Working some weird shifts lately, so I've had a fair amount of time to spend with my
consoles.
This, of course, leads to a re-examination of my games-collection and a re-play of some of
them.

Notable among these games is the ever-controversial Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. Most of
you will harbour some pretty poor memories of this title, what with Gertsmann-gate and the
huge amounts of hyping the game received (and, most would say, failed to live up to)
before launch. I think it got an unfair mauling, to be honest and I reckoned a decent
playthrough might redeem it.

Graphically, the game does nothing really wrong. It's nice to see a developer decide on,
and stick to, a defined art-style. K&L is a bizarre-looking experience for the first two or
three levels, but once it ingrains itself it's hard to imagine anything else suiting the game as
well as this soft, pastelly weirdness. It's almost like playing an oil-painting at some points,
and clearly-defined edges and great lighting really set a convincing scene. The infamous
nightclub level is a fine case in point - the effect here is spectacular. The whole thing has a
(deliberate, I'm sure) filmic feel.

Gameplay-wise, there are some issues but nothing that seems to justify the savaging that
was unleashed last Christmas-time. Slightly floaty controls make aiming harder than it
needs to be, and there is a lack of useful zoom on most of the weapons. I solved these
problems by cranking the sensitivity up and getting the hell out of the way - there are
squad controls for a reason, and most of the time your team-mates are pretty useful.
Trying to run-and-gun this game will result in a lot of player deaths, and some not-
inconsiderable amount of swearing (viz. my first two hours with the game). Play the game
as its intended and you'll enjoy it a lot more and get further - the story drives the
gameplay, and there are some great moments to be savoured. Persevere with the controls
and spend some time tweaking them and they're actually not as bad as they first seem;
there's a school of thought that the aiming is purposefully vague, as neither of your
antiheroes are meant to be ex-soldiers or anything of the sort, and the stress of the
situations they find themselves in will affect their aim. This seems reasonable to me, and
with this in mind the whole premise of the game becomes more believable.

In essence, so far I'm really enjoying myself with K&L. They are a pair of scumbags and no
mistake, and it's a breath of fresh air to be honest. So much of my gaming time seems to
be spent doing the right thing as a grizzled combat veteran, that deliberately misbehaving
in control of a cockbag is really good fun. I realise that I could get a lot of the same kind of
fun from other games (GTA looms constantly over this feeling), but not with this same
degree of storytelling. Sometimes too much choice is a BAD thing in a game - K&L provides
a definite beginning and end with a rollicking story to boot, where the open-world games
kind of fizzle out when the story is done. Doing your own thing is great, and sometimes I
love the random mayhem of Just Cause, GTA or Mercenaries, but I REALLY love a good
story. Thanks to Kane & Lynch for (so far) giving me that.