Don’t Waste Your Time With The Kane and Lynch 2 Demo

[shane]

 

While the title may speak for itself, the reality of it is two things. One, yes, the Kane and Lynch 2 demo is out. Two, it has a single player and multiplayer Fragile Alliance demo to enjoy.

 

Did I say “enjoy”? Whoops… Read on.

 

What drew me in to the original game was the characters and the prospect of a “Heat” style game where you take down scores and get a little side dish of gritty realism.* Unfortunately, I only played through about half of Kane and Lynch before control issues and sheer boredom forced me to quit that game.

 

Kane and Lynch 2, on the other hand, at least in demo form, seems really fresh. I played through the single player demo twice, the last time on hard and enjoyed the experience. The game is presented as though you’re watching it through the lens of a camera, or closed-circuit TV, and it adds a bit of visual flair. The flair is definitely needed as the game’s mechanics are decidedly average. Think Army of Two with worse shooting.

 

The shooting the game is just not done that well. You can’t zoom in with any weapon, forcing you to stay exposed for far too long before getting enough bullets into a bad guy to either get a lucky head shot or finally kill the bugger. It’s not very good.

 

On the other hand, the sound of the weapons and the ambient sounds of the game are really well done. When you shoot a gun, it is decidedly louder than anything in the game, giving it a real presence and causing firefights to feel a touch more “dangerous” than what you might expect in the game.

 

Finally, I thought the game looked good. Not great, but good. There’s a* section of the game where, you’re in the middle of a Shanghai street, there are vendors running around and other civilians. You can shoot them, ignore them or take them hostage as you see fit. This is a nice touch and it adds a lot of life to the game.

 

On the other hand, the multiplayer demo is totally freaking broken. The demo offers a Ranked Match in Fragile Alliance, which gamers may note is the version of the game where you try to collect as much money as possible while watching your back from your friends and enemies while robbing a bank or whatever the scenario is.

 

The problem? I couldn’t get into a game. Don’t even get me started as to why Eidos/Square Enix/IO would put out a multiplayer demo that wouldn’t allow you to invite your friends (because you can’t invite friends in K&L2’s demo). So, even though other friends in my party were able to connect to a game, on five separate occasions on two different nights, I was unable to connect to ANY game. To add insult to injury, I only had one other person EVER join my game, and that person quit out while waiting.

 

Seriously, WTF.

 

Play the single player. It’s fun and is totally worth playing. Screw the multiplayer demo though. It’s broken. Period. Don’t waste your time with it.

 

 

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