Humility will get you everywhere. John Romero learned that lesson the hard way ('make me his bitch', indeed). As did Eidos (now Square Enix Europe) in 2007, following the marketing backfire of IO Interactive's Kane & Lynch. It simply seemed, at the time, that we were dealing with an average game that had been overhyped, until review score controversies forever became the series' legacy.
The reason I'm bringing up old drama is because there is something markedly different about my first look at
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. The PR is a lot more reserved for a start, and IO Interactive, while having no part in the original game's scandal in the first place, act as if it's trying to make up for something.
Of course, the Danish studio says that its aim is to take on board
Dead Men's negative
reviews and to try to make a better game this time round. To accomplish this, it's gone back to the drawing board to rediscover how to approach graphical style, gameplay mechanics and story progression. The result is a sequel that looks a world apart from its predecessor.
It's not just because the setting for
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is Shanghai, although that does help in giving it a different atmosphere. The graphics at this early stage in development look similar to
Dead Men, but there's enough time to make it look like a 2010 game. It's the atmosphere and the distinctive environment that I saw which was really quite impressive.
Tall, neon-lit buildings standing against a gloomy, polluted cityscape as you run through dingy back alleys in the rain. If
Dead Men felt like it was inspired by countless Hollywood flicks,
Dog Days will give you a sense of Asian drama mixed with a bit of film noir.
This is evident in the changes in camera style as well. IO explained that it had been heavily influenced by user-generated camera work – the kind that looks like a hybrid of homemade travellers' videos of Japan, for example, and
Cloverfield – and had looked to Youtube in particular for research. The studio's mission is to define the concept of 'real' and make
Dog Days appear more like an action-documentary of sorts.
IO is trying to reflect this in its story writing as well, with more of an insight into the two leading characters. In
Dead Men you were playing as Kane; this time you get to control Lynch, with missions and gameplay that will reflect his personality, we're told. Following on from the events in the first game, the anti-hero makes a new home in Shanghai, where he's working for a British criminal called Mr Glazer as part of a gang of ex-pat washouts.
I was shown the fourth stage in the game, where up until this point Lynch had been involved in a big job that went horribly wrong. Kane had been called in to offer his military expertise in moving weapon shipments – but it seems that the two are in it deep now. The first thing we see here is Lynch trying to call someone called 'Xiu', saying that he needs to hear his/her voice. From there, it's guns out and take cover as the duo is suddenly swarmed with all manner of police, rival gangs and other enemies.
Some of the improvements made in the sequel include revamped shooter mechanics and a more aggressive AI that will be more wise to your actions. Destructible scenery makes for some tight situations as the more you hang around, the less cover you'll be able to find.
If you do end up getting hit too much, IO has introduced a 'Down, Not Dead' system – rather than curling up into a ball and getting pumped with drugs, you get a second chance to be revived in a similar style to
Gears of War.
There's more scope for co-operative moves to progress in the levels, with Lynch calling on Kane to help overcome tall walls and bust down tough doors. Speaking of co-operative play,
Dog Days allows you to play the single player missions online with a pal, something that was missing in
Dead Men. Fragile Alliance – the eight-player multiplayer heist mode that allowed team mates to turn traitor on each other – makes a return as well.
It will be interesting to get my hands on the game good and proper, and feel how differently
Dog Days will be played thanks to Lynch's unique perspective on life. Besides the graphical style, I can already see how the more irrational of the two can offer different kinds of gameplay to
Dead Men, with set-pieces that make the missions feel more improvised and unexpected.
For now though, we're looking at an understated sequel that may be able to deliver on its promises and provide a unique experience all on its own.
