Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

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Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
Developer(s)	IO Interactive
Publisher(s)	Eidos Interactive
Engine	Glacier Engine with Havok physics
Platform(s)	Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	NA November 14, 2007 EU November 23, 2007 AUS December 6, 2007
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer, co-op
Rating(s)	ESRB: M
System requirements	Minimum System Requirements[1]: Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon XP 1800+ 1.0 GB RAM 128 MB NVIDIA 6600 or ATI X1300 or better DirectX 9 compatible sound card 7.0 GB free hard disk space DirectX 9.0c

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is a cooperative third-person shooter developed by IO Interactive and published by Eidos Interactive for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and gaming platform Games for Windows. It has been confirmed that movie studio Lionsgate has bought the rights for a movie adaptation.^[2]

Plot

This plot summary may be too long or overly detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (June 2008)

The game opens with a voiceover of a letter, addressed to a girl named Jenny, which is being written by her father, Adam 'Kane' Marcus. Kane is traveling to death row after being convicted of the manslaughter of 25 civilians in Venezuela. Another death row inmate, James Seth Lynch, hints of a mid-destination breakout unbeknownst to Kane. Their truck is involved in a head-on collision by a group of mercenaries, who set them free. Though it quickly becomes apparent that this isn't a rescue, but a kidnapping. The two are taken to a shopping mall that is under construction, where they are confronted by the four surviving members of The7. The villainous leader Elder Brother, Kane's nemesis Younger Brother, Kane's former best friend Carlos, and the silent sociopathic killer Mute. They make him an offer; retrieve what he stole from them in three weeks, or his wife and daughter will be executed. Lynch acts as a watchdog, reporting in to The7 on Kane's movements.

From left to right: Thapa, Lynch, Kane, Shelly, and Rific.

They want back what Kane stole from them. Kane informs to Lynch that he did not steal it, but he knows who did, and what bank they stashed it in. Using the assistance of an unnamed vaultbreaker, they manage to break into the bank. Halfway to the vault, Kane tells Lynch to secures the hostages in the lobby. Reluctently, Lynch heads upstairs while Kane and the Vaultbreaker continue to the vault. Once they access the vault, Kane immediately uses a keycode to unlock the deposit box. He retrieves one briefcase, but discovers that the second deposit box is empty. In desparation, he orders the infuriated vaultbreaker to blow open all the safety deposit boxes. Seeing that the money is not in any of the deposit boxes, Kane angrily realizes who has taken it. They make their way to the lobby to discover that Lynch has killed all the hostages in a blind rage, and the police have arrived quicker than they expected. They narrowly manage to get the escape van through, and get away from the scene. After losing the police, Kane informs Lynch that they need to go to Tokyo^[3] to retrieve the last briefcase.

They head for a nightclub owned by the daughter of Retomoto, a Japanese Crime Lord. Unknownst to Lynch, Kane plans to kidnap Retomoto's daughter, Yoko, and hold her for ransom. After kidnapping Yoko, Kane reveals to Lynch who Yoko really is. This infuriates Lynch, as he claims he would have never knowingly kidnapped the daughter of a crime boss. As they escape the Tokyo nightclub, Kane and Lynch arrange a meeting with Retomoto to trade his daughter for the briefcase. Using the assistance of a pair of mercenaries known as Ryu and Shinja, Kane and Lynch proceed to a park by the Nan Lu Intersection. However, Retomoto is not there, leaving a cell phone for Kane. Retomoto, on the phone, tells Kane that he knows what The7 have done, and offers to work with Kane to get his wife and daughter back, as well as to solve the problem of The7. This infuriates Lynch, and he accidentally shoots and kills Yoko while trying to stop her getting away. Kane and the mercenaries then proceed to escape Retomoto's men and make their way to the escape van. Kane is furious with Lynch, but he soon realizes that they are out of time, and must return to The7.

Kane heads back to Los Angeles in an attempt to renegotiate with The7. Lynch questions his decision, while Kane claims that Lynch is a dead man too. Lynch denies this, and reveals that he has secretly made a deal for his survival, and even a position within The7. However, it becomes clear that The7 where simply using Lynch as a pawn. He is knocked out, and awakens to find Kane inside a shallow grave at a construction site. Kane's plea for extra time lands upon deaf ears, as The7 prepare to execute him and his family. The Brothers and Carlos depart for Havana, leaving Mute to execute Kane and his family. His wife and daughter soon arrive and confront Kane. While Kane desperately tries to talk to them, Mute shoots his wife right in front of him. Lynch, now fully conscious and infuriated, lunges at one of his captors, and in the confusion, an enraged Kane leaps out of the hole and brutally beats Mute to death with a shovel. As The7's reinforcements arrive, Kane and Lynch manage to defend Jenny from further attacks, and a large truck. After the area is clear, Kane tells Jenny to flee the scene and to continue to run no matter what.

After burying his wife by the highway, Kane decides to finish off The7 for the sake of his daughter's safety. He reluctantly allows Lynch to join his cause, after Lynch explains his own wife's murder and his supposed inability at that time to save her. With the help of the mining truck, they manage to smash through the wall of a nearby prison, inciting a riot and freeing a group of "dead men", (People who went against The7 in the past and were in turn disowned) forming their own band of ragtag convicts to wage war on The7. It is during the breaking out of Shelly, one of the convicts, that the murder of Lynch's wife is brought into doubt, with Shelly suspecting Lynch of killing his own wife, which Lynch denies.

Before flying to Havanna, Kane informs Lynch that they first need to return to Tokyo, and kill Retomoto to get the briefcase back. The crew manage to ambush and kill Retomoto at his headquarters, and retrive the missing case. They then fight through the office complex and the streets to a bus station, where the group finally manages to escape.

Days later, Kane, Lynch and their 'dead men' - Thapa, Rific and Shelly - follow The7's remaining members to Havana.^[4] Kane informs Lynch that The7 reap financial benefits from assisting factions in civil wars, with Havana supposedly the last job needed for their retirement. They find themselves caught up in an ongoing civil war. Throughout the battle in the war-torn streets, Kane constantly assures the group of rewards beyond even their retirement needs. They eventually track down Carlos, who tells the group that he has been betrayed by the Brothers after the Havana operation fell apart. Thapa deserts the group abruptly, mistrusting of the promised payment and the impromptu alliance with Carlos. The remaining group fight their way through the Venezuelan Jungle^[5] and drug operations, managing to locate the Brothers' base of operations. Over radio chatter, it's revealed that Jenny has been kidnapped by the Brothers and is being held hostage. Serving as a distraction, Carlos decides to detonate a mine at the entrance of the base, but is caught by soldiers, and taken to the brothers. Kane and Lynch overhear the Brothers speaking to Carlos over radio chatter and hear him being executed by the younger brother because he "shouldn't have listened to Kane". With the assistance of Rific and Shelly, Kane and Lynch manage to storm the building and find Jenny in the middle of a courtyard, which is set up as an ambush by the Brothers, who confront Kane and prepare to execute him. Though in a split second, Kane manages to shoot the mine left undetonated beside Carlos' corpse, killing the Elder Brother with the resulting explosion. However, the Younger Brother manages to escape with Jenny in the confusion.

Meanwhile, Rific and Shelly are pinned down while trying to secure the airfield. Kane and Lynch manage to hitch a ride with one of their men, and shoot down the plane before it takes off. Kane then confronts the Younger Brother in the plane as he holds Jenny hostage. Kane manages to kill the Younger Brother, and then rescues a traumatized Jenny, who hates her father for leaving his family 14 years ago, and his double-cross of The7. Rific and Shelly are desperately calling for help, but Kane takes no notice, trying his best to ignore Jenny and Lynch's pleas. At a nearby helicopter pad, the player will have to make a choice whether to save his men, or escape in the helicopter with Jenny.

In one ending, Kane and Lynch head to Rific and Shelly's position. Kane takes Jenny with him, despite Lynch's apprehensions. They are too late to save Rific, but Shelly is still alive. He feels betrayed, despite the rescue attempt. As they escape to the pier, Jenny is shot by one of the soldiers. When the adrenaline shot failed to work on her, Kane desperately carries her body along, in denial of her apparent death. Shelly loses his patience and attempts to escape on one of the boats, either escaping or dying, leaving Kane and Lynch behind. Kane and Lynch escape on the last boat, while Jenny's status is still unknown. As Lynch tells Kane to simply deal with his mistake, Kane whispers to Jenny about the letter he tried to send to her.

In another ending, Kane boards the helicopter with Jenny and leaves the remaining men, including Lynch, to 'burn'. Jenny resents her father's actions, telling him that she hates him.

Gameplay

In campaign mode the player takes the role of Kane. The player is able to play through 16 stages with Lynch by his side, at times accompanied by other hired mercenaries. Co-op mode is available in which the second player will assume the role of Lynch. Though almost identical to Kane's style of gameplay, Lynch has short bursts of aggression in which nearly all AI characters are police, some sporting an animal's head. Lynch carries a shotgun and a revolver as side arm, while Kane carries a submachine gun and standard pistol, although this setup isn't exclusive, as holding the right analog stick near another ally allows you to swap weapons. Additional weapons such as grenades, sniper rifles and carbines can be picked up which can also be swapped between allies. The player can take cover by standing next to a wall, and can blindfire. While having hired mercenaries, the player can issue orders such as follow, move to a specific position, or attack.

Fragile Alliance

Fragile Alliance is the game's only online multiplayer mode, which consists of four maps: Hot Coffee, Late Night Opening, Withdrawal and A Walk In The Park. A free-to-download map pack released on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live provides four additional maps. The goal is to finish a several round match with the most money. Each round begins with all of the players as armed, balaclava-clad robbers, and players who have reached TrueSkill rank 50 and 30 will play as Kane and Lynch, respectively. Money can be used to buy better firearms and armor. Resistance is met in the form of armed AI controlled security guards and/or police officers. A player's money acts as a shield, but will quickly be dropped on the ground as the player is injured. To escape the level, a player must survive to meet a getaway vehicle. All players who survive without turning on their allies will split stolen money evenly.

A player's appearance in the game is influenced by their TrueSkill rank on the Xbox 360. Unlike Kane and Lynch's campaign mode, players can not sprint. If a player feels they have taken enough money to become a target for potential traitors, they can drop some of their money (thus becoming less of a scoring threat.)

Development

For the development of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, Jesper Kyd was brought in to write the musical score for the game, having already written score for the Hitman series and Freedom Fighters. The single player was originally going to have online co-op^[6] but was dropped at the last minute and limited to offline due to time restrictions and difficulty. Director Jens-Peter Kurup said that Scarface and Unforgiven were inspirations for the characters. The game was originally going to revolve around only Kane, with Lynch acting as a side-kick. But as the development went on, they decided to include Lynch in the story also.^[7] Martin Guldbaek, the art director for the game, said that for creating each of the locations, the team went to Los Angeles for photo shooting. They combined this with concept artwork to create "locations that matched the character's mood and perspective". ^[8] Anders Poulsen is the lead character artist. According to him, he wanted to make characters "like no other". Kane was the first character to be designed, but was very different from his final appearance. (He was minus the scar on his face, and originally smoked a cigarette.) When Lynch was brought in, it added more "life" to Kane's character.^[8]

The game went gold on October 31 2007, making the release date a full 10 days earlier.^[9]

Downloadable content

Downloadable content was made available for Kane & Lynch on April 17 2008, entitled "The Dope Bag". This gave out 4 new maps, plus adding 250 Gamerscore for the Xbox 360 version bringing the total to 1250.^[10]

Sequel

As announced by Eidos^[11], a trailer and teaser site have been launched. The sequel, named Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, is being prepared for a 2010 release on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.^[12]

Film

A film adaptation is in the works from Lionsgate. The script was written by Kyle Ward who also penned the upcoming film Fiasco Heights which is being produced by Platinum Dunes for Universal. Bruce Willis has signed on for the film as the role of Kane and according to Lionsgate, a well-known british actor has signed on as well for the role of Lynch. The name of the actor has not yet been revealed.^[13]

Reception

The game received mixed reviews upon release. As of December 5, 2007 on the review aggregator Game Rankings, the Xbox 360 version of the game had an average score of 67.5% based on 42 reviews.^[14] On Metacritic, the Xbox 360 version has a metascore of 65 out of 100, based on 57 reviews.^[15] On Game Rankings, the PS3 version had a score of 65.8% based on 19 reviews.^[16] On Metacritic, the PS3 version has a metascore of 64 out of 100, based on 23 reviews.^[17] One reason cited for giving the PlayStation 3 version of the game a lower score is the lack of voice chat during the online mode, a feature the Xbox 360 version supports.

GameTrailers awarded the game an overall score of 8.0/10,^[18] stating that although there are some flaws in the game, the package as a whole made it "easy to recommend". On the other end of the scale, NTSC-uk gave it 3/10, calling it "a sickly mess of a game with the multitude of negatives undermining every positive".^[19]

A 6/10 score by GameSpot was rumored to be responsible for the firing of editor Jeff Gerstmann. The controversy arose due to advertising for the game being bought on the site prior to the game's release. GameSpot has denied the two are linked.

Electronic Gaming Monthly awarded the game a 7.2/10 rating, saying it had "great story, pacing, and variety" yet complained about the absence of online co-op and poor aiming.

The Australian PC games magazine PC Powerplay gave the PC version of the game an 8/10, "Excellent", citing "great dialogue", "impressive locations" and "satisfying action" as highlights while criticising its length and the final act of the game, suggesting it "loses ambition" compared to the earlier parts of the game which "[took] some pages out of Mann's notebook"^[20].

Audio

Soundtrack

The Kane & Lynch: Dead Men Original Soundtrack was composed, arranged and produced by Jesper Kyd and released on November 23, 2007. There are currently no intentions to release the soundtrack for sale, however, the special edition of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men contains a bonus disc with seven tracks.^[21]

References

External links

• Official website
• Fan site
• Kane & Lynch Review Unscripted 360, Nov. 28, 2007.