massive club scene where the waves of dancers run around like headless chickens if you fire a gun, or the prison break-out midway through the game that puts a swarm of angry rioting prisoners in front of you.

Actually Kane & Lynch is not a bad game. It’s probably destined to be lost in the multitude of great games that we are blessed with at the moment. It capably provides its gun and grenade ridden action entertainment, but disappoints only because of the massive marketing campaign that led us all to believe we were in for something extra special, rather than the adequate but ultimately not stand-out shooter we have here. Perhaps by leading us all into a frenzy of interest (in a manner of speaking), it was in fact the marketing publicity that was bad publicity.