Decent campaign

Danish IO Interactive is of course most know for their Hitman franchise. This is their first game in a new franchise where stars are: Mister Kane and Mister Lynch. Game play is story driven first person shooter with cover/squad mechanism. 

Story starts with a heist like action and then turns into a revenge mission. In the end story becomes a rescue flick. Not really original and interesting other than the observing the strange chemistry between Kane and Lynch. Especially in a certain conversation after bank gig that went wrong, which is ..interesting. The plot and the mature theme are fresh and the plot would not be so bad if it hadn't be for the gaps in the story. Missions jump from one continent to another with not much reasoning explained. Not to mention content of certain briefcase or a whole civil war.

Presentation is one the games better aspects. Stylish locations with lot of civilians/police/soldiers. The aging dynamic-duo look respectable tired up for their respective lifestyle. IE messed up. Music is done by Jesper Kyd himself. There is no doubt that he is one the best western video-game music composer and while there is nothing wrong with his compositions. Music still ends up being bit bland. Game doesn't have any identifiable theme or tracks. Voice acting is decent if nothing else. At times it is hard to distinguish the voices between characters. Especially later on the game when the squad is much larger. 

The cover based ability comes in from where Kane/Lynch is supposed to take cover behind a wall automatically. Great when and if it works. Too often you end up walking towards a wall multiple times before it works. If at all. Squad mechanism works bit better luckily. The squad can be assigned different tasks such as attack, protect and follow. In few instances AI  is acting like a moron and just charging through ignoring any cover. Even when set to protect. On narrow areas this works much better. Game has some strange level design decisions as well. Such as two big mechanical boss battles which feel forced and not fun. Especially the Hind one. Come on, is a mandatory helicopter battle really required?

Not a great game but still worth playing through. Some neat ideas and harsh mature "banter" makes the game feel a bit different. Kane and Lynch is not the longest game. And this actually good because it is hard to bear all the flaws much further. Game has multiplayer which is quite empty since a sequel is out. A co-op mode exist which is ideal for two players. Blasting through the campaign in co-op is surely way more fun than the single player campaign.

 Kane & Lynch is a strange game. It had lot of potential and some really nice ideas. Such unfortunate that more or less every aspect of the games is flawed bit too much for this to properly enjoyable experience. Still worth a purchase and play-through.