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First off I’m not going to wast time diving up comparisons between Dead Men and Dog Days, as most reviewers I see are doing, although relevant. Instead I am going to give you the good and bad of what Kane and Lynch 2 had to offer. For starters the game’s graphics design is clever and not something I have seen in a video game in a long time. Innovation. The games design has a hand held shaky camera system that works very well in the setting and story line. It feels like you are directing a mob based action movie and you are directing the action in the way you see fit. The game feels gritty and grainy, much to the liking of older violent films. There are just some spots, especially when in action sequences that the game seems to freeze then proceed. Although this is not a reacuring ordeal, it is worth pointing out. Another issue I had was with the animations. It seemed like they rushed the game out with very little polish on the animations and voice and sound cues. For example, there was a scene in the second chapter of the game that Lynch is sitting in the back of a black car talking about what to do next with his boss, when the game all of a sudden took a little skip and the sound of gun fire, cars flipping and screaming could be heard, but the animations of screen were still Lynch and Boss man talking in the car. It wasn’t until 15 seconds later that the animation caught up to the sound effects. I am curious as to why, when Lynch and Kane are conversating back and forth to each other, their lips do not move and there is no facial animations at all.
The games story is probably one of the games best features. This is a revenge and emotional roller coaster that seems to start from the very beginning. The emotional peak of the game occurred within the first hour and a half ,and quickly turned into a violent rampage from there on out. Some may feel that the game’s emotional balance was shifted way to early, but for a game like this, it worked out just fine. The game’s story does not drop off at any point in the middle or end, like some other games tend to do. Any time you have a revenge tale involving two hard criminals you would expect Co-Op to make it’s way into this game. Indeed you got your wish. Dog Days does feature a co-op story mode, which if you have the opportunity, partner up because the game does have horrible AI. From your partner to the enemies themselves, they are so predictable. You can keep your crosshairs aimed at one spot that an enemy pokes out from and hit him everytime. He never changes position.
Some of the games biggest flaws are recurrences from the previous. The game does have a sloppy cover system, that can drive you crazy, especially when coming off a recovery from being shot down. The button combination to run from cover to cover seems a little to much. Why do I have to hold the left bumper to sprint then “A” to cover? Why could this be a third person shooter that adopts what other franchises have done so much better. Yes Gears of War and Army of Two have similar cover based systems, but they work very well. I don’t have to fumble with 2 buttons to run from point “A” to point “B”. Dog Days failed a little to adopt to today’s standards of third person shooters in a cover based system.
Dog Days is also plagued by constant repetition. Yes, running and shooting is fun, but it would have been nice to add some variances. It seemed like the entire game I was on foot shooting, and switching weapons with what I found, because the standard weapons in the game are crap. You spend a lot of time searching the dead for their weapons. Shooting works much better in Dog Days, and seems to inch ever so closer to the Army of Two feel. The auto target assist doesn’t seem to work that well unfortunately. I found that after pressing in the “LT” my crosshairs would warp to the closest enemy and would be about 10 inches from the actual enemy, so when you shoot you miss 50% of the time.
Multiplayer got a decent upgrade this time around. There are 3 modes to this multiplayer which are:
- Fragile Alliance
- Cops & Robbers
- Undercover Cop.
I had fun with Cops & Robbers particularly. It seemed fast paced and seemed to always be a laugh. I remember a number of nights of laughter with the original, and this was no different. Running for the loot and having the opportunity to steal it from your partner by murdering him was always interesting. It seemed a lot like a game of “Who Can You Trust”. If it was a random person on line I would probably have my cross hairs on him the entire time, but friends, not so much so. Fragile Alliance is a heist with other players where the objective is similar. Steal on a strict time table and get as much money as possible, and yes Betrayal shows his ugly little face. Undercover cop is just what it sounds like. It randomly generates a player as an undercover cop in your operation. So while trying to escape the Undercover Cop is trying to stop you without blowing his cover (stay out of party chat on this one).
Kane and Lynch 2 was a experience. The solid story and combat, with a mix of decent multiplayer and co-op (finally), made this a solid game to play through. Was it better than the last, Yes. Was it worth the experience of a playthrough? Yes. Was it worth the $60. No. Even though the game is solid in some aspects it is very buggy and aggravating in a lot of other spots to. This seems to be a perfect rental game for a lot of people, but if you love this style of game play and wont mind playing the 5 hour story over again a couple times, one by yourself and the other in co-op, you will like it. For those that are looking to spend safe, rent it. If you enjoy your rental then by all means, but this would be a strong rental recommendation from me.
Rating: 6/10 
+ Gun play is fun
+ Violent, Gritty action feel
+ love the setting
- Very Buggy
- Horrible animations
- Cover system is a disaster
+/- Very short, but good story line
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