Author Topic: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men  (Read 7348 times)

Offline Pugnate

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Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« on: Thursday, December 14, 2006, 08:26:09 PM »
G-Spot linky

The following preview should grab you by the balls:

Quote
Currently in development at Io Interactive--best known for its Hitman series and for 2003's Freedom Fighters--Kane & Lynch is a squad-based third-person action game that promises to combine the best features of those games with a particularly dark, character-driven storyline. We didn't get to take the controls on this occasion, but in the space of 20 to 30 minutes, we saw more than enough to pique our interest.


Having a sharp object hovering near your eye is never a pleasant prospect.

Kane and Lynch are undoubtedly one of the most intriguing pairings ever to appear in a game, not only because they met on death row, but also because they have a strong dislike for one another. The only thing that both men have in common as far as we can tell is that they both ended up on death row after having family members die under tragic circumstances. The backstories for Kane and Lynch will be told as you progress through the game, so all that you really need to know at this point is that Kane is an ex-mercenary who's widely regarded as a traitor by his peers, and Lynch is a schizophrenic who may or may not have murdered his wife while not in control of his actions. The two are compelled to team up when, while en route to their respective executions, they are kidnapped by a team of mercenaries known as The Seven and made offers that they can't refuse.

Assuming the role of Kane, you'll be tasked with completing dangerous missions for The Seven all over the world. You'll invariably be accompanied by Lynch (who can be controlled by a second player in the game's co-op mode), but the two of you won't always have the same objectives--at least going into a mission. In the first level that we saw, for example, Kane was required to infiltrate a Tokyo nightclub and kidnap the daughter of a powerful Yakuza boss, but Lynch was kept in the dark about the mission until moments before he was told to throw the unconscious woman over his shoulder and follow Kane out of the club.

The nightclub interior was reminiscent of similar locales in Hitman: Blood Money, but with a much more crowded dance floor, and it had some superb disco lighting that pulsated in time with the music that was playing. The music in the version of the game that we saw, incidentally, was a track from the Chemical Brothers, but in the finished game, the club will play original music on all three of its dance floors. One of the first things that we noticed as Kane and Lynch moved through the club was that they weren't able to simply run through the hundreds of dancers occupying the floor. Rather, the pair had to move through the crowd slowly, and Kane could often be seen dropping a shoulder or turning sideways to get past people without just pushing them out of the way.

It was a different story once Kane and Lynch had the club owner in their custody, though, as they needed to make a quick exit and had security guards attacking them from all angles. The guards were all wearing white jackets, which made them quite easy to distinguish from the regular club-goers, but the lighting was changing so dramatically from one second to the next that the guards were occasionally quite difficult to see. The guards went down convincingly when they were shot, but the thing that impressed us was that Kane was able to clear a path through the dance floor simply by firing shots into the air and scaring the clubbers.

The other level that we saw during our demo started on top of a Tokyo skyscraper, where Kane, Lynch, and two accomplices were disguised as window cleaners. Their mission on this occasion was to retrieve a briefcase from a boardroom, which we watched them do by rappelling down to the correct floor, placing a bomb by the window, and then doing battle with a dozen or so security guards in an impressively destructible environment. The portion of the mission that we saw looked like it was a lot of fun to play, but more than that, it served to show off a number of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men's features that we weren't previously aware of. You don't get any kind of health bar in the game, for example, but you'll know when you're close to death because the screen starts to turn red and the third-person camera skews at an awkward angle. You'll regain health slowly simply by avoiding enemy fire for a period of time, though we're not certain if first-aid kits or similar appear in the game. What we do know is that when you die (or have a near-death experience, at least), you'll be treated to snapshots of Kane's life flashing before his eyes, which is surely one of the most ingenious ways to tell a character's backstory that we've ever seen. We also know that characters in your group who are taken down can be brought back to life if an adrenaline shot is administered quickly enough, and your relationship with your colleagues will determine whether or not they try to save you in that situation.


Gun battles and rave clubs always make for interesting bedfellows.

When you're in control of your group, you'll be able to give them orders simply by looking at a target area or person and then pressing either a move or attack button. Tapping the button will give the order to one man (or two, if you have a full squad of eight), while holding it down for a couple of seconds will issue the order to the entire group. Your colleagues won't always have the same agenda as you, though, so don't be surprised if they leave you in the lurch once they've completed their own objectives. While you're attempting to retrieve a very specific item, for example, half of your crew might be interested in nothing more than grabbing some loot for themselves. You'll be able to keep an eye on your colleagues using the only heads-up display that appears onscreen at all times--a small box with colored shapes for each colleague, which lets you know how healthy they are and what their current action is. If a member of your group (yourself included) is in serious danger, you might also be treated to a brief picture-in-picture shot to alert you. The one instance of this that we saw was the view through an enemy's sniper scope with Kane in its sights, at which point the Io Interactive representative playing the game knew to get behind some cover quickly.

Our time with Kane & Lynch: Dead Men was all too brief on this occasion, but we enjoyed every minute of it. The prospect of a game that combines and improves upon the best features of Io Interactive's previous offerings is exciting to say the least, and the inclusion of a co-op mode where two very different characters often have very different objectives should add plenty of replay value. The co-op game won't support online play, unfortunately, but we're told that details of online multiplayer modes will be announced in the not-too-distant future. We look forward to bringing you more information as soon as it becomes available.
-GameSpot

Offline iPPi

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #1 on: Thursday, December 14, 2006, 08:46:32 PM »
Looks interesting.

Offline Xessive

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #2 on: Thursday, December 14, 2006, 09:14:59 PM »
This one does look interesting! I've been waiting for something new from Io since Freedom Fighters.

Offline MysterD

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #3 on: Thursday, December 14, 2006, 09:17:57 PM »
Anything IO does, I take notice. I took notice of this a while ago. And I will continue to do so.

IO is one of the most consistent development houses out there. Period.

From Hitman series to Freedom Fighters, IO never disappoints me.

Puggy, I'm glad you brought this game up. :)

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #4 on: Friday, December 15, 2006, 12:02:37 AM »
The coolest thing is that bit where they walk through the night club amongst so many people who behave realistically.

Offline MysterD

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Offline Pugnate

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #6 on: Tuesday, February 13, 2007, 04:01:26 PM »
They are doing the WarCraft movie as well. Weird.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #7 on: Tuesday, February 13, 2007, 08:00:30 PM »
I won't see either one.

Anyway, this game looks sort of... meh to me.  I mean, I understand what's cool about it, but the two main characters bore the living fuck out of me and I haven't even heard their voices or dialogue.  It just screams boring mercenary action cliche.  I have no interest at this point.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline MysterD

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #8 on: Tuesday, February 13, 2007, 08:11:47 PM »
IO Interactive rocks -- Hitman series and Freedom Fighters were pretty good.

Definitely looking forward to K&L.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #9 on: Tuesday, February 13, 2007, 08:21:18 PM »
IO is vastly overrated.  I dig the Hitman games, but I don't think they're nearly as good as many make them out to be, and Freedom Fighters had a lot of problems.  They're a good company, though, and I have no doubt this game will be fun and innovative.  I'm just not digging the theme at this point.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #10 on: Wednesday, February 14, 2007, 12:21:57 AM »
haha I agree. I think IO are a mediocre dev team and I don't understand the love.

The Hitman games were merely OK, not that great. They had major flaws and by the third installment I lost all hope of getting a decent game.
« Last Edit: Tuesday, May 08, 2007, 12:26:49 AM by Pugnate »

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #11 on: Tuesday, May 08, 2007, 12:29:07 AM »
Another preview

So I don't get it. Will you play the game as Kane or Lynch?



Offline Xessive

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #12 on: Tuesday, May 08, 2007, 06:02:29 AM »
I think (as the preview says) you'll play as Kane, but if a second player join in co-op they'll play as Lynch. However it looks like there will be some squad controls over any available teammates (not just Lynch).

Offline MysterD

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #13 on: Tuesday, May 08, 2007, 01:38:06 PM »
haha I agree. I think IO are a mediocre dev team and I don't understand the love.

The Hitman games were merely OK, not that great. They had major flaws and by the third installment I lost all hope of getting a decent game.

Contract was good, but too short.
On the other hand, Blood Money was great.
Blood Money is their best Hitman since Silent Assassin.

Freedom Fighters is another great one from IO.

I'm sorry, but I think IO's underrated, myself.

Sign me up for Kane & Lynch.

Offline MysterD

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Offline MysterD

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #15 on: Sunday, November 18, 2007, 08:43:07 PM »
GameSpot Review for X360 Version
Ouch for the X360 version Review of Kane & Lynch from GameSpot.
6.0 from G-Spot, reviewed by Gertsmann -- who basically only liked the Multi-player.


IGN Review for X360 Version
IGN gives it a 7.0 for the 360.


Seems like both IGN and G-Spot like the MP mode a lot. I dunno', but the MP mode sounds pretty cool, to me -- rob the bank; decide to work w/ your buddies to take the loot to split it OR turn traitor on them so you can take it all home.

Gertsmann of G-Spot wasn't a fan of the SP and the cussing galore, though IGN thought the story and cussing was great. *shrug*



Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #16 on: Sunday, November 18, 2007, 10:41:50 PM »
I guess I was right about this for the most part.  I read the review a few days ago and couldn't even be arsed to update the thread.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #17 on: Monday, November 19, 2007, 01:38:38 AM »
Well IO releases another disappointment. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Offline Xessive

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #18 on: Monday, November 19, 2007, 01:45:54 AM »
That's a shame. It's disappointing to find that its story is one of its weak links considering it was suggested that it would have a great one.

Offline Ghandi

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #19 on: Monday, November 19, 2007, 10:54:53 PM »
The fact that the cars aren't the least spaced out in the pic you posted annoys me.

/threadjack

Offline idolminds

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #20 on: Monday, November 19, 2007, 11:16:08 PM »
That is one hell of a traffic jam.

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #21 on: Tuesday, November 20, 2007, 06:01:34 AM »
haha I didn't notice that.... that is very weird.

Offline Xessive

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #22 on: Wednesday, November 21, 2007, 02:18:06 AM »
I wonder if they're moving.

Offline nickclone

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #23 on: Thursday, November 29, 2007, 06:45:39 AM »
I don't know, I've been watching some game play movies of this game and it looks pretty cool. I'm not a fan of the Rainbow 6 type games, but tact shooters with simple commands are ok. This game kind of reminds me of the movie Heat with it's shoot outs.

Offline Jedi

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #24 on: Thursday, November 29, 2007, 11:46:38 AM »
I read I think a GS review that the 'tactics' aspect were pretty bad, like sticking to objects etc was difficult and sometimes pointless.

Offline scottws

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #25 on: Thursday, November 29, 2007, 12:58:31 PM »
I never played Freedom Fighters and hated Hitman 2, so I'm definitely not sold on this IO company.  I thought the commercial made it seem like just another of many action games targeted at a mainstream audience.

Offline nickclone

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #26 on: Tuesday, January 01, 2008, 06:46:02 PM »
I just wanted to say that I played this game at my friend's house this weekend and it does indeed suck.

Offline MysterD

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #27 on: Monday, January 07, 2008, 02:48:49 PM »
600 MB demo released now for K&L.

You'd figure they'd release this BEFORE the game came out, not AFTER...



Quote
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men Demo [January 07, 2008, 11:23 am ET] - Viewing Comments

A playable demo for Kane & Lynch: Dead Men offers the chance to sample the Retomoto Tower mission in IO Interactive's action shooter. The 594 MB download is available on AtomicGamer, ComputerGames.ro, FanGaming, FileFront, FileShack, Gamer's Hell, and PixelRage.


Offline Pugnate

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #28 on: Monday, January 07, 2008, 02:55:29 PM »
Does anyone care about this demo?

Offline Cobra951

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #29 on: Monday, January 07, 2008, 03:43:17 PM »
I didn't care about the 360 demo.

Offline gpw11

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #30 on: Monday, January 07, 2008, 10:54:57 PM »

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #31 on: Monday, January 07, 2008, 11:02:53 PM »
Yea exactly. Most demos come a while after release.

Offline Xessive

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #32 on: Tuesday, January 08, 2008, 03:15:09 AM »
Yea exactly. Most demos come a while after release.
Which shouldn't really be the trend. Or they can have pre-release demos and final demos. I think a demo should come out with the release of a game, or not by much after the fact.

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #33 on: Tuesday, January 08, 2008, 04:03:59 AM »
It shouldn't be the trend, but games aren't low budget titles of the past. Big money from publishers is backing them up, and often doesn't give them time for demos. Heck, they don't even seem to have time for proper beta testing, with patches rolling a couple of days after release.

Publishers suck.

Offline MysterD

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #34 on: Tuesday, January 08, 2008, 02:59:41 PM »
Yea exactly. Most demos come a while after release.

HG: London's DEMO came out BEFORE the full game did.

Offline wizall

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #35 on: Tuesday, January 08, 2008, 03:57:48 PM »
I tried the 360 demo, and I'm pretty confident my opinion would be the same even without the Gamespot fiasco:  It's dogshit.  Sure, it looks alright, but the controls are ridiculously bad, and the dialog was agonizing.  Based on the demo, it's not a good game.

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #36 on: Tuesday, January 08, 2008, 10:15:30 PM »
HG: London's DEMO came out BEFORE the full game did.

So DID the Crysis DEMO. BUT that DOESN'T make IT most.

See I can do random capped words too.
« Last Edit: Tuesday, January 08, 2008, 11:04:46 PM by Pugnate »

Offline Xessive

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #37 on: Tuesday, January 08, 2008, 10:44:30 PM »
So DID the Crysis DEMO. BUT that DOESN'T make IT most.

See I can do random capped sentences too.
2 out of 3 titles does make it most! :P

I just wanted to post.. I have nothing to add really.

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #38 on: Tuesday, January 08, 2008, 11:05:18 PM »
3 titles? Are we talking about macs again? :P

Offline Xessive

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Re: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
« Reply #39 on: Tuesday, January 08, 2008, 11:19:21 PM »
3 titles? Are we talking about macs again? :P
Hehe I always feel kinda bad for my Mac owning buddies (from a gaming perspective) :P