I recently played IO interactive's Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. IO Interactive is the same studio which gave us Hitman and Freedom Fighter.
To tell the truth the game like its predecessor is again disappointing. It falls under the weight of its own premise. What starts as an intriguing journey, ends rather pathetically. After the first hour it becomes quite repetitive. You just have to shoot through hordes of enemies. But KnL2 has its bright sides too. What the developers didn’t deliver in gameplay, provided quite nicely in presentation. Visually they have nailed it.
Liked:
1. Visual style: This is the best thing I liked about the game. It’s represented as if the third person (you) is running behind the character with a VHS camcorder. It gives a Reality TV feel to the game which ups the realism and intensity. The camera wobbles every time there’s gunfire, lights flare vertically. Censored and gory parts become pixilated just like in news videos. Hope some games adopt this shaky handycam style in future.
2. Sound effect: Sound effects are quite awesome in this game. There’s no ingame music but ambient sound is present from real city noises. Like if you pass a music store you'll hear the music playing in different part of the store. Sometimes you'll hear baby crying, dogs barking, radio music while passing by apartments.
3. Story: The story quite intriguing and effective in setting up the mood of the game. It has all the usual elements of a crime thriller, deal gone wrong, betrayal, revenge. There’s a torture scene which will make your skin crawl. After the torture, the characters escape and are blood covered, stark naked with brutal cuts all over their body. It made me sick wanting to take a break and get fresh air. Yes the story and gameplay is that gruesome. But as usual IO does it again with messing up the story's ending. The game ends rather abruptly and before you know it you'll be seeing the credits rolling.
4. Game setting: The developers have done a wonderful job of creating a gritty, nasty, damp environment that is sick to the core. The game really succeded in making me never want to visit Shanghai on a rainy day.
5. Multiplayer mode: This game features some of the best multiplayer game modes. Fragile Alliance(featured in the previous tilte too) is really awesome which will keep you guessing who will turn the traitor(or you can become the traitor too!).
Disliked:
1. Repetitive gameplay: The game is quite interesting in the beginning with its unique visual style and camera. But it becomes quite boring and repetitive after an hour or so. Heres what you can basically do in the game: Shoot, duck, get cover(an improvement from the first game), kick doors, throw acetylene tanks, and take human shield..... and that’s it. No bombs, no driving cars, no interactive environment stuff, just shoot shoot and shoot. And that too hundreds of them. You'll start wondering where does the horde of chinese thugs, corrupt cops and mercenaries keep coming from and so will Lynch (you'll hear him say "I don’t fucking believe this!" ). After a while you will feel like a mass murderer. You'll feel like shouting "I can’t take this anymore!” Comically that’s exactly what Lynch will shout out from time to time in the game (lol).
2. Murderous AI: The AI can be very annoying sometimes. It will test your patience to the max. Enemies will suddenly become aggressive, clever or very accurate marksman making them difficult to kill.
3. Glitchy AI animation: Well no game is perfect. I've hardly seen any game with perfect AI or animation. But still there are some very noticable glitches like heads twisting 360 degrees backwards and all.
4.Characters: The doesnt have a good enough story for any kind of character development whatsoever. The characters are pathetic, sick and abrasive as they were in the first game. You'll hardly find any room for empathy for them.
Overall KnL2 is a game that has innovative style but has very little to offer story or gameplay wise. Its a good thing the game is very short(6 hours max) or else I'd have given up.
Easter eggs:
During the police fight in chapter 2, head into the CD store on the left when Kane directs you to. You'll find CDs of Hitman and Mini Ninjas all around.
