50%Xbox 360

Title: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
Genre: third-person-cover-shooter
Platform: Xbox 360
Region release played: USA
Year of release: 2007
Developer: Io Interactive
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Graphics: 3/5
Audio: 3/5
Challenge: 4/5
Fun factor: 2/5
Premise: Two bad guys doing bad guy things, to save one of the bad guy's daughter. These bad guys are killing other bad guys, but also killing good guys, willy-nilly. Eventually other bad guys join these bad guys, to make up a small platoon of bad guys the player(s) controls in real-time. You're gonna see some dark scenes and wallow in black humor. You're gonna rage at unpolished gameplay, a variety of glitches, and truly unbalanced difficulty.

+Unique middle-aged anti-hero "protagonists" that don't like each other.
+Much variety to the mission designs and gaming environs.
+The art direction (not the graphic tech) is rather good.
+The plot is noir crime stuff with a Tarantino-tinge.
+Local split-screen co-op campaign.

-The developers completely screwed up the difficulty balancing of the co-op mode. To the point certain sections are nigh impossible in co-op. We had to switch to solo to get passed those sections. At least this was the case with the console version.
-The console version runs at an unreliable framerate, with gamepad aiming being sluggish and annoyingly inaccurate.
-Various AI glitches (some game stopping) and a lack of polish in general.
-There are camera problems at times that negatively affect gameplay.
-The ending we got was five seconds long max.

50%Xbox 360

This game is so fucking boring, I didn't like anyone except Lynch, and even then he takes a backseat in the story by the end. The shooting sucks, and this game sucks.

60%PlayStation 3

6/10

60%Xbox 360

Playing this on my xbox 360 was rough. Controls, performance and shooting were all subpar, and the thing that kept me interested the most in completing it were the characters Kane and Lynch themselves. These are two guys that are terrible people with no redeemable qualities.

The letter that Kane writes to his daughter at the beginning of the game makes you think this will be a game about the redemption of man, but it's not. It's about a criminal that wants to save his "family" that has completely disowned him, and ends up making things way worse. This game makes you feel disturbed and uneasy, not in a good way. The game made me think, but that was pretty much the only good thing about it. The graphics suck, the story sucks, the controls suck, and the sound design sucks. If I were to replay this game, I'd probably do it on PC for better performance.

The craziest thing after playing and reviewing this is, I kind of like the game...

40%Xbox 360

If they polished it more this could be pretty decent. Second half is just plain frustrating.

70%PC

75%

50%PC

The game is fun, basic fps with a 6 hours campaign. Multiplayer is dead, so try to find some friends to play it if you want.
I highly recommend to get this game on a sale, since it can get down to 1 dollar, and it goes on sale a lot.
Graphics, even when old, are sometimes nice. The best part for graphics are the night club in Japan, where they really get the atmosphere of a crowded space full of flashing lights.
A note to congratulate the game: The NPCs are not total morons. They sometimes save my ass, sometimes I have to save them. You can give orders to them, but the only time I found this useful is for cleaning snipers that are pointing at me, and I have ample cover from their shots, and the other character have a shooting position, so very situational I would say. And sometimes they will get stuck when you need them to get to a objective point, and you have to go search for them and get them to the point holding their hands.
The game has a local co-op option, and there are more options in the way of playing it. For example, Lynch have a "Psychotic fear" filter, which make all civilians look like police officers and let you killed them.

The best part to me are the voice actors, mostly the ones making Kane and Lynch, they sound believable, a high achievement on any game, let alone one who said "fuck" three times per phrase.
The story is fine, normal action movie full of explosions, a suitcase everyone wants to get which never shows what it have, a la Pulp Fiction.
Sometimes is messy, I never get what Retamoto wants in the first place, and The7 feels like some "Bad guys" just put there. The Brothers are shown like these evil lords, but they really don't get any camera time to have any personality, or to show that they are more important than the average shooted enemy. Sometimes, a secondary character will say 'I will not work with this psycho', and five seconds later say 'Oh ok, we will go on a suicide mission with him alone'.
And also, revolutionizing Venezuela and the Havana? Seriously?

40%Xbox 360

this game sucks

70%PC

Rifles are a piece of garbage. Companion ai cant assist when they've got shotguns and try running through enemy fire.

Good for recreation, laptop and controller.

50%PC

(5, close to 6)

I played it as co-op which almost always makes a game better. Still, it was just "meh". Characters are nice tho.

50%PC

Mediocre, disappointing gameplay

70%PC

7/10 if you play it in coop. 6/10 if you play it single-player.

A dark, gritty, and uncompromising game with excellent characters, an exciting story, and great CO-OP. Unfortunately, its held back by inaccurate weapons, a lousy cover system, and terrible stealth sections. Despite all of this, I would still recommend checking it out. Make sure you play it with a friend.

50%PC

This game could've been so much more better if atleast they applied Hitman shooting mechanics in this. For a shooter game the shooting totally sucks it never hits where u want them to. Still I was impressed with the story as there aren't many games out there that tells such dark & realistic stories. Each character has their own personality & the graphics aren't that bad either (2007 game). So in my opinion this is just an average game i.e it's neither good nor bad

40%PlayStation 3

I was very dissapointed with this game, wasn't expecting it to be this bad.
It has a very bad gameplay, the cover system is really messy, the visuals are bad even for a 2007 video game.
The Story had some potential, but it was missed.
The animations are also pretty bad.
I'm really dissapointed with this one!

50%PC

A game with a gigantic amount of potential that sadly did not turn as well as it could have. Despite its generic gameplay and environments the dark atmosphere still manages to shine through, and it's about the only good thing in all the mediocrity this game offers. Play it only if you're really curious.

60%PC

História - 5/10
Gráficos - 6/10
Jogabilidade - 6/10
Som - 7/10
Nota Final - 6/10

70%Xbox 360

+ plenty of action
+ despicable, but compelling main character(s)
+ good weapon assortment
+ great voice actors
+ simple AI commands
+ partially destructible environment
+ some memorable set-pieces

- extremely short
- no replay value
- hilariously bad AI
- the final third feels out of place
- too many actions mapped to just one button (E on PC)
- unreliable automated cover-system
- inaccurate guns
- not Jesper Kyd's finest work
- useless mechanics (grenades & throwing them back, gun swapping)

Final Score: 73% (average)

(Finished on Morphine)

70%PC

+ plenty of action
+ despicable, but compelling main character(s)
+ good weapon assortment
+ great voice actors
+ simple AI commands
+ partially destructible environment
+ some memorable set-pieces

- extremely short
- no replay value
- hilariously bad AI
- the final third feels out of place
- too many actions mapped to just one button (E on PC)
- unreliable automated cover-system
- inaccurate guns
- not Jesper Kyd's finest work
- useless mechanics (grenades & throwing them back, gun swapping)

Final Score: 75% (good)

(Finished on Morphine)

50%PC

Played in co-op with a friend thanks to Steam Remote Play Together (that feature is amazing). The game is a very average third person shooter with very unlikable protagonsits, but as expected, co-op makes everything better. Hard to say I "recommend" it, but considering you can get it so stupidly cheap these days, you've got nothing to lose but your time.

80%PC

good game

60%PC

I don't get to play a lot of 3rd perspective shooters, and this was the first one where the emphasis was placed on getting into cover and shooting from protected positions. As a result, I was really enjoying discovering something new. Then, after a while, the novelty wore off, and I was enjoying the game a little less.

There is a flaw in the game design. I can't really put my fingers on it. It's like the team wanted to do something different, brought in lots of interesting ideas, and in the process lost the focus of making it hold together. Take for example the characters of Kane and Lynch. Kane is paying for his past – having stolen something from "The Seven" - his past employers, and Lynch is sent to babysit him as Kane retrieves the stolen goods from where he left them. Lynch is a real psychopath, hoping the job will get him favours with The Seven – and when that falls apart, he keeps with Kane – a totally incompatible and unworkable relationship which has no real possibility even in this strange scenario.

We Also never get a glimpse of what was stolen and why The Seven is willing to sacrifice so much for it. It's what drives the game for more than half of the story and yet remains unexplained.

The game has a dark theme forged into it. The developers give you heartache after heartache, ever for making the honourable decisions. I don't say game have to finish well, but players want at least a bit of an emotional reward for being good. In Kane and Lynch, both possible endings are "damn if you do, damn if you don't".

Fights become a routine after a while. Hold cover for long enough and most likely some of your team members will do the job for you. I did play it in the easiest mode, and it felt a bit random to me. There was no intelligent strategy in the design of how to approach you targets – all was very scripted and linear. The "death" haze was a nice touch. I only saw it in "Tomb Raider" before, but that's because I don't play lots of modern staff. I understand it's quite a standard in many games today.

It's short but anything else is okay I guess, but nothing too exceptional. I would say somewhere between 60% and 65% is a fair result.

60%PC

Pretty much trash engine, it's solidly bugged, but an interesting perspective to play from. Can't help but accept the fact that one plays as an antagonist the whole time even though it's kinda frustrating at times - which means the game made a very good job with the dialogs, character actions and the idea overall - if we ignore everything else that matters technical issues.

70%Xbox 360

Divertido en cooperativo

80%PlayStation 3

Kane & Lynch probably has the most mature application of cinematic conventions in an action game yet, and it brims with original ideas. However, it's let down by dodgy AI, a poor cover system and a variety of glitches.

50%PC

It's average. Nothing spectacular

80%Xbox 360

85/100

60%PC

steam

50%PC

The game had a promising story idea, but failed to deliver due to overly linear gameplay with portions as a rail-shooter, forgettable NPCs and much repetition. The game was unstable crashing to desktop several times, and it was a very short game all things considered. Not recommended.

60%PC

Let's start with what this game did right: the characters are great and the story, while riddled with cliches, is good as it fits really well with everything else, There's also a nice variety of guns.

What this game did wrong: the length. Sure, the setting and the characters are nice, but they couldve done so much more with those had they not made the game so short. Sadly, the game is full of bugs (think bethesda times 2): missing textures, frozen enemies and having to restart a level because one of your ally felt like dying in a spot where you can't use adrenaline on him.

70%PlayStation 3

7'3

70%PC

Very short game. Dark, fun AAA with sloppy execution that needed a little longer in development. Pick it up if on sale and you have nothing better to play.

70%PC

Havana and jungle bits at the end are lackluster and I think that they are too much of a shift in scenery, which doesn't fit withing the context of the rest of the game, but otherwise it's pretty good. Story is interesting, voice acting great, and visuals remind me a lot of the movie Heat. Too bad that it's so short.

50%PC

Adjusting my original rating, as I was finally able to get the game running. Unfortunately part of me wishes I hadn't. This is just a bad, bad game. Nonsense story and mediocre graphics are coupled with inconsistent shooting mechanics and a few ridiculous boss fights, all stuffed into a game I completed in no more than 5 hours - actually, Steam says I put 6 hours in, but I spent at least 1-2 hours restarting the game from the beginning before I finally figured out that you have to manually select the latest chapter when you start up the game. I imagine Kane & Lynch Dog Days can't be any worse, but if it's even close then I really hope it's just as short.

60%PC

Some cool levels with some excellent shootout scenarios but the controls and shooting mechanics really hold this game back. When I aim at something, I want to hit it, not all around it.

60%PC

Short game, game is not that fun.

70%No Platform Specified

Kane & Lynch is a game that many people will play through and enjoy simply because of the forceful story and characters. Others will find the gameplay isn’t up to speed with the rest of the gaming world and wonder why anyone would bother. Frustration should never enter into a game because of the mechanics, but with Kane & Lynch it does. Loose gameplay, a brief campaign, and a single (albeit good) online mode with four maps hurt this title that could have been so much more.