Video game number two hundred and sixty seven: Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days

Video game review number two hundred and sixty seven in my 365 Games in 365 Days project is "Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days".

Earlier this year, I played the original Kane and Lynch. I was not a fan, largely due to some horrible combat controls, and I never picked it back up again. This one came out last week and even though I never finished the original, I still threw it onto my list of games to play anyway. After all, it was the previews for this game that got me interested in playing the original in the first place.

Once again, the story is pretty cool. There's an interesting gimmick this time around where everything looks like it's being filmed with a cell phone or something. It's a lot of shaky-cam, but it does look pretty real...and the jumps from cut-scene to gameplay are actually pretty smooth.

You begin in this alley, then you go see a "friend", who ends up running from you and having all his friends shoot at you. This is hardly a "tutorial", but it does introduce you to the controls and cover system. You run your way through the town, sort of learning as you go before the next big mission.

I can't say I'm a fan of the combat controls this time around either, but they have been slightly improved. I still don't like the aiming, it's still sloppy. Aiming is more "spray and pray" than it is precise....and it feels like random chance anytime you actually hit a guy from a distance.

Switching from one cover spot to another is tough...and I would often get shot while trying to move around corners. Jumping into cover is fine, but getting out of it is a pain in the ass. Imagine Gears of War if you couldn't move from cover to cover, and that's what this is like.

Despite all of the control problems still lingering from the first one....it's actually a slightly better game, and I like it a little more than the last one. Enough to finish the story? That's the million dollar question. I think that I'd come back to this one, or at least add it to my list of games to come back to someday. It's got potential.

Overall Score? 6.5/10. Above average....but still very flawed. I love the cinematics, I like the new shaky cam, and the graphics are pretty darn good. The firefights are still pretty intense, and if only the controls were better, this game could have really been something awesome.

Achievements: Here's what I got after the first couple of levels.