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Post Number: 1
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Leisher 
Top 3%, yo.

Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 26651
Joined: May 2004
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Posted on: Dec. 17 2007,10:03 |
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The version reviewed apparently makes a heck of a difference. I've heard the game is much better on PC than on the 360. If fact, speculation points at it being designed with a PC audience in mind with their mice and keyboards.
That being said, "Kane & Lynch: Dead Men" is a very interesting game and a difficult review.
The storyline puts you in the shoes of Kane, a former cop, now gangster that has been sent to prison for life. During a prison transfer, you're busted out by a guy named Lynch who is working for "The 7" (that's not a spoiler). The 7 want you because they believe you stole something from them. The rest of the game deals with that and the consequences.
This game is not long. In no way does it justify its $50 (PC) or $60 (360) price tag. That's how I ended up playing it on the 360. I figured I could rent it and see if it's worth the money. I beat the game in mere hours and I'm the type of gamer who does everything possible within a game. (I even replayed the last mission just to see the other ending.) On the positive side, it was well worth the rental price.
The gameplay is fine, but not great. The camera is more over the shoulder or behind the player, which is sort of odd for FPS fans considering you do have an aiming reticule. While it works, there are problems. The camera will occasionally put your character between you and what you're aiming at, making precision impossible. Your player automatically will find cover, which moves your view rapidly and randomly forcing you to get your bearings mostly while under fire. A stupid bit associated with this is that while you can fire blindly around obstacles and stay mostly in cover, you don't aim for shit. Thus, to aim you have to mostly leave cover. Dumb. Also, far off enemies are more of a shadow than anything human making all long range weapons more short range. The design of the game world itself keeps you from really getting the jump on any enemies you might be encountering due to terrain and/or "triggers".
In a nod to reality, there is no hopping about, and your character can only carry a sidearm and a single larger weapon. This makes for some tactical choices during the game as you decide what to carry going forward. Also, you can be one shot killed by the AI.
In a middle finger to reality, you can be shot an infinite number of times without falling. The key is to watch your screen, and back away to safety as it gets red. Wait until it goes back to normal color and then get back into your firefight. Also, if you do happen to go down, one of your team (if nearby) can inject you with adrenaline and it's like nothing ever happened to you. "Bob, your head is gone!!" "Yeah, but Larry injected me so I'm fine."
The controversy about this game is going to come (so hope the PR folks) from the fact that you're playing the bad guys. Right out of the gate you're killing innocent civilians and cops. What sets this apart from a GTA is that everything here is very "adult." For example, I saw a reviewer talking about a woman he shot and how she was begging for her life and talking about her two kids at home. That's when his partner walked up and shot her in the face. (It should be noted that there is blood, but no gore.)
That PR plan may be failing though as the game is known more for the bad review it received which got the reviewer fired.
In fact, that reviewer made an excellent point about the game, "There is nobody to root for." He's right. Everyone is evil, a bastard, and ugly. There's no cool anti-hero involved here. It's just all scumbags.
That being said, I found the game to be a nice distraction even if it did only last a few hours. I think it'd be a lot more fun to play through in co-op, something I had planned to do this weekend, but Mother Nature decided against.
I'll review this in two ways here, one as a rental, the other as a purchase:
Purchase - 3 out of 10. Rental - 8 out of 10.
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Post Number: 2
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