A look at Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

[Slyshark]

Kane & Lynch is a game where I really can't tell you much about the story without pulling away from the game in some way for you. Basically, Kane, the main character has wronged an organization who call themselves 'The7', who have gone and kidnapped his wife and daughter, and threaten to kill them if Kane does not return what he apparently stole within three days. They send with you, a man by the name of Lynch, who is basically there to watch you and report to 'The7'. This is where the game basically begins.

Graphically speaking, I found Kane & Lynch to be excellent. In fact, there is one level in a club where i'd find it very difficult to distinguish it from a movie. This said, there are some glitches if you pay attention, most notabely at the end of cutscenes.

The gameplay is fairly fast paced, enjoyable and surprisingly varying. However, I couldn't say that the game has brought anything new to the genre, even if controlling your team is much simpler than in any other similar game I have played. The game offers a slew of different weapons which you can acquire throughout the game and you will start to learn which have the most recoil and which have the greatest stopping power or accuracy. Unfortunately, you cannot carry weapons from one level to another but you can swap weapons with any of your teammates at any time; they dont seem to have any problem with handing you their gun in the middle of a fight.

One small thing that really did bother me about this game, however, was that, after a certain point, you start finding yourself with full miliatary gear in the middle of a war in Cuba, then in the middle of a rainforest in Venezuela. I'm sure many of you wouldn't have any problem with this but it came across to me as being slightly unrealistic.

I haven't bought many games for a while as I haven't really seen anything that has looked like it's actually a good game, however, I forked over my wad of cash for this game and i'm not disappointed about it.

Here's a quick run-down:
Graphics: 8.5/10
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Story: 8/10

Overall: 8.3/10

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This is my first review here so please reply and please be honest.

However, I will not respond to anyone being argumentative about the review or flaming me. Constructive criticism, on the other hand, i'm looking forward to.

 

[wilsonscrazybed]

It's too short (the review). Instead of opening with something generic try to give us your personal input on the story and it's effect on you. No one goes to a review site to read the synopsis that they could find on the back of the box. People want to read about your interaction, learn who you are, and take a piece of that away with them.

The second paragraph could use a lot more detail. What exactly made the club scene look real? Was it the subtle use of filters and bloom? Were the character models stunning? How does the rest of the game hold up graphically? From reading that paragraph it doesn't make me feel like you are pointing out a high point, rather that the rest of the game was unremarkable. Try not to make broad statements without at least giving your readers a taste of the rest of the game. We don't know why it stands out, therefore we might intone that the rest of the game is sort of ho-hum in the graphics department.

Third paragraph. Again more detail here. If the game didn't bring anything new, how so? What were some of the cliche'? The fact that you can switch weapons in combat seems almost trivial when you consider that there are a myriad of issues you could have touched on. Give us more a more personal account of the gameplay mechanics too. Just like the story, we want to hear how the game affected you the writer.

Your last (run on) sentence is hardly convincing. Since this is an article where you're trying to convince someone of your opinion, you should use less neutral language. More detail too!

My opinion of you as a writer? Work on it. Take a persuasive writing class if you're serious. Stay away from numeric score's until you have a reason to use them (You get hired). Focus on finding a voice that your audience wants to hear.

 

[MPD51]

I whole-heartedly agree with this review. I don't think it was too short; it was to the point and I liked that.

I pre-ordered Kane and Lynch because the story sounded pretty amazing, and when I got to play it, although not mindblowing, I still find it a very solid shooter.

I feel bad for the game. Because of the whole Gamespot fiasco, KAL has gathered so much undeserved negativity around it.

 

[PurpleRain]

I found the game to be utterly crapola. The gameplay sucked, there was absolutly nothing fun about it. It was hard to aim at people, it seemed unrealistic, everyone swore for no good reason and it was hard to get behind cover. There were two good levels (the Club and the bank heist) and that's really it. Then out of nowhere, you're somehow in the middle of a war with tanks and helecopters shooting at you! Not to mention the previous levels where you have to fight off the waves of police. I wasn't even sure the police force had that many people!

The graphics were alright but nothing special, and both gameplay and story sucked. I would of given the game overall of 4, but that's just me.

 

[Slyshark]

It's too short (the review). Instead of opening with something generic try to give us your personal input on the story and it's effect on you. No one goes to a review site to read the synopsis that they could find on the back of the box. People want to read about your interaction, learn who you are, and take a piece of that away with them.

The second paragraph could use a lot more detail. What exactly made the club scene look real? Was it the subtle use of filters and bloom? Were the character models stunning? How does the rest of the game hold up graphically? From reading that paragraph it doesn't make me feel like you are pointing out a high point, rather that the rest of the game was unremarkable. Try not to make broad statements without at least giving your readers a taste of the rest of the game. We don't know why it stands out, therefore we might intone that the rest of the game is sort of ho-hum in the graphics department.

Third paragraph. Again more detail here. If the game didn't bring anything new, how so? What were some of the cliche'? The fact that you can switch weapons in combat seems almost trivial when you consider that there are a myriad of issues you could have touched on. Give us more a more personal account of the gameplay mechanics too. Just like the story, we want to hear how the game affected you the writer.

Your last (run on) sentence is hardly convincing. Since this is an article where you're trying to convince someone of your opinion, you should use less neutral language. More detail too!

My opinion of you as a writer? Work on it. Take a persuasive writing class if you're serious. Stay away from numeric score's until you have a reason to use them (You get hired). Focus on finding a voice that your audience wants to hear.

Thanks a lot for the feedback; i'll definitely be using this next time I write a review, or anything like one. I was thinking about hitting Assassin's Creed next (which was severely over-hyped for no good reason) but it seems it's been done time and time again on this site. I'll have to think of something new, I guess.

 

[stevesan]

It's too short (the review). Instead of opening with something generic try to give us your personal input on the story and it's effect on you. No one goes to a review site to read the synopsis that they could find on the back of the box. People want to read about your interaction, learn who you are, and take a piece of that away with them.

The second paragraph could use a lot more detail. What exactly made the club scene look real? Was it the subtle use of filters and bloom? Were the character models stunning? How does the rest of the game hold up graphically? From reading that paragraph it doesn't make me feel like you are pointing out a high point, rather that the rest of the game was unremarkable. Try not to make broad statements without at least giving your readers a taste of the rest of the game. We don't know why it stands out, therefore we might intone that the rest of the game is sort of ho-hum in the graphics department.

Third paragraph. Again more detail here. If the game didn't bring anything new, how so? What were some of the cliche'? The fact that you can switch weapons in combat seems almost trivial when you consider that there are a myriad of issues you could have touched on. Give us more a more personal account of the gameplay mechanics too. Just like the story, we want to hear how the game affected you the writer.

Your last (run on) sentence is hardly convincing. Since this is an article where you're trying to convince someone of your opinion, you should use less neutral language. More detail too!

My opinion of you as a writer? Work on it. Take a persuasive writing class if you're serious. Stay away from numeric score's until you have a reason to use them (You get hired). Focus on finding a voice that your audience wants to hear.

I utterly disagree with you here. Any piece of writing is NEVER too short.

You can say that it lacked substance. You can say it lacked supporting evidence. You can say it was unfocused. But please, don't say "it was too short." That kind of attitude encourages needlessly lengthy writing, which just wastes everyone's time and energy. It's an unfortunate result of highschool/college English classes, which usually require some minimum page/word count. It's a horrible trend in English.