Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days First Look

Taking the sequel in a gritty new direction.
by Erik Brudvig ign

January 13, 2010 - The original Kane & Lynch didn't quite set the critical world on fire. It had some control issues and could have used a bit more polish to truly shine, but it did introduce a pair of intriguing and ugly characters as well as a unique multiplayer mode. The team at Io Interactive could have simply smoothed out the rough edges, pounded out a new story and called it a day. In the world of videogames, taking that route is almost expected.

For Kane & Lynch 2, you should expect the unexpected.

The story picks up many moons after the first game ended. That story, you may recall, ended with the player making a certain life or death choice. Dog Days picks one as canon and continues on from there, rather than branching out. The main character this time is the psychotic Lynch, the schizophrenic that played back-up and color commentary to Kane's central role in the last game. He's found his way to Shanghai, where he calls in Kane for one last big score. He calls it a done deal, with no hiccups expected, and so Kane joins up to make some cash to support his daughter.


Of course, Lynch is crazy. His well laid plans quickly go south and you'll find the duo embroiled in quite a bit of good old-fashioned third-person shooting. But before you ever get to the game itself, another aspect of Kane & Lynch 2 is sure to catch your eye. The visual style has seen a complete overhaul, drawing from low-quality amateur YouTube videos as inspiration.

How exactly does that work? Glad you asked. The camera follows close behind the action, shaking upon impact. Visual artifacts are present everywhere. Though the game runs in HD, a treatment has been applied to make it look like a streaming video. When you get shot, it looks like bits of digital information are lost and the screen becomes pixelated. The bright lights will oversaturate the "camera," causing light to bleed across pixels. You'll even get a little "buffering" screen to take the place of the initial level load.
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The goal is to make it seem like this is a video being directed by the player, recorded on a small handheld digital camera. You'll stay with Kane and Lynch for the entirety of the roughly 48 hour time period that the game takes place, tracking the duo from fight to conversation and back to fights as it all unravels.

It's a great direction to take for the sequel for two reasons. The first is that it gives Kane & Lynch 2 a look all its own. Its uniqueness creates an instant allure. While other games strive for crisp and clean visuals, sometimes aiming for photorealism, this one revels in its rough look. It also covers up some of the textures that don't look so hot. The first Kane & Lynch game looked OK, but wasn't exactly a visual stunner. Without the visual tricks that make the sequel unique, the sequel would look roughly the same.

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Interesting, but have they actually put a decent cover system in? guess we will wait and see.

Was it just me that luved the 1st game..even tho' it had it's faults??

The prison break stage was classic

B1G Daddi F wrote:Was it just me that luved the 1st game..even tho' it had it's faults??

The prison break stage was classic

Nope I really did like the first game, well the single player component of it anyway, a highly entertaining 5 and a bit hours. I really couldn't get to grips with the multiplayer, I really liked the idea of it but there was just something in the implementation where it fell down, it just wasn't fun for me. It was because of that I ended up trading it in the day after I got it, shame really.

I liked playing this game alot too... took a liiiiiittle while to get into it but after that I was away.

The thing about the prison level is that when the truck they're in drives OUT it appears that the prison is in the middle of nowhere... open space all around....
Now considering how they got IN to the prison in the first place.... did nobody see them coming?


Fun game though, playing Lynch was cool and he seems to be the main character in the new game.
Looking forward to it!
Keep the news coming djilladel.

New trailer reminding everybody about Fragile Alliance, a truly unique, innovative and EVIL multiplayer mode.

Sauce: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

damn man your like the news channel or something lol

But seriously this game is going to be class I loved the idea of fragile alliance but I die too often, hopefully with this one I can get good when the game is still new.

The youtube style camera looks very good and I am looking forward to trying it out, atleast people can turn it off if it is annoying to them.

Sauce: xbox360achievements.org

"IO Interactive has tweeted some big news on its Twitter page, revealing that early access to a Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days demo will be exclusively available to Xbox 360 owners in the UK, Germany, Italy and France, with possible further territories to be revealed.

Jump onto the official Kane & Lynch 2 site now to sign up for the demo, early access to which will be available from July 1st.

However, there are only 2000 winning codes according to the terms and conditions, so get in quickly! Sneaky... They should really have made that clearer. Who has time to read terms and conditions?"

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signed up for this bout 10 mins ago heres hoping

Me too.
I got a personal email straight into my personal inbox addressed to me personally thanking me personally for signing up.... so I think I'm on a winner there!

woooooooohoooooooo got a code shame i dont really care much for the game