Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

A recommendation for Dog Days isn't hard, though it is filled with qualifications. If the story and characters haven't caught your interest yet, or if you're just not interested in crime thrillers, then there's probably not going to be enough in Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days to keep you playing. Outside of the story it tells, how it tells it, and the interesting conceit of its multiplayer modes, Dog Days is just a passable third person shooter. But if you appreciated the promise of the last game, or you're looking for something darker and more sophisticated content-wise than your usual shooter fare...

Teaming up for a final "smuggling operation", events turn decidedly sour when Kane unwittingly takes out the daughter of a corrupt government official, Shangsi. The plot is littered with some pretty uncomfortable moments, but it primarily takes a back-seat to the shooting.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days provides what the original could not - fantastically gory action over a stunning backdrop of mob warfare and careless violence. There are still a few issues carried over that mar the overall package, but both Mr Kane and Mr Lynch now most definitely have our full attention.

I think it is fair to say that the original Kane and Lynch hardly set the world alight. After all of the hype, the game failed to deliver on its initial promise and, even though it provided some solid entertainment and a fantastically unique multiplayer experience, it could well have been so much more. So can the sequel, aptly titled Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, raise the bar and provide us with the intriguing combination of action, story and intrigue that we are all pining for? With two borderl...

Although, Kane & Lynch 2 feels kind of uninspired on the gameplay front, the presentation itself shines through. It’s intentionally bad, like low compression quality YouTube videos bad. But it serves to portray a gritty documentary style perspective, not obtained if you turn off steady cam. The color separation, MPEG compression, pixel artifacting, and lighting bloom really stand out as a way to flesh out the narrative pieces, especially in-game cutscenes, and high intensity shooting action within the game.