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Join two men on a dark and gritty drama. One is a flawed mercenary
and the other a medicated psychopath. Forced together on a
violent and chaotic path of redemption and revenge, no action
is considered too harsh as this volatile partnership is pushed
beyond reason in this brutally realistic, character-driven
third person action shooter...
Kane
& Lynch: Dead Men is brought to you by the developers
behind the Hitman series of games. So, right off, you
know that the chances of this being a family friendly outing
is going to be pretty slim.
The
game revolves around mercenary Kane and his schizophrenic
partner in crime Lynch. Neither character likes the other
but the two are forced to work together in a series of violent
third person shoot outs. You play as Kane and depending on
what mode you are playing in, Lynch will either be controlled
by the computer, or a friend.
As the game progress you will also be able to recruit a team
of mercenaries, who can all be given orders to ensure that
they carry out the mission successfully. You can order each
of your men to head off and take up their positions in any
given area, fall back to your position or unleash their fire
power on a certain target. And if you run out of ammunition
they are there to offer you some of theirs. However, you can't
always rely on them. Occasionally they will tell you to get
lost when you issue a command or, if you've already used a
lot of their ammo, they'll tell you to go and find your own
from elsewhere.
This
game is quite ambitious. Probably the easiest way to describe
it is as a cross between Hitman and Full Spectrum
Warrior, sadly though it never quite delivers what it
promises and there are a few too many bugs that weren't ironed
out for the launch. Firstly the AI of your men can be pretty
poor. They'll simply stand there and fire while they are being
pumped full of lead. Also, they have a nasty habit of getting
in your way when you have the enemy in your sights. Twice
I managed to get myself trapped when the game accidentally
let me go to an area I wasn't supposed to. The end result
was that I had to switch the console off and reboot the game.
Then there's the fact that all the enemy seem to target you
all the time, even when there are other men on your team attacking
them from another angle.
There
are some great levels but they range from simple to practically
impossible. And this provided another headache. There's nothing
more annoying than spending ages trying again and again to
get past a certain point and then it being a question of luck
more than any actual skill.
While
the abseiling element was a neat touch, sadly it just felt
a little too tacked on - it's not like you can actually do
anything like fire as you descend.
There
is a particularly beautiful looking level that involves Kane
and Lynch entering a nightclub to talk with the owner. As
you walk through the club the lighting, sound and number of
dancers is really impressive, so I was pleased to see that
you can later walk back through the crowds firing your gun
to cause a stampede. Another
highlight involves sitting in the back of a truck throwing
grenades and emptying the contents of your weapons into chasing
police cars.
Your
health is oddly configured. There is no health metre as such.
But, if you sustain too much damage then you'll see your screen
start to go red. The best thing to do is find cover until
it all calms down, and then head back into the thick of the
action. However, should you be killed, there is a strong chance
that one of your men will reach you before it is too late
and inject you with adrenaline. This will have you back on
your feet in seconds - however you can't rely on this too
often as it's easy to overdose. You'll also need to keep an
eye out for your men, as you'll need to rush over and inject
them if they become incapacitated. Leave it too late, and
they'll die, bringing a swift end to the game.
While
there is plenty of fun to be had here, probably the best elements
of the game are experiences while in multiplayer mode. This
game is certainly worth a look, and missed out on being must
own game simply down to it having a few too many bugs.
Nick
Smithson
Buy
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£34.48
(Amazon.co.uk)
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£34.99
(Play.com)
Play.com exclusive - Includes free bonus DVD |
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£34.99
(HMV.co.uk) |
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£37.99
(Game.co.uk)
Game.co.uk exclusive - Includes 2-disc digipack,
exclusive artwork, 5 track soundtrack by Jesper
Kyd amd 4 art cards |
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£38.24
(WHSmith.co.uk) |
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£34.71
(Asda.co.uk) |
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£34.71
(Thehut.com) |
All prices correct at time of going to press.
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