Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days, as strange as it may sound, is a startlingly quiet game. Not quiet in an auditory sense, of course; the gunfire, explosions, screams, and profanity are non-stop. But, as gamers, we've become increasingly used to epic stories told on a massive scale. Despite video games consistently trying their hardest to be cinematic (whatever that actually means), this generation of titles has seen them act less like video games and more like VIDEO GAMES™. Something like Modern Warfare 2 can't possibly work as a film. It's too loud, narratively, like a 90-piece orchestra of children banging on pots and pans. But as a VIDEO GAME™ (all uppercase, LOUD), it's wonderfully huge and appealing. Every moment is a set piece, every scene a climax that a normal action movie would spend two hours working up to. These are the kinds of VIDEO GAMES™ we're used to now, and often just naturally expect, especially if we're gonna blow $60.
Kane & Lynch 2, then, despite all the noise and violence, is most shocking for its modesty. Its story is short, told without lengthy cutscenes or explanation, and ends unceremoniously. These are all things we're not used to in video games. We need big, loud, dumb. By comparison, Dog Days' unpretentiousness is almost... pretentious.
I admire its brevity (as I did the original game's), and I think the mental tying of length to value is destructive at best. Long, in and of itself, never equals good. Kane & Lynch 2 tells the story it sets out to in the right amount of time. And it's a simple story, too, which doesn't feel insecure enough with itself to cram in unnecessary plot twists (and if you play video games at all, you know said twists are rarely actual surprises). The focus here was obviously on making a intense, visceral experience with no frills. In that way, the game is a complete success.
I cannot say enough about the remarkable achievement that is this game's visual presentation. As a videographer and editor by trade, I have never, ever seen a handheld camera rendered so faithfully and effectively in any medium, let alone a fully digital world. I do not get motion sickness, ever (roller coaster junkie in Orlando speaking, here), and I nearly went to the store halfway through playing Dog Days to buy Dramamine. That's a compliment. After a while, the visuals begin to be less of a novelty and start to blend seamlessly into the experience. It's completely astounding.
But here comes the real issue: there's not a great deal more to say about Kane & Lynch 2 beyond that. I enjoyed the slim, engaging story, capturing this small, violent slice of these two men's lives, and the way it's presented visually is groundbreaking. There are other good things: the gunplay works well (better than the first game, though I enjoyed the inaccuracy of the original's weapons - not everyone that holds a gun is a sharpshooter, you know), the multiplayer has some unique ideas, and it's generally just a very competent third-person shooter, for better or for worse.
However, that being said, and despite my earlier statement of "length does not equal value," this is a very unique video game package that I think everyone should try... but that I have a hard time recommending you spend $60 on. Personally, I rented the game from a Redbox machine, something I've never done before. I played the campaign plus a little multiplayer in a few hours one day and then I took it back. And that's about all I need out of it. It feels weird to say, since I'm definitely someone who almost universally buys games new, if for no other reason than to support the developers. But, here, despite enjoying what I did play, it's not a game I really need to own.
Here's why: I did enjoy the campaign, but, yeah, it's slim, and I don't know how well it would hold up to repeat plays. The multiplayer can be fun, but it is definitely light on content as well. I don't like criticizing games for what they don't have (I'd rather focus on what they do), but the lack of more customizable characters and actual maps make the multiplayer a little bit generic and light. I had a lot of fun in Fragile Alliance, with my online partners being surprisingly loyal and untraitorous, but I couldn't find a single person playing Undercover Cop or Cops and Robbers. And maybe that's the real issue with the multiplayer: I could buy the game to play online some more, but who would be there to play with me? A small handful of games dominate online play of any kind these days, and Dog Days just is not the game that's going to dethrone any of them. So fun as it can be, unless you have friends dedicated to Kane & Lynch, don't expect to find many people to enjoy it with after a month or two.
Ultimately, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is a game everyone should play, but that is simultaneously hard to recommend. Just like its older brother, it is lovably flawed, something you'll spend just as much time rationalizing your enjoyment of as you do actually playing it. It truly pushed me to consider, "Well, what exactly is a video game supposed to be? At what point is short too short, small too small?" As a tech demo, it's astonishing. As a VIDEO GAME™, it's barely a whimper. Often, that's a bad thing. But in the case of Kane & Lynch 2, its meager ambitions are downright refreshing.
Kane & Lynch 2, then, despite all the noise and violence, is most shocking for its modesty. Its story is short, told without lengthy cutscenes or explanation, and ends unceremoniously. These are all things we're not used to in video games. We need big, loud, dumb. By comparison, Dog Days' unpretentiousness is almost... pretentious.
I admire its brevity (as I did the original game's), and I think the mental tying of length to value is destructive at best. Long, in and of itself, never equals good. Kane & Lynch 2 tells the story it sets out to in the right amount of time. And it's a simple story, too, which doesn't feel insecure enough with itself to cram in unnecessary plot twists (and if you play video games at all, you know said twists are rarely actual surprises). The focus here was obviously on making a intense, visceral experience with no frills. In that way, the game is a complete success.
I cannot say enough about the remarkable achievement that is this game's visual presentation. As a videographer and editor by trade, I have never, ever seen a handheld camera rendered so faithfully and effectively in any medium, let alone a fully digital world. I do not get motion sickness, ever (roller coaster junkie in Orlando speaking, here), and I nearly went to the store halfway through playing Dog Days to buy Dramamine. That's a compliment. After a while, the visuals begin to be less of a novelty and start to blend seamlessly into the experience. It's completely astounding.
But here comes the real issue: there's not a great deal more to say about Kane & Lynch 2 beyond that. I enjoyed the slim, engaging story, capturing this small, violent slice of these two men's lives, and the way it's presented visually is groundbreaking. There are other good things: the gunplay works well (better than the first game, though I enjoyed the inaccuracy of the original's weapons - not everyone that holds a gun is a sharpshooter, you know), the multiplayer has some unique ideas, and it's generally just a very competent third-person shooter, for better or for worse.
However, that being said, and despite my earlier statement of "length does not equal value," this is a very unique video game package that I think everyone should try... but that I have a hard time recommending you spend $60 on. Personally, I rented the game from a Redbox machine, something I've never done before. I played the campaign plus a little multiplayer in a few hours one day and then I took it back. And that's about all I need out of it. It feels weird to say, since I'm definitely someone who almost universally buys games new, if for no other reason than to support the developers. But, here, despite enjoying what I did play, it's not a game I really need to own.
Here's why: I did enjoy the campaign, but, yeah, it's slim, and I don't know how well it would hold up to repeat plays. The multiplayer can be fun, but it is definitely light on content as well. I don't like criticizing games for what they don't have (I'd rather focus on what they do), but the lack of more customizable characters and actual maps make the multiplayer a little bit generic and light. I had a lot of fun in Fragile Alliance, with my online partners being surprisingly loyal and untraitorous, but I couldn't find a single person playing Undercover Cop or Cops and Robbers. And maybe that's the real issue with the multiplayer: I could buy the game to play online some more, but who would be there to play with me? A small handful of games dominate online play of any kind these days, and Dog Days just is not the game that's going to dethrone any of them. So fun as it can be, unless you have friends dedicated to Kane & Lynch, don't expect to find many people to enjoy it with after a month or two.
Ultimately, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is a game everyone should play, but that is simultaneously hard to recommend. Just like its older brother, it is lovably flawed, something you'll spend just as much time rationalizing your enjoyment of as you do actually playing it. It truly pushed me to consider, "Well, what exactly is a video game supposed to be? At what point is short too short, small too small?" As a tech demo, it's astonishing. As a VIDEO GAME™, it's barely a whimper. Often, that's a bad thing. But in the case of Kane & Lynch 2, its meager ambitions are downright refreshing.