Yes, I’m a bit late to this, I got this game nearly when it came out, but I’m giving it a second look.

I was looking forward to this before it came out, (I loved both Hitman and Freedom Fighters) that is, until it got insulted by all the reviews out there. However, once I got my hands on the demo, it didn’t seem all that bad to me. One of the selling points, for me at least, was the story, and I will say it was going pretty well, there was even a pretty emotional cut scene, well, for a game anyways. Sadly after that, I think the writers stopped caring, and both the endings felt so uninspired it was almost as sad as the aforementioned cut scene.

The graphics are pretty varied in this game, some of the character models look pretty darn good, and then some stuff like the explosions almost look like they are from the N64 days. None of that matters though because this is one area the game really shine, and that area is art direction. Just look at the box art and you can tell the artist have some good ideas. It’s the little details that really make it, like the guys having magazines duct taped to their clothes, or Kane’s bald spot, and the window cleaner suites you have for one of the missions just look damn cool. Same for the levels, there is one mission at a nightclub during a rave, and its one of the cooler missions I’ve played in a game. If you’ve even seen the movie Heat (if not, go see it) and said I want to play that, in terms of looks, this game is what your looking for.

Unfortunately, there are some problems with the gameplay, as it all feels rather clunky. However this clukieness does slow down the gameplay, so its not too fast, your wont be running around getting head shots, which I think works well for the game. Still, it just doesn’t feel all that comfortable.

I’m sure its no surprise by now that half way through the game, the setting suddenly switches from the city to Cuba or something. At that point the game really loses its charm, and leaves you with clunky gameplay and not so interesting art direction. You can play the entire game with one screen co-op which was another selling point, and while your still in the city, its certainly bearable to play, nothing new for co-op though, but it works just fine, even though it still has all the games other problems.

There is multiplayer for online, and its actually a really cool idea. You start as a team doing missions like robbing banks or jewelry stores, but at ay point you can betray your team and take their money, and they of course can kill you. I dint play enough to find out what the point of money was, just for sake of winning I’d assume, if you could buy guns or something it’d be cool, but I cant confirm if you can or can not do that. Of course there is a problem with this, did you catch what it is? There is somewhat of an honor system to work together, and asking xbox live users to follow that is a big ask. Most every match I’d be shot in the back by a teammate as soon as the game started. The few times it worked, it was pretty fun, and can be truly intense deciding when you want to betray your team, or worrying about being betrayed your self. The gameplay and controls are still the same, the gun fights with other players aren’t all that great, but gun fights usually amount to being shot in the back, so its not a major problem. I’d imagine playing with some friends would be quite fun.

There is, in addition to the art direction, some brilliance in the game, the cover system though a bit of a problem child, is great when it works. You basically just put your self behind cover and the game will adjust your character for you. For example if you crouch behind a table and your head is still stick up, your character will lower his head out of harms way. Then when you fire, your character will automatically blind fire, unless of course you manually aim. And, unlike every other game out there where you can revive teammates, there is a cool limit on that. You can easily help up down teammates with some drugs, but do it too much, and they they will over dose and die.

Despite what it has going for it, I still can’t exactly tell you to go pick it up, as the gameplay will likely be a problem for most people. Check out the demo though, if you like it, I’m sure you could have some fun with it, but by now if you might be better off with GTAIV if you want a game like it, in terms of a shooter of course, and I mean this in terms of a setting. However, I for one will be looking forward to a sequel if it is ever released. If the developers fix the gameplay and continue with their art direction and other ideas, Kane & Lynch 2 could be a good game, or they could mix it up and continue under a new name, which would be just fine, starting a story from scratch might just be easier.