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Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

Co-op campaign: a tight fit

Kane & Lynch sports a rare but welcome feature: co-operative campaign play with a friend. Co-op is, unfortunately, limited to split-screen play on one computer. The game was originally announced to have online co-op as well, but a tight released schedule must have forced IO to cut that feature. However, they deserve credit for not cutting split-screen co-op from the PC version, an unfortunate trend of PC console ports set by Bungie's Halo.

For split-screen co-op, you need at least one Xbox 360 controller (also known as the "Microsoft Official Xbox 360 Windows Controller"). Getting two sets of mice and keyboards to play nice together is probably quite challenging, but fortunately the game plays pretty well with the controller. However, if a gamepad is plugged in, the game defaults to that in single player mode too, which is a small annoyance. Unfortunately, Xbox 360 development has taken precedence in more design decisions than just this.

The worst part of Kane & Lynch is undoubtedly Games for Windows Live. It's amazing that Microsoft chose to copy the service almost directly from Xbox Live: the keyboard-driven interface, unnecessary confirmation popups that present a single option ("Accept" - what else are you going to do?), and frequent boots back to the title screen are my biggest gripes, when Steam and various individual games sport a far superior online service interface. I also find popups telling me about achievement unlocks and what my friends are up to a bit distracting during single player gaming, especially during a game like Kane & Lynch that relies on atmosphere and storytelling. Thankfully, you can sign out of GfW Live and still play both single-player and local co-op multiplayer.

To save precious screen space, the sniper indicator is much smaller in co-op

Kane's player sees a blurred and distorted screen when Kane is having a psychotic episode

Playing with a friend in co-op mode can be a lot of fun, and as a compensation for the reduced screen real-estate, the co-op campaign shows some scenes that are left unseen in single-player mode. Kane and Lynch split up on a couple of occasions, and seeing Lynch go crazy when he's left in charge of hostages during a bank heist in co-op is completely different from just hearing him over the radio in single player. Ironically, the co-op is a little too much fun: real-life interaction with the other player prevents you from getting sucked in by the story as you would in single player - it's like chatting throughout a movie with a friend, instead of being mesmerized by what's happening on-screen.

Fragile Alliance: online multiplayer with a twist or two

IO kept hush-hush about Kane & Lynch's online multiplayer during development; they didn't want other developers to copy their unique game mode, Fragile Alliance. It's unique all right, and a great idea - a co-op players vs. AI game that usually turns player vs. player before the end. In Fragile Alliance, a group of 4-8 players tries to pull off a heist - rob a bank or a jewellery shop, or steal cocaine from the Yakuza or mob money from a dirty politician. However, when one of the robbers (or "mercs") dies, he will respawn as an opposing Yakuza, bodyguard or policeman, and fight the other mercs.

Since whoever has the most money from heists at the end of a specified number of rounds wins the game, there's ample motivation to try and stop your former allies if you get killed - or betray them if you don't. Normally the loot gets split evenly between all surviving mercs, even if one player has done all the dirty work and collected all the money. This is where the game gets interesting: the player with the most loot starts thinking about keeping it all, and others see the tempting prize above his head. The first one to get careless and turn his back might just get a bullet in it.

Killing another merc turns you into a traitor, and you don't have to share the loot you've collected personally (but you don't get a split from other survivors' loot, either). You'll still have to escape in the getaway car or helicopter to keep the money, and if you want the loot your victim had collected, you'll have to spend several dangerous seconds collecting the money he dropped. Meanwhile, your victim has respawned as a guard, and will be looking for you, sweet revenge and an instant $200,000 bonus. The other mercs will also know you've turned traitor, and won't let you get away if they can stop you.

Fragile Alliance adds a level of strategy over regular competitive multiplayer: who can you trust, what strategies should you use, do you buy better weapons and armor or save your money to win the game. That's why the online multiplayer in Kane & Lynch works surprisingly well despite having only four maps, identical AI opponents every time, and very primitive server options - there's no dedicated server, and not even map cycling! Fragile Alliance resembles a board game that stays fresh only because of the players and their choices.

Ultimately, though, Kane & Lynch would have benefited from a more fleshed-out multiplayer. With more game modes (like team matches between cops and robbers), more maps and just tweaking Fragile Alliance with obvious features like map cycling so that the players don't have to pull off the same heist over and over again, it would have a lot more longevity as a multiplayer game. Right now it's best suited for LAN games for two reasons - there just aren't enough people playing online, and the game suffers horribly from lag.

Games for Windows Live does nothing to help Kane & Lynch. It only brings the clunky Live interface to the game; there are no cross-platform games between owners of the PC and Xbox 360 versions. You do get Achievements and Gamerscore from your feats in the multiplayer, but only if you've paid for a Live Gold subscription. You also need Live Gold to play ranked matches and "player matches" (how they're different from lowly "list games", available to regular Silver members, is hazy) as well, but don't bother: according to the scoreboard, there have only been around 100 ranked matches - in total - to date! The most ridiculous option when hosting a game is to limit it to Live Gold subscribers, when getting just 3 more players of any color to join can mean a lengthy wait.

Right now, if you want to have a great game of Fragile Alliance, get four to eight friends together and enjoy the teamwork, strategizing and the thrill of getting away with all the loot.

Page 1: IntroductionPage 2: Single Player CampaignPage 3: Multiplayer: CO-OP and OnlinePage 4: Graphics and TechPage 5: Conclusion and Final Scores

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