Kane & Lynch 2

[Stoney Mason]

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

[brawndolicious]

It does look awesome.

[cool breeze]

I tried the demo yesterday and it was pretty fun.  The visual style is great.

[WrikaWrek]

I hated Lynch, so i have a hard time getting excited for this game.

[GilloD]

K&L 1 was about 200 times better than anyone gave it credit for.

[chronovore]

I never tried it, because I was so pissed they weren't making Freedom Fighters 2. Man, that first "Red Dawn" themed game was really fun.

[cool breeze]

Like the crackdown 2 demo, to get it early, you needed a code.  It is a shame since it had a few online modes in the game but when I played no one was online.  But it's cool that they have a separate online mode that has the online modes available for single player, or similar versions of them.

K&L 1 was about 200 times better than anyone gave it credit for.

It was.  It was probably the review controversy that soured the game for a lot of people. 

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Never got around to playing the first but always wanted to because I looooooooooove Freedom Fighters.

[Stoney Mason]

The first was pretty flawed and janky but fun for me solely because of the co-op. If I played it single player I'm sure I would have hated it.

People seem to be praising the demo so far so I'll give it a try when it comes out on XBL for the general public. Also I'll never understand the appeal of these limited shot first appearance demos. I guess its supposed to build buzz or something but it never does.

[cool breeze]

Never got around to playing the first but always wanted to because I looooooooooove Freedom Fighters.

sorry to say, but it isn't much like freedom fighters.

I enjoyed it because it was a shooter that didn't bother making you feel like a hero killing these people.  You were bad dudes that were killing people in nightclubs or breaking into prison.

[maxy]

60 fps..

[Cravis]

I didn't think I'd like the gritty, handheld camera, style visuals but they've done a great job of capturing that feel. I love when you shoot someone point blank in the face and the camera fuzzes out the damage done.

[Smooth Groove]

There's an article on Eurogamer/Digital Foundry that states K&2 will be 60fps.  The trade off is that it'll only be sub-HD.   

HD+60fps will be exclusive to PC.  Once again. 

[maxy]

60 fps..

orly?

I didn't think I'd like the gritty, handheld camera, style visuals but they've done a great job of capturing that feel. I love when you shoot someone point blank in the face and the camera fuzzes out the damage done.

Yeah and it took some balls to do that too.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-kaneandlynch2-demo-analysis

Click on the video.

[Stoney Mason]

60 fps alone on a console makes me more curious to try out the demo.

[dark1x]

There's an article on Eurogamer/Digital Foundry that states K&2 will be 60fps.  The trade off is that it'll only be sub-HD.   

HD+60fps will be exclusive to PC.  Once again. 

High resolution will ruin the video camera effect.   :tbslol

[Smooth Groove]

The ultimate sfag is back!

[Brehvolution]

60 fps alone on a console makes me more curious to try out the demo.

Same. It wasn't even on my radar until I saw that yurogamer vid. Even though I'm still not likely to buy it.

[Stoney Mason]

Demo is up.

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802534307f8/?p=1&of=0&bt=0&sb=1

[Stoney Mason]

Home sick today so I tried it out. It's okay. Kinda average at least the sp part is. I don't like the thing where you get hit and then get knocked to the ground. And all the video filter stuff is okay in theory but kind of annoying in practice.

I'll try out the MP part later.

[Stoney Mason]

Tried the MP some last night. The MP concept is fun enough but the net code is god damn awful. Either you can't get into a game or when you do everybody is warping all around.

[demi]

I liked the style, but the more I played it and THE MORE I DIED SO EASILY -  I... yeah, I'm gonna pass on this one

[Himu]

tried the demo and I didn't like it. Bad controls and weird graphical effects are the main culprit.

What in the fuck. Is this on purpose?



What are these light beams that appear?

[Stoney Mason]

tried the demo and I didn't like it. Bad controls and weird graphical effects are the main culprit.

What in the fuck. Is this on purpose?

Yes its on purpose. It's the graphical filter to try to give it a bad video quality.

[Himu]

I thought my graphics card was dying.

[drew]

K&L 1 was about 200 times better than anyone gave it credit for.

[youtube=560,345]mYU4SlxQizg[/youtube]

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

I loved the hell outta the demo.  I really don't get the complaints about the graphics, its 60 FPS with a very deliberate stylistic choice, I thought the streets, allys, and buildings were gritty and claustrophobic (and destructuble).  I think the controls and gunplay are also substantially improved, and I loved the more down to earth, quasi-realistic style gameplay it encourages.

great demo, I'll be looking forward to the game very soon.

[Bebpo]

Just played the PC demo, that was fantastic.  Finally a fps/tps I'm looking forward to.

The shooting is kind of bad, it needs far too much precision using a X360 controller on PC with no iron sights button and no aim assist.  But I'm willing to put up with that because visually the game is so so hot.  Runs fantastic on my old ass card (1080p, 60fps everything high) and the art design is extremely good.  I don't mean the filters, but the actual textures and colors and area design.  It's the best looking HK that's I've run through in a game.  The filters and camera are pretty cool and add on top of that.

This has inspired me to play through K&L1 on PC before #2 comes out.  Tempted to day 1 this game, but it depends on what steam offers as pre-order incentive.  Has to be good to fight off urge of waiting for 50% deal that will come less than 6 months later.

[Himu]

It's fantastic but the shooting is bad?

...

[Bebpo]

Shooting is passable.  It's slightly below average (average being The Club, above average being 50 Cent, great being Gears)

But like I said, I'm willing to put up with it for the experience.  Kind of like how you'll put up with shitty puzzles in some adventure games for the adventure.  If the shooting gets annoying I'll just play it on easy.  I don't care, I just want to shoot dudes and run through cool locations.

[Himu]

I couldn't really deal with the shooting so I just turned it off and deleted it. I thought Mass Effect 1/2 were better at shooting. That's pretty bad.

[cool breeze]

Just played the PC demo, that was fantastic.  Finally a fps/tps I'm looking forward to.

The shooting is kind of bad, it needs far too much precision using a X360 controller on PC with no iron sights button and no aim assist.  But I'm willing to put up with that because visually the game is so so hot.  Runs fantastic on my old ass card (1080p, 60fps everything high) and the art design is extremely good.  I don't mean the filters, but the actual textures and colors and area design.  It's the best looking HK that's I've run through in a game.  The filters and camera are pretty cool and add on top of that.

This has inspired me to play through K&L1 on PC before #2 comes out.  Tempted to day 1 this game, but it depends on what steam offers as pre-order incentive.  Has to be good to fight off urge of waiting for 50% deal that will come less than 6 months later.

Kane and Lynch 2 is a steamworks game meaning if you find it cheap at retail, it will be registered to your steam account.  For example, Amazon has $10 credit plus a comic book and other preorder stuff.

I'm tempted to pick it up at release too.  I liked the first game and the style is killer just judging from the demo.  One odd thing is that the demo on PC was about half the length of the xbox 360 one and there were less multiplayer options.  The 360 demo had a single player arcade style mode that was pretty fun.  The one thing I'm wondering is if the game has online co-op in the main campaign mode.  I believe the first game had split screen offline co-op on the 360.
 
Oh, and demi is right about dying easily.  If you're not careful you can get dropped easily and cover isn't absolute; that can get slightly annoying.  I do like that you can get knocked down and still fight, I just wish it didn't happen so easily.

Just on the style again, blurring out head shots is awesome.  Unless they are going to gib heads or something, the solution they came up with makes it seem so much more violent than in other games.

[Bebpo]

It's just nice for someone to put out a cool demo that feels fresh.

These days the majority of game demos make you not want to buy the game.  Which is why I think they kind of stopped making demos for a lot of games. 

[Bebpo]

Probably does.  I just associate that kind of look with rundown alley + electric signs everywhere with HK.

[Bebpo]

Started playing Kane & Lynch 1, the shooting is not so hot and you die a lot because of annoying things, but like the K&L2 demo, there's a lot of neat ideas in the game that keeps you playing despite the annoyances.  I'm a bit into Tokyo and the Bank Robbery was cool because it really gave an LA/Miami feel that you don't get very often.  The car chase through the streets, the areas around the bank, etc...  The Tokyo club was cool because even though it was super annoying to play since it was pitch dark and either of you getting shot = instant game over, it was also really neat trying to weed out the security with flashlights through all the chaos of everyone running around and take them out before they take you out.  Firing into a crowd to cause everyone to run except the security guys and then take them out = awesome.  Visually the game is pretty nice looking too.  It's no Crysis gen stuff, but for that sort of Hitman Blood Money era it looks nice and has a lot of characters on screen.  The game is definitely making me want to get K&L2 right away.

[Third]

Looks pretty awesome. Too bad it's a forced co-op game.

[Bebpo]

Kane & Lynch 1 is such a good game.  Playing it now I feel like I'm playing one of those missed gems.  It does so much right:

-Destructible environments, including destructible cover which keeps both sides from staying in one place too long
-Simple yet efficient squad commanding.  Point and mark, follow or go to a spot.  Game controls pretty well.
-Not instant death when you die, respawn at same spot as long as you don't do it too often.  Feels fair and gets rid of instant ko from stupid little mistakes; the flashback dialogue when you get knocked down is cool
-Neat setpieces.  Tons of NPCs doing their own thing.  Cool locations.
-Great art design.  Good character models.
-Good dialogue and fast paced story with non stop twists.  1000x more interesting and captivating than BALD MARINE SHOOTER MAN'S STORY
-Pretty good cutscenes
-Tear gas use is neat.  You don't have to do anything about them, but you can use them to your advantage

Just finished the Prison breakout section and have my crew assembled.  Game is hard to put down!  Feels just as good as the Hitman games.  Eidos was such a good buy for SE.

[cool breeze]

I mostly agree.  The game got a lot of hate, but I enjoyed it.  I think the biggest strength is the situations you're put in and characters you play as.  I've seen people not liking Kane and Lynch (the characters) because they were awful people or something along those lines.  I liked that.  There wasn't any "hey, don't kill civilian" message that pops up or any attempt at a making the characters seem like anti-heroes.  Just a couple of bad dudes who need to get shit done.  No remorse for unloading on the dance floor.


and yeah, Eidos is cool.  They're putting out games I really enjoy and in the future there is Deus Ex 3 and Hitman 5 coming.  I just wish they would bring back the Legacy of Kain series.  I also need to check out Mini Ninjas one day because I saw people comparing it to Zelda in a gaf thread.

[Stoney Mason]

I didn't really understand all the weird backlash against the original Kane and Lynch outside of the whole Gerstmann debacle. I thought it was mostly an average game. Probably about on par or slightly better than stuff like Army of Two although I like I mentioned earlier I played it co-op and wouldn't have played it single player as I didn't find it enjoyable enough to go through by myself.

I do like that Hitman series though. I came to that franchise late but I really did enjoy the last couple. Not sure why its taking them so long to do another one.

[cool breeze]

The funny thing about a comparison to Army of Two is that the sequels of both games take place in Shanghai.  I think mechanically Kane and Lynch 1 was average, but again, it was mostly the setting and tone of that game that make it more enjoyable.

As for why it is taking so long to make a sequel to Hitman, the same dev (IO interactive) does Kane and Lynch and Mini Ninjas.

[Stoney Mason]

As for why it is taking so long to make a sequel to Hitman, the same dev (IO interactive) does Kane and Lynch and Mini Ninjas.

I guess what seems weird to me is that Hitman is the critical favorite between those and I assume the bigger commercial title since it had a movie come out based on it although I could be wrong on that account of how big or not big a seller hitman is.

[maxy]

First review is out,OXM...9/10

No scans for now,from cvg

The mag's whopping six-page review kicks off by praising Dog Days' audio.

The game comes without a musical score, which means 'an ungodly amount of time and effort has been spent solely on the ambient noises of Shanghai', says OXM.

So impressed is OXM with the title's sounds, it says the audio "surpasses even Dead Space in its craftsmanship". Praise indeed.

"Yeah, yeah," we hear you cry, "but how does it play?"

Very nicely, as it turns out. OXM's Kane & Lynch 2 review reads: 'The no-expense-spared attitude to audio is found in everything, from voice acting to writing, to visuals, to the shooting, to the level design, to the multiplayer to the beautiful main menu.'

The story is praised for not 'force-feeding you plot', but comes with a warning that there's 'some genuinely disturbing stuff in Dog Days'. Not for the kids, then.

It plays 'faster than Gears Of War' - and that's not the last comparison to Epic's series. OXM calls Kane & Lynch 2 a game 'with less room for thought than Gears, but one containing more moments of rigid panic'.

Co-op is solid and - unlike the first game - is playable over Xbox Live, something OXM calls 'massively important'.

The mag knocks off that magic point because of the final third which it says veers into the 'ridiculous', and there are some gripes about 'slippiness in the way that characters animate and attach themselves to cover'

Overall, though, the 'stunningly detailed levels', 'great shooting' and 'gorgeous audio' are more than enough to make Kane & Lynch 2 a bit special.

[Diunx]

offline co-op?

[muckhole]

Apparently, yeah. 2 player system link.

[Diunx]

smh.

[muckhole]

You can play it over Live as well, I just thought you were hoping it had system link.

[Stoney Mason]

You can play it over Live as well, I just thought you were hoping it had system link.

I think he means split screen.

I played the first split screen on the PC for what its worth.

[Bebpo]

Hmmm, K&L1 was really fun when it was all personal space and going through modern day interesting locations like clubs, or banks, or towers, or prisons.  But I got to the part in Havana now where it's like Call of Duty/Ghost Recon and there's big open spaces huge warzone with enemies everywhere on turret guns and apcs and helicopters and uh...this isn't fun and this just followed a similar big open area fight 100 guys with super machineguns tokyo bus area.  Trying to stay alive and keep all your squad alive is just getting annoying.  The story is also less interesting now when instead of doing personal things like meeting up with people or pulling off crimes it's just "let's go find the7 and kill them and kill the army that is in our way".  Hope this stage is just an exception and the game gets back on track after it.

Would be nice if K&L2 sticks to intimate shooting and story.  The demo felt like the earlier parts of K&L1 which is great.

[cool breeze]

Agree on all parts.  Well, I don't think the later sections are necessarily bad, they just go away from what made the game interesting in the first place.

[dark1x]

But I got to the part in Havana now where it's like Call of Duty/Ghost Recon and there's big open spaces huge warzone with enemies everywhere on turret guns and apcs and helicopters

Ha ha, I think everyone stops there.  Same problem for me.  I kind of enjoyed the game, despite clunky mechanics, but once it reached that point I just lost interest.  It simply wasn't any fun and felt like a completely different game.

[Bebpo]

Yeah, just finished first game.  Everything after the Retomoto Tower assassination sucked.  When the game becomes about shooting endless waves of dozens of well armed guys all of its flaws as a shooter stand out.  The story also sucks in the 2nd half and none of the kills of the7 are even satisfying.  It's like "wait, that dead body on the floor was one of them?  uhh...ok".  Endings were pretty bad too.

Definitely not buying game 2 at launch.  Will wait until people play it to here if it's a Gears/CoD endless badguy shooter.  Or will just pick it up when it's $5-10 on a steam sale down the line.


It's shame because I think the first half of K&L is really neat and interesting enough to elevate it above the average mechanics.

[G The Resurrected]

FUCKING TELEPORTING ENEMIES and fucked up jankyness all around