Kane and Lynch: Dead Men

No matter how long a game stays in development, its publishers should never rush the product to the finish line or they will end up with a half-assed product that not only doesn’t sell, but tarnishes the reputation of everyone associated with it as well. In case you haven’t got it by now, Kane and Lynch: Dead Men is one such half-assed product. Even though it hasn’t been in development for all that long, Eidos felt the need to push this game to retail when it clearly requires at least a year’s worth of work.

In today’s day and age, when gamers are spoilt for choice with phenomenal stuff like Call of Duty 4, Halo 3, BioShock etc, it’s practically suicidal to release a game like Kane and Lynch during these times. Had the game hit the stands back in 2003-04 (which is when Freedom Fighters was released), it may have done well, but today, it’s guaranteed to sink faster than a 20-pound dumbbell.

Now we’ve already spoken about the game’s premise in our preview, so feel free to head there and get acquainted with this crazy duo before we get into the review.

Kane and Lynch would have played out like a standard third person shooter, but the game’s horrible combat mechanics prevent it from doing so. Aiming in the game just doesn’t feel right and for some reason weapons have an unrealistic amount of recoil, making you kill more birds than opponents. Hit detection is also extremely messed up – there were times when I nearly emptied a clip on an opponent’s head but he just kept coming right after me.

As if shooting wasn’t all that bad, the game also boasts of one of the most unresponsive and nightmare-inducing cover systems ever devised. Instead of going the Gears of War or the Rainbow Six way, the developers thought it would be fun to introduce an anal cover system that has you pressing your character against the wall hoping that he sticks to it. Effective? No. Annoying? Yes.

Throughout the game, you’ll have your squad (Lynch included) by your side who surprisingly aren’t as brain-dead as I expected. You can use them to flank enemies (to an extent), and even make all of them concentrate their fire on a particular spot. If you end up taking a significant amount of damage during a fight and find yourself on the brink of death, one of your squad mates will come to your rescue and pump you with a shot of adrenaline (you’re expected to do the same for them as well). Just make sure you don’t take too many shots or you’ll end up ODing and dying.