Lynch has moved to the slums of Shanghai(where this entire thing will take place... in the grime and grit, and yes, you will tire of it), met a nice young girl that he's now dating, and is making money illegally. Oh, and he's on his meds. Remember how he could suddenly flip out, you weren't sure when his miniscule stability would falter? The most interesting part of him? Gone. Anyway, he invites Kane to join him for one last big score, and things of course go South from right away, during a tense situation a quick decision is made and the wrong person gets a bad case of terminal death, and they end up fighting off the entire Chinese underworld. This is considerably less about the plot, and mainly about the survival. There are no dramatic twists, it's all just keeping you moving from one location to another in the linear levels(that are thankfully usually open enough that you can successfully flank your opponents... also, there are some truly memorable ones to this, especially near the climax). This is only three hours long, and other than the four difficulty settings, there isn't really any replayability to the Story mode. With that said, it is incredibly intense and challenging from the start to the meh conclusion(seriously, it doesn't end so much as simply... stop, no tragedy or irony to it). There are two new multiplayer types, one that adds an undercover agent to the team of the regular one and one that has a group of cops and one of robbers, online as well as LAN. I haven't gotten it to work, so I can't comment much on it, but it does sound cool(and it's clearly where the focus of this production lies). And you can now play Fragile Alliance by yourself, in Arcade, with three lives and increasingly difficult rounds. Basically, you go on heists with a set of desperate criminals, and it's all about getting away with the most amount of loot. You try to pick up more than the others, and getting away means you share it with anyone else that gets away(the vehicle will show up when one of the thieves get to the pick-up spot, and obviously, you will be under fire), so if you have a lot, it might be useful to become a traitor... by killing one of your own, and then getting away, you'll keep all you have. The computer-controlled ones seldom betray you, so that's not as good as playing it with others. This does away with several key features of the first, such as giving orders to mates, getting extra ammo from them(in place of it, you pick it up from downed enemies, as well as new weapons for when they've switched what they use... you can again not carry a lot of extra clips, and this is effective in making you feel like you can actually run out at the worst time), and in fact, having them mostly(it's usually just the titular duo). There's no grenades, instead, you can sometimes find, grab and toss an explosive canister(gas cylinder, fire extinguisher, etc.), and then shoot it to blow it. You actually can't miss it, your first bullet will hit it, seemingly regardless of anything else. Yes, this is even more streamlined than the one preceding it, and that one was already pushing it. It feels less tactical and by and large, that is also the case, and you don't have as much freedom or control. This does get to be repetitive. Well, you can also now grab people as human shields, though this is seldom used as they tend to know you're there, and, let's be frank, we've seen it before(it is at least less of a burden than it was in Hit-man: Blood Money). You use the a sidearm, and it seems like it's the victim's(not sure you can do it with someone not armed with such). The visual style is nicely done, with the look of a documentary. Lightsources cause flaring, the worst of the violence and nudity(don't get your hopes up, it ain't attractive) is blurred, and when you start sprinting, the focus is briefly adjusted to accommodate. It's as if there's a camera operator with a hand-held behind you at all times. Many will find that it's too bouncy to see, and there's fortunately a Steadicam option in this. The weapons are great, and all of them are useful under the right circumstances. You don't have to carry a pistol as your secondary, either, and it seems like you can carry two of even heavy rifles(one of the few places where realism is entirely gone from this). Assault ones, SMGs and shotguns can be found. Famous ones, albeit all with changed names(care to take one guess what Wasteland Hawk is? Seriously, is the licensing of the brand *that* expensive?). Sound isn't bad, if it could perhaps be better. This is worth playing with a headset, or a surround system. You'll literally hear where stuff is coming from, including overhead helicopters. AI is well-done, with some hiccups. No, they will stand still with their back turned to you(when they know you're there), they'll come running right at you(blindfire can take them out, you don't even have to aim!), they will use lousy strategy, at times(and it's strange how, every now and then, you will face only one or a handful of foes, like they got left behind the squad or something). There are bugs in this, although the frequent checkpoint saving got me through them all in one piece. This has unlockables, if you preordered. There is brutal, bloody, disturbing content in this. I recommend this to fans of Dead Men who can live with substantial changes as long as the key aspects that I describe here as remaining intact, well, do so(and you may want to just go for a rental). 7/10
Review of Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days
