Preview: Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days
Having spent a fair amount of time with the first Kane & Lynch game, I was intrigued by the "exclusive" Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days demo that showed up (albeit somewhat hidden) on Xbox Live Marketplace late last week. Weighing in at 1.6GB, the demo is pretty massive and includes a mixture of single-player campaign and multiplayer gameplay.
Surprisingly, the demo shows signs of a game that looks to be not that bad! Check out my complete analysis, with video coverage, after the break.
%Gallery-80516%
Campaign
This time around, the we're-barely-friends duo is in Shanghai, taking on waves of the city's finest. The game's still a cover-based shooter, with a heavy emphasis on flanking -- not much has changed here. The gunplay feels less sloppy, though, and each weapon has its own strengths and weaknesses. Plus, the camera doesn't get in the way as much when trying to get from cover to, uh, other cover.
When the demo starts, Kane and Lynch are in a restaurant and not before long, it's crawling with cops. A shootout ensues, and the duo eventually scrams back to Xiu's apartment (she's Lynch's main squeeze). The two need to constantly be on the move and fight through some pretty neat environments, such as back alleys, crowded streets and a dilapidated construction yard.
The biggest complaint I had with this single-player portion of the demo (about 20 minutes of gameplay) is the enemy AI. The "bad" guys are not too bright, and while they do a great job of staying behind cover and popping out to shoot (suppressing fire also keeps them in cover), they're not very good at picking their spots. In the video above, I manage to stack a neat little pile of corpses in a specific area that offers little protection. You'd think they'd start to catch on to the death trap, y'know?
Also: Kane is an idiot. My AI-controlled teammate seemed never to go for cover, despite being frequently outnumbered and outgunned.
Multiplayer
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days will include three multiplayer modes: Fragile Alliance, Cops & Robbers and Undercover Cop. Fragile Alliance is largely unchanged from the previous game -- a team of crooks pulls off a heist and makes its way back to the getaway vehicle. At any time, crooks can betray each other for extra loot, but in doing so they become traitors, which are fair game for the rest of the team. If you die, you spawn as a cop, giving you a one-life chance to enact some revenge. The mode boils down to pulling off the heist and waiting for a good time to murder your teammates in the back -- hoping somebody else doesn't betray you before you betray them -- so you can make off with all of the cash. There truly is no honor amongst thieves.
Undercover Cop has largely the same premise as Fragile Alliance, except each round one player is designated as the titular undercover cop. It's his job, strangely enough, to murder all of the criminals, but he can't pull the trigger until an actual crime is committed. Once the crooks steal the cash, then it's open season. Of course, once the undercover cop is discovered, his job becomes increasingly difficult to complete.
Finally, Cops & Robbers is essentially is Dog Days' version of Team Deathmatch. The team of criminals tries to make with a large (stolen) pile of cash to its getaway vehicle. The cops simply need to kill all of the criminals and secure the cash for themselves. Man, cops in Shanghai sure are corrupt.
Arcade Mode
Finally, the last playable portion of the Dog Days demo is Arcade Mode, a single-player, score-based mode consisting of rounds where several criminals must work together (to a point) to heist -- what else? -- money. As the rounds progress, the necessary score to advance becomes increasingly higher. This mode is basically Fragile Alliance, except instead of playing with human players, you have AI-controlled teammates, though the money and rank you earn here applies to your online persona's progress. I found it was like taking incredibly expensive candy from an unsuspecting, inorganic baby. (Your AI teammates will never betray you.)
"Arcade" is not a bad mode, but I wonder about its longevity. Frankly, I was kinda bored with it by the third round.
