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Recent news has shown certain presidential hopefuls asking
the ESRB to take a second look at Manhunt 2. While we can scoff at how long its
taken for this action and whether any of these proponents have even played the
game, it is obvious that Manhunt 2 is filled with over-the-top violence. So
when we first got a glimpse of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men at E3, their
expletive-filled conversations all while shooting police officers looked just
as bad. Though unlike these politicians, we aren’t so quick to judge on things
we don’t know and waited to play the whole game in its entirety to see just
what it was about.
Dead men are what they are on so many levels. Kane and
Lynch, the names of our anti-heroes who clutter the title, remain physically
alive only to fulfill their lone purposes. The former to save and protect his
family; the latter for the money. Through a Hollywood-esque story, their roles
change to our ever-loved motive, revenge, though its not why you think.
Perhaps K&L’s strongest feature is just that. As earlier
advertised, the mercenary-clinically insane team makes for a unique story.
Unpredictability is something uncommon in games in nearly every way, be it the
bland story or easy to understand AI. So while the AI is arguably a laughing
matter, the way the story unfolds isn’t.
It may not seem obvious, but most games have predictable
storylines, or at least significant portions of it. Whether it’s how a drug
bust is going to end up, how the human race will fare against insurmountable
odds or what happens when you kill mutant children, the outcome is hard not to
know, or at least expect. K&L has a much more dynamic plot because of the
instability of its characters, making them unpredictable and allowing us the
time to learn who they really are at every turn. This is an incredibly welcomed
change.
Don’t get me wrong; K&L isn’t something you skip
cutscenes for to keep playing. You play to see the cutscenes. The gameplay is
as bland as the story is unique. It’s practically identical to Max Payne minus
the bullet time and jumping for cover. The few new features don’t work well
enough to admire in the slightest. Using cover doesn’t protect well enough, not
because it slowly comes apart from all the lead enemies throw into it (think of
The Matrix building shootout), but because you never duck far enough to be
safe. Reloading makes you sit up even more, so unless you can clear out the
enemy with on clip, you’ll have to take your chances practically out in the
open.
Nearly one-third of the buttons are devoted to team
commands, all of which are useless for the majority of the game. Only for a few
segments to make sure a hostage or Lynch don’t get shot, and at the end when
you can command up to four squadmates. It’s not so much that they are useless
as they are unnecessary most of the time.
The last few levels require them though. More often then not
teammates will act like 12 year old Halo players and just run into a
confrontation with guns blazing. This makes the controls a necessary evil to
combat the poor friendly-AI. It isn’t really stupid, it just doesn’t understand
the finer points of cover and following the hold position command.
Enemy AI isn’t much better. It acts like the characters
look: average, bland, dull. No strategy other than find cover and shoot, or
sometimes just shoot. The fact that they are all as detailed as manikins doesn’t
help in the slightest, though it does contrast the highly-detailed main
characters. Really, there is no need to distinguish the importance by looks
alone.
As was intended, K&L is a cooperative game, though it’s
hard to believe this with the lack of online co-op mode. For those like myself
who aren’t privy to living so close to anyone willing to play with a friend any
game because that makes them fun, this missing feature is a huge
disappointment.
The multiplayer it does have, however, is the polar opposite
of how we felt when news of no co-op play was released. Named “Fragile
Alliance,” the point is to take a team of players and rob a bank. The team of
4-6 players goes up against AI police to steal as much cash as possible and get
back to base.
The catch is that, as the name suggests, it’s a fragile
alliance. At any point of time you can kill off teammates and run with their
share, but be warned: do that and they’ll name you a traitor, and can work
together to hunt you down. Just the same, any downed robbers turn over to the
cop’s side, meaning they’ll come after you knowing they have nothing to lose.
In fact, they’ve only got to gain; every kill they get ad’s 10% of the
newly-deceased’s money to their pocket.
Kane and Lynch: Dead Men is by no means a bad game, nor is
it a good game. What makes it interesting is an exceptional story and
characters, as well as its multiplayer. The general gameplay took far too long
to get used to, and by that time use of the command functions was introduced. These
shortcomings put it back heavily, but the high points make it a game worth
playing. Nothing like sympathizing with wretched people to kill the few worse
than them.
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6.9 shut up the game looks amazing 
