A raw and brutal crime shooter, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days follows two disturbed criminals, Lynch - an impulsive and reckless self-medicated psychopath and Kane - a tactical but disillusioned and desperate ex-mercenary, through 48 hours of hell...

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is the follow up to 2007's Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. Once again you control Lynch while a friend or the computer (depending what mode you are playing) will play Kane as you progress through the levels in story mode. Although you do get to play as Kane (for some odd reason) briefly during the last level. You can play with a friend in two-player mode, or with a random person online.

Like the previous installment, this is a rather repetitive third-person cover-based offering. There are a number of game modes including the basic story mode, the arcade mode and online team matches.

The story mode is a little too repetitive and way too short. And the fight to the end isn't really worth all the hassle. After wave after wave of enemies (and Kane and Lynch's constant tongue-in-cheek moaning that the constant stream of enemies is getting ridiculous) I was expecting some sort of reward, or at least some sort of cut sequence to wrap everything up... sadly what you get is a rather odd cut to the end credits - and yes I even sat through them hoping for some sort of resolution. And no, you don't get anything.

The arcade mode sees you as part of a gang of criminals. You have to find the loot and then make it to the getaway vehicle. But there are some neat twists here. You can shoot all your team and take all the money for yourself (a big gamble as they'll all turn on you once you kill one member) or you can make it to the getaway vehicle first and split your money with the driver/pilot so that they'll leave everyone else behind. And if you miss one get away vehicle another will be along shortly. Once you've completed that mission you get to repeat it, but the police are more prepared and your team mates are more likely to cross you. However, before you start the next level you can purchase better weapons with the money from the last heist. The levels keeping going until you lose all three of your lives. There are only a handful of maps available - with the others available to purchase if you feel you need more.

The online game offers several variations on the arcade mode (where you can play in a team to complete a mission - including cops and robbers where you play on the side of the cops or robbers as you try and take out the other team. You can also play the story mode with another player.

To be honest the online games are a little poor and there are way better offerings out there if third-person multiplayer games are your bag. But by far the biggest problem is that the story mode is just too short, not to mention very repetitive. This, I felt, was a little odd considering how well detailed the environment graphics are (when you blow away things like sofas each one is damaged differently) and how realistic the handheld feel to the camera is when you run. It's got all the makings of a well produced game with loads of money thrown at it. Sadly someone forgot to tackle the most important aspect - the game play and overall story. And even the graphics are hit and miss. The scenery and general environment are great, but your enemies are a little too similar and poorly detailed. And while we're on the subject of the enemy... the AI is pretty poor too.

There are interesting additions (like the chopper gunner level and the level where you have to protect Xiu from a small army of men. But these are too few and too far apart to really break the monotony of the main game play. The cut sequences suffer from almost impossible to hear dialogue.

I couldn't work out why the screen blurred out any slightly rude content or when you shot your enemy in the face. It looks rather silly especially when you consider the content of the game and the fact that you see Kane and Lynch being tortured - their wounded, badly sliced up bodies are acceptable, but a pair of breasts or a shrivelled up dangly penis is too much??!!

Sadly while there's plenty of promise here, Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days is repetitive and generally not very well executed. Fans of the first game, or third-person cover-based offerings, will probably find much here to like. Everyone else will just find it a lacking in almost every respect.

5

Darren Rea