“Lynch, do this, Lynch do that, Lynch stop murdering the hostages!”

Originally Posted: April 24, 2008

Kane And Lynch: Dead Men – Review

Kane and Lynch: Dead Men is an interesting beast. On the one hand it has moments of real unadultarated fun – there are levels that were among the most fun I’ve played on a PS3 (bank job anyone? How about a jail-break then?) – but on the other it had some pretty bad flaws, such as the camera angles and glitching.

The worst example of which saw Lynch’s body floating in the air and his head poking through road below. He was injured and needed medical attention but try as I might the computer wouldn’t recognize where was he was and he died. I had to restart the section through no fault of my own.

You play as Kane, busted out of a prison van on the way to jail to answer to The7 – a mysterious group who believe you left them to die while stashing the spoils of a heist away for yourself before your capture. They have assigned an unstable pyschopath called Lynch to follow your every move and make sure you do as they say. They want their goods back and expect you to get it for them.

The controls were standard fair (L2 to aim, R2 to shoot etc) and while the back up was handy in fire fights the squad mechanic was underwhelming, the other characters just seemed to go wherever they liked despite your directions. The use of adrenalin to bring you (or your team) back round from ‘fatal’ wounding was a nice touch – as was the fact you could OD on it and die anyway.

The weapons were good with your usual selection of handguns, shotguns, ak-47’s etc. and they each had a different feel. The ragdoll effects of the enemy soldiers was also a nice touch – as was the fact that every now and again after being shot they would drop to the floor writhing in pain, leaving you the option of finishing them off or leaving them to die.

The online play of Fragile Alliance mode proved to be a clever inclusion. You and your online partners perform a heist and whoever survives splits the money at the end of the level. However the twist is that you can all kill each other so you get a bigger share of the spoils. If you die during the level you respawn as a cop and if you then kill the person who killed you, you get the share of the spoils. This leads to some very tense allegiances where you’re not sure who you can trust. In one game I sprinted off towards the building we were hitting only to be shot in the back from the off – nice. But it certainly makes you think about things in a different way.

Despite a few moans here and there, this is a good, solid game. I’m willing to put up with minor gripes for the sake of an enjoyable gaming experience. This could’ve been a classic if it had been better implemented but as it stands it’s well worth a play through.

Rating: 7/10

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