Hey Sonny Jims, This review was requested by Patrons, if you would like to request other games to cover, please consider supporting the channel on Patreon: tinyurl.com/zd48qvf Enjoy the video!
A wee bit off topic, but did you see John Romero is releasing an expansion for the original DOOM next year? Called SIGIL, he has a video on his YT channel ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4VibM9vCguc.html
Saints Row 2. Maybe not horrific scars, but you can get both high and drunk while driving a four wheeler around in a mall dressed in a hot dog suit for absolutely no reason.
@@sebastiancintron29 It succeeded in being a entertaining game with a lot more depth to Lynch's character this time round. No game is a failure if it succeeds in being entertaining.
@@legiongamerworkbruhben6058 I've always wanted a third game. I never cared for the Hitman games so this is all I enjoyed from IO. Maybe someday there will be a sequel. I hate cliffhangers.
One of my favorite things about Dog Days is just the main menu, just ambient shot of something, like the camera in the apartment hallway with the casual sounds of people talking in their rooms in the background or the car just driving beside the camera on the highway. I just really like the atmosphere to it
Personally, I still like this game. Sure, it has its flaws but I enjoy the Chinese setting (kind of a rarity in video games) and gritty atmosphere. The addition of Norinco guns is also a nice touch. I also enjoy the offline Fragile Alliance mode (Arcade Mode) that has me coming back for more.
I agree (save for the online stuff). The setting, ambience and overall style show an intention to create something cool and gritty. I also like how this was aimed at adults. It's rough around the edges, but if this game was executed slightly better It would be excellent.
I still like it. It's rough, unforgiving and dying, while an enemy unloads a complete MAC10 round in your body, feels uncomfortable af. Also the sounddesign and especially the weaponsounds are top notch. The game still has major flaws, but the style and atmosphere man... You feel like any shootout is your last, you're pushed and run into cover, while the whole room get's blown to pieces by bullets that sound like loud, barking dogs, completely destroying the feeling of safety. I think the inaccurate aiming recticle is part of that concept and in intense battles, most rounds would miss in reality anyways. It's not player friendly, but it feels sadistic and mercyless. In the end, you'll get the job done with any weapons, but it doesn't feel cool or heroic, because the shooting is one hell of a dirty mess. The shootouts transport the concept of chaos like almost no other title. It's an aggressive game if there ever was one. You're a dirty, old dog in a relentless world. I remember how friends of mine hated the shaky cam and digital video artifacts in the game, but i loved every aspect about that. It feels like a sleezy grindhouse movie made into a game. I think IOI wanted to make very dirty and ugly games, raw and not a nice walk in the park. They had a vision and the balls to kick the gamers right into the face. And i'm totally against features, that turn shaky cam and these artifacts of. It's an artistic vision and if it is too much for the player, the game is just not for him. While the games are trash to some, i think, they are really bold and unique to this day. But yeah, the short game length and the aprubt ending are a bit too much on the edge-o-meter. You can kick the players in the face, but don't spit on them.
It was the "everything goes downhill" kind of atmosphere that pulled me into this game back then. Kinda like hangover where things get worse and worse for the characters. The only other game that lets you experience this is Max Payne 3 which is my favourite game of all time.
This is a surprisingly more positive review than I was expecting. I always had a soft spot for the Kane & Lynch games, especially 2. You pretty much nailed it when you mentioned it's a bad game with a lot of good ideas. The multiplayer can definitely be hilariously fun at times, especially when you do just want to be a dick.
I wish they would give this series another shot it has a lot of potential also more army of two, medal of honor, destroy all humans, mercenaries, tony hawk, army men, sleeping dogs, fable, silent hill, saints row, splinter cell, mafia, knights of the old republic, bioshock, and brothers in arms games
I remember one time on russian imageboard one guy posted how he is playing this game with horribly low resolution like 320x240. He did it initially for practical reasons (temporally played on low end notebook) but then he got hooked by how game looked like a real low quality video. He showed some screenshots and he ain't lied: game really turned into something like "raw footage" vibe emitter.
I have a huge soft spot for this game, the visuals were great and the whole handheld camera gimmick I loved. Especially when you head shot someone and it censors it with pixels and it just makes the game feel so much more gritty. The torture scene didn’t feel edgy I felt like it definitely worked looking past it’s small story issues. I got the game for 5 bucks way back on a ps3 sale and I had so much fun with it in coop with my friend. Highly recommend it if you want a nice change of pace. Clunky controls and a dark story that isn’t amazing but I still enjoyed it.
Hopefully one day. People like to shit on these games as they're easy targets, the first one deserves it more imo, but I think they deserve a more fleshed out sequel.
Your opinion was spot on. I remember my buddy and I renting this game and playing it coop, and all we could say after beating it was "meh". Now, considering the contemporary state of triple A games, seeing something like Kane and Lynch 2 is sort of a reminder just how unique this game was tonally and visually. We'll never get anything like this game again.
I always go for the highest difficulty on shooters because I find it more fun that way, but in Kane & Lynch 2 it sucked. Enemies were such bullet sponges. It made the guns feel like they were airsoft or something. You'd pop out of cover and give a guy an A-10 worthy BRRRRRRT to the face and they'd be like "yeah mate what else you got". Still love the game, though. Hand cam style was amazing.
I also got pass this difficulty, but only half way through it did I find an exploit. Instead of using the shitty cover system just stand near the edge of a wall point and shoot. That way you'll be able to shoot the enemy, but they wont be able to shoot you.
@@Cycon1928 My friend and I were forced to do that towards the end, with the way they'd run at us, arms flailing and firing off thousands of one-hit-kill rounds.
Always thought this game was underrated. It's far from perfect, and p corny at times, but deserves respect just because of how unique it feels to any other 3rd person shooter. Also the look is absolutely inspired- was not surprised at all when gggman said he didn't like the look, as he is notorious for his bad taste and elementary appreciation for aesthetics (often cringe inducing). It's a shame this game didn't do well critically/financially-- would have been so sick to see more games like this that feel inspired by morally ambiguous hard-R crime films from the 90's.
Idk if you'll ever see this comment but thank you for your videos. They are not only great reviews but also have a nice bit of witty humor. Plus for me the accent reminds me of my mums family from Australia. Which also makes me love the videos even more
I love this game. The way IO made it so bleak is really good, and they they’re middle aged has beens that can’t fit behind cover just as a couple of examples. I feel a lot of reviewers missed what they were trying to do. I can absolutely see why people don’t like it though.
The gun inaccuracy is a really good mechanic, think it only works sometimes though. You have to constantly be pushing forward because your guns are so bad, which makes the game more stressful and amazing. Also adds to the John Woo action movie vibe.
I personally really enjoyed this game. It felt that, with the shift of focus from Kane to Lynch, the gameplay was changed to reflect his corrupted and broken mind, with the shakey cam and broken visual artifacts feeling like how Lynch's disjointed and messed up brain could be interpreting his world, as opposed to Kane's more steady mind with gameplay to match in the first game. It may not necessarily make for great gameplay, but I felt the experience was overall quite great for what it seemed like it was trying to do. I had a lot of fun playing through it, at least the one time.
I believe the shaking when running, poor aiming, and being able to be shot through some "cover" is supposed to be realistic. Most people can't shoot like they can in games in the real world. People don't generally shoot while moving because you wont hit anything unless you are some Teir 1 operator, and even then that's while walking not running. Also in real life just because you hide behind something does not mean it will stop bullets. There is cover and then there is concealment. Cover is like sandbags, concrete blocks, the engine block on a car, Concealment is desks, trees, car doors, or anything that will obstruct the enemies view of you, but would not stop bullets. Though with that said they implemented them fairly poorly seeing as people dont generally shoot at what they can see, while the AI is always spraying bullets at you 24/7. Also the shaky cam only makes sense if it would effect the enemies too which it doesn't Also the visual distortion can simulate suppressive fire making it harder for you to shoot back, but again it's kind of pointless if you can't suppress the enemies by shooting around them either. I like the setting, and some of the design choices, but other seem silly/not well thought out. Wasted potential. I also always thought the online play was pretty cool and unique though it had it's fair share of short comings as well.
@@bsaintnyc Some of us actually enjoy realism. Because the entire gaming industry is completely swamped with stereotypical game mechanics which devs believe constitute as "fun".
It wouldve been cool to have certain calibres penetrating certain types of cover, but from what iv played, i dont think its implemented like that at all in K&L2. And even if it did, it doesnt seem to work both ways. The camera shake is a kinda cool idea, but it so exaggerated lmao. The default camera setting is actually so bad, i think this is the only game that ever made me nauseous.
@@赵宝瑞-e9r Of course Shanghai isn't a shantytown filled with grandpa gangsters, corrupted police and soldiers in reality. 😂😂😂 Though the astonish details of the environment in this game really convince me it's a 80s slum somewhere in China.
Highly underrated, there's so much going on in the game beneath the surface. At the risk of sounding pretentious there's a level of subtlety and self awareness that you just don't get by taking it at face value.
This is definitely a very love it or hate it kind of game. Actually, the whole series is. Everything you hate it for is what makes me love it. But i especially never understood the complains about the visual style. Sure, the screen effects can get in the way sometimes, but you can turn them completely off in the options. I'm very prone to get sick during car rides and stuff, and the shakiness has never made me get motion sickness once. I love the surveilance/documentary style of the game, and when the Manhunt games were doing it nobody complained about it. Fuck, Manhunt 2's camera shakes unstoppably throughout the whole goddamn thing if i remember correctly. I just feel there is a big bandwagon of hate for this series stemming from that whole Gamespot fiasco that a lot of the time isn't justified. People forget Gerstmann didn't even review the first game badly. He just didn't give it the amazing score Eidos wanted.
I know a lot of people hate this game and I understand why. I still enjoy this game though, reminds me of a John Woo shoot em up with really good visuals that kind of reminds me of a a Nicolas Winding Refn movie. That is just me idk
The beginning was pretty wild, that intense street shootout. also the ability to kill civilians consequence-free fits perfect with the really dark disturbing tone here
I actually love the the visual style that you shit on so much. I haven't seen many other games that look this realistic. I also don't have an issue with the inaccurate guns, and think that you overrate how accurately they can be fired in real life.
Max Payne 3 had a similar art style. Don't remember anyone complaining about that one. In fact Max Payne 3 shares a lot of flaws with this game which people are happy to ignore just because Rockstar's logo is on the box.
Agree, in fact for me that was the reason i found Max Paine 3 the weakest in the series. Was out of character and fit with the style and feel of the first two. After seeing this I can definitely see the similarity between the two and not for the better, well for Max Paine.
Its not a perfect game, but i appreciate how you recognize the good parts in it, like the gritty and unique atmosphere and music. I loved both Kane and Lynch games by the way, they are imperfect but great amount of weirdo' fun!
Actually you have the chance to kill both Kane and Lynch in Hitman: Absolution. I think that was the developer's way of apologizing for the fact that it just didn't turn out for the best!
9:20 so wait wait... "The game could be actually good if..." your points are A: make the shooting more precise, and B: make more gore (despite the torture scene is to cruesome) ... sorry as someone who does absolutly like your reviews ... this is some logic i would like to get more details on. I'm actually going a step further and want to point out that "shoot that thing when you point on it" is almost the simplest thing you can archive with vector calculation (which is not much more complicated as 1x1, despite its cool name). So making the spread that much has some kind of intention, which, as you rightly state: the pistols work fine. I would suspect that this is intentional to make it look like an early Chinese Gangster movie. The sort of shooting and camera you get from stuff like Chacky Chans Police Story 1 and 2. So The spread is so horrible to make the fight more to an spektical as a real 'quacke seal of proof' shooter experience. Which in my opinion... the game is more like a movie, this being good or bad how you look at it. It's more interactive than everything Quantic Dreams did, but it's more spektical cheesy action movie than game.
Both games were great in their own way to me, I love that they both have a different feeling to match the character you play as, Kane being more practical and Lynch being more all over the place. I will agree that they could have had a few things ironed out a little better, but they were truly unique titles that are well worth getting on sale.
I loved it 8 years ago and after replaying it a few months ago I still love it. Such a great game, especially the ending. One of those games they're going to make nostalgia retro reviews about in 15 years calling it an hidden gem.
Sometime ago this game came up free on the Xbox 360 and I downloaded it. Multiplayer was alive for a few days and I had a total blast playing it. The game is buggy and laggy as hell, but that kinda made me had even better times playing it. As shitty as the visual glitches and camera style are, I still liked them. Playing the co-op with a friend was super fun. Sometimes a game doesn't has to be a gem to have good times and crack a couple of laughs
I love this game. It’s one of the most fully-realized representations of an entire film genre as a video game. The action crime films of Michael Mann, John Woo, Safdies, etc. It’s raw, ugly, yet visionary, and bold. The gunplay is merely a means to an end. Just spray the hell out of everything to get out of Shanghai. I’m so glad this game exists.
Mona Mur is a fantastic musician. Got a couple of her records. I know she is pretty proud of her work in this game. Highly recommend her music. I feel like that data corruption visual style would fit better in a cyberpunk shooter. Oh well.
Loved the first one, took me years to pick this one up due to the length ( only 3 measly hours?) but when I did grab it for free I had a great time, it saddened me as I recalled just how little effort has been put into story telling nowadays, I fear we’ll never see a pair of protagonist’s quite as gritty and well... just plain human, the marketing left me feeling like these characters may exist in the real world. The situations they encounter (while overtop at times) felt grounded and the camcorder film style re-Inforced that with the censorship furthering the guttural tone. Similar to manhunt this series almost serves as reminder to how close the medium (that being gaming) came to having writing and directing that could actually hold its own against major motion pictures
Tbh, and this is an unpopular opinion, but I think I want to see more games that are presented like this because it feels like you are watching some crazy documentary but you have some control over the characters and the cameraman. I think this is a good way to tell the story even if the gameplay is frustrating, because I think it adds more immersion. And at the end of the day, if you don't like it, you can literally **not** buy and play it only for the purpose of complaining about it.
The game has absolutely amazing atmosphere, it's so fucking dense you can cut it with knife. Sound design, story, characters, setting, attention to details, everything comes together in this very mature very unique audio-visual experience. It might not be the best game ever, but it's one of the most atmospheric third person shooters ever created. Also multiplayer was fucking awesome for some weird reason. But it had to be organized constantly through groups and forums, because people never bought this for multiplayer.
This is one of my personal favorites, it has a lot of flaws and could've been much better - but the hardcore gritty setting and gameplay really hits the spot for me. Absolute guilty pleasure.
I personally like this game (and the series in general), even the motion camera doesn't bother me. Playing it on extreme difficulty is perfect. It definitely has it's flaws but I still enjoy it, just wish the story was longer and more fleshed out.
I just went out and bought the Kane and lynch series and started on this one today. You deserve part of the money considering you sold me this game, I’ll be looking into your patreon. Thank you for the content
Hitman Absolution Hitman Codename 47 Hitman 2 silent assassin Hitman 2016 Hitman Contracts and Hitman Blood Money. From worst to best and imo all of them are good games I have not played newest one yet but to me the series as a whole is great.
I absolutely love this game and especially its art style, but I'm fortunate to not get any kind of motion sickness. I still think KL2 looks just as unique today as it did back then. I'd actually really like to see a third game, though it's never happening.
This maybe is not the best game ever made, but I love this game, because the history, the adult themes could be an a amazing movie, this is an unique piece of art... simply a jewel in the history of the video gaming, I am still waiting for a new Kane and Lynch game 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
IDK why but I found the main menu in this game to be really intriguing, the UI, the music, the fact that your in a car traveling through dim/tranquil/urban East Asian area, like it was weirdly compelling.
I certainly did enjoy the gritty and brutal feel of Kane & Lynch 2, unlike MANY, MANY other conveyor third-person games to date. The ending could use some polishing, but honesty, it fits the adrenaline-pumped mad dogs all too well.
Aside from the steadycam being pretty much necessary, I think they nailed it with this game. It's ugly, uncomfortable and at times unpleasant. That's 💯 what the developers were aiming for. Also, you're not meant to hold the trigger down, that's why you're having a hard time hitting anything. And if you can legit finish the game in 2 hours, that time should be on Speed Demos Archive.
I revisited this game recently and I will say I really enjoyed it and my favorite part of the story mode was that I didn't for once have to scavenge and comb through every level searching for collectables. I have a few friends that are about to start playing the multiplayer together. The game could've been better and a cliff hanger ending is always dumb but for what it's worth it's a good old classic I love. Thanks for the review! I love your channel @Gmanlives
This game was unfairly derided when it was released. Everyone hated it because of how unpleasant the visuals and presentation were, but I found those to be the most compelling aspects of the whole package. K&L2 is a flawed game, but it's a uniquely atmospheric one in addition to being much more interesting than the previous entry. The plot is still pretty dumb, but it almost doesn't matter. The main focus is on these two belligerent, washed-up assholes as they dig themselves deeper through violence and bad decisions. The scratchy, found-footage visual style makes you feel like you're along for the ride on their horrible journey. The game reminds me a lot of Spec Ops in that it feels like a deliberate take-down of popular shooter tropes. Instead of playing as a cool action hero in exciting scenarios, you're following two loathsome murderers as they descend into an urban hell bathed in sickly fluorescent light. The nasty atmosphere informs the gameplay by making it deliberately awkward and unpleasant, adding to the overall feeling that this would not be a fun scenario in real life. I'd recommend taking a look at this blog post, which analyzes the interesting things the game does that everyone overlooked at the time. xanderkishblog.blogspot.com/2013/08/kane-and-lynch-2-anti-shooter-before.html
That's a great article, it makes you rethink everything about the game. In terms of subverting shooter tropes, I feel that Dogs Days does some things better than Spec Ops - namely it doesn't criticise the player for playing like Spec Ops does, which i admittedly thought was somewhat pretentious.
I finally decided to try Kane & Lynch 2 and its actually super fun! Especially Arcade mode (which is basically Fragile Alliance mode only with the bots, so you don't need anyone else to play it). Story is pretty cool too only short. But its usually on sale for only 1 buck and for that its an absolute steal. If only they made third one... And btw you can turn off both the visual effects and the shaky camera if you don't like it. Seems many people keep missing that.
Fragile Alliance was such an on-your-toes game with a bunch of randos when it was actually a populated game. At every moment you were scanning the players around you to see if one was following you a little too closely or staring at you for a bit too long. On top of the hordes of cops you had to fight at the same time it was super fun and the random outcome of each match kept it fresh. No better feeling than finding the player that killed you for your loot and killing him as a cop.
I know I'm in the minority here, but I adored this game. I admit am a sucker for style over substance, but I think there was a lot of substance in the banter and cutscenes, and these two fuckups are incredibly believable (if only from a psychological standpoint) and human. Their bad mistakes typically happen fast, under intense stress - the kind of thing people like to call boneheaded, and seem to believe they wouldn't do in the same circumstance. They're perfectly forgivable given the context, and continue driving the story forward without relying on more awful examples of 'holding the idiot ball.' Hell, one's literally insane, reliant on anti-psychotic medication just to remain grounded, to boot (which admittedly was handled better in the first game), and both of them are very, very fucked up men on a long, slow journey to being total burnouts. Same thing applies to the civilians - people are really, really stupid when they panic, and this isn't a game where either character cares about saving innocent lives all that much after all, and besides, the game is framed as being this shitty Bum Fights/Faces of Death style release of the footage captured of of these incredibly evil men on a legendary crime spree. Speaking of footage: The whole handicam aethetic was something I loved, and I understand the shaking while running being neauseating for folks, that I totally get, and the distracting elements like the rather blatent nature of the i/p-frame loss effects being right up in your face being off-putting for some - different strokes and all - but I think it did wonders to actually make the game more immersive for one major reason: REAL footage of the kinds of thing in this game are hectic, wild, unstable, and - if ever found and broadcast - heavily edited. People like to look at found footage style movies and scoff at the deliberate roughness, yet also forget that the unstable nature is part of what makes it realistic, and by extension, more immersive. That, or they look at hightly polished, steady shots and think most people in a firefight know how to keep the star center-frame in the real world... Besides, the game is set at a time where the best possible consumer grade handheld cameras looked and behaved almost exactly like that. It's spot on, with the washed out colors, weird shit that happens when something really bright pops in frame suddenly, the shitty sound quality and frequent artifacts that pop up every time it's jostled. I had a camera like that one, and at the time thought it sucked, because, well, *it did*. It's main flaw to me was just the fact you're mowing down hundreds of dudes and I'm supposed to care for some reason about one or two - something that's part for the course when an intimate story is being told in a title that's a shooter, so even that's a minor flaw (though some of the actual fights inevitably got boring, another par for the course problem). Ultimately, I just think it was a mediocre-at-best *shooter* with a few frustrating aspects (and just TRY playing on extreme! It's not challenging, it's just a slog) a real gem of an over-the-top crime drama sewn on, one with a large number of the details missed in hectic moments or ignored utterly. EDIT: I MAEK WORDS MOAR GUD
i actually played a lot the multiplayer mode that allow you to betray your teammates (against bots mind you) and i found it actually quite fun to do so , really was the best part of the game for me
Since launch day has there been any patches or tweaks? I remember buying it and lost interest due from crappy game play and it being well....... buggy. Worth taking another shot and re-downloading it?????
I like this game, in a guilty pleasure kind of way. I actually love the visual and audio presentation. It's basically just supposed to feel like you're viewing the game through the lens of a cellphone video, back when cellphone video wasn't all that great. I don't have a problem with motion sickness while gaming, and I just thought it looked so fucking cool and original back when it came out. Kane and Lynch are dumbasses, but I still find them to be loveable dumbasses. Just don't play the game on too high of a difficulty, the game becomes an exercise in frustration then.
I recently got this game for 3 bucks on a Xbox sale. I’ve always heard about it and thought. Why not I’ve ended up falling in love it with. The gameplay is surface level but I feel like it’s more realistic and cinematic focused. Matched with the fact the games viewed through a camera what runs to keep up with the character. Gets sprayed with our characters blood, glitches from damage and explosives. Don’t get me wrong I could only play 2 missions at a time before taking a break from feeling sick (I didn’t even know about the camera reduction setting for running) but it’s still a really unique game in how it’s presented
I just played this game beat it in 4 hours and tbh I enjoyed it for the most part, the artstyle/cam recording aesthetic was pretty unique. What I didnt like was that the majority of the automatic weapons have this truly horrific bullet spread/bloom model applied to them. The bullet spread made the game harder than it actually is tbch. The game isnt even hard its takes way too long to kill ppl because your bullets will hit everything but the person youre aiming at. Enemy AI was surprisingly aggressive which was great. From time to time they will try to flank and even rush you which changes the pace and urgency of combat engagment
