Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, Live demo

by Justin McElroy { Dec 19th 2007 at 11:28AM }

Kane and Lynch have gotten a bum rap lately as the guys responsible for double-handedly ripping the internet asunder and scattering the pieces to the wind. But did you know that they also starred in an electronic video game? And it's a game which, despite the negativity, is actually sporadically pretty fun. A reminder is now available on Xbox Live with a new, single-player demo.

What we hope is that more people getting their hands on the demo with re-establish the game as what it should have been all along: A decent action game, not a pariah. Give it a try yourself, we'd bet that no matter what your impressions are, they're going to be better than "symbol for all that is wrong with games journalism," which is where we'd imagine several of you now have it ranked.

Tags: demos, eidos, jeff-gerstmann, kane-and-lynch, kaneandlynch, xbox-live, xboxlive

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

RP @ Dec 19th 2007 11:31AM

Anyone heard any word on a PC demo?

Nick Ritch @ Dec 19th 2007 11:37AM

You would think they would have a demo available before the game comes out, especially when it's not really well known to anyone except those who follow game news.

Moofree @ Dec 19th 2007 11:37AM

B-b-b-b-b-but.... Gamespot!

Zootittles @ Dec 19th 2007 12:19PM

Spoiler: Kane and Lynch are dead men.

Dr. @ Dec 19th 2007 11:39AM

It doesn't help that all the related stories point to the gamespot incident, either. :P

I agree, though. I've played through it on the PC and it certainly isn't terrible. It was good enough to keep my interest away from TF2 and Rock Band for at least a little while :)

Phi Nguyen @ Dec 19th 2007 11:40AM

Screw Eidos. Long live Gerstmann!

Vidikron (FU) @ Dec 19th 2007 11:41AM

I played the demo last week on the PS3. It wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. The main thing that bugged me is there didn't appear to be a way to invert the y-axis in the demo.

FOXHOUND @ Dec 19th 2007 12:07PM

There's a PS3 demo?
...is it on PSN? :o

Trev @ Dec 19th 2007 12:10PM

I grabbed it from the EU PSN store because I couldn't find it on the US store (probably where Vidi got it too). I didn't like how I had to basically let go of both sticks to take cover or that you wouldn't take cover behind something low unless you ducked, then moved up to it, THEN did the same don't-touch-the-sticks thing so the game would recognize you weren't aiming or something and move you into "don't get raped" mode.

In a nutshell, I guess other than the primary gameplay mechanic, the game isn't /that/ bad... can't even try to make that sound better.

Somewhat related, I've heard Army of Two also sucks so hard its going to be hard to get the case open. Damn. I wanted ONE of the buddy-shooters to be good.

Vidikron (FU) @ Dec 19th 2007 12:19PM

Yeah, I think I got it from the EU store. I check the stores in several regions every week and sometimes forget which one I got stuff from. The EU store also has several themes that aren't available on the US store yet.

I played it in co-op with my brother and we enjoyed it. The main problem, as I stated before, is I couldn't invert the y-axis so I spent most of the time fighting the controls... so I can't really give a completely accurate assessment. But from I played I would certainly consider renting the game just to play through co-op... not sure if I would actually purchase it though.

gonk @ Dec 19th 2007 12:20PM

there's still mercs 2 coming out in a few months

brandon_r87 @ Dec 19th 2007 11:43AM

I had no interest in it to begin with, so I'll pass. I've never been a big fan of Eidos games for some reason.

gonk @ Dec 19th 2007 11:44AM

i've heard from several different people about retarded AI and iffy combat. kinda sucks when that's 95% of the game

Mort @ Dec 19th 2007 11:54AM

The AI has its moments. I have noticed on some levels it is just easier to tell them to stay hidden, clean an area alone, then call them in to cover you and mop up any remains.

Any AI that doesn't have the common sense to scatter and find cover when you are being strafed by an attack helicopter kinda fails in my book.

The combat on the other hand is fairly good outside of the horrible spread on the weapons. I mean, here you are a trained soldier, with an assault rifle, and you can't keep the spread under the size of a human being when crouched, sighted, and firing single rounds... at 30 yards or so.

On the PC it flips from ranged to melee fairly easily since one key is "Melee" and it is always a one shot kill that seems to make you invincible while it is going on. Which is nice because it takes a couple seconds. However as soon as it is over the hail of bullets usually puts you down.

Like Dr said, "it certainly isn't terrible." 6.5 - 7.0, rental for the console units imo.

Zootittles @ Dec 19th 2007 11:58AM

Color me intrigued.

Mort @ Dec 19th 2007 12:08PM

I had to +1 you just for the avatar. Kane with what might be googgly eyes made me lol @ work...

Mort @ Dec 19th 2007 12:09PM

Er damnit, Lynch >.< wtb edit function.

Zootittles @ Dec 19th 2007 12:17PM

No worries. Just remember- he is a DEAD MAN.

Mort @ Dec 19th 2007 12:36PM

God I hope that isn't some sort of horrible M. Night twist that is going to make me scream in utter disgust.

OMG! Lynch was dead the entire time! Kane has multiple personalities and sees dead people while swimming in a pool in a village of people who are actually aliens!

Brent @ Dec 19th 2007 12:03PM

This game is really bad. Controls, graphics, everything is just really awful. Avoid this game...

Mort @ Dec 19th 2007 12:16PM

Seeing Trev's comments from his reply above, I'm curious are the controls bad on the PS3 (like his comment), 360, or just because it is K&L and long live Mr. 8.8?

Graphics are pretty nice when I crank em up all the way on my PC, they aren't Crysis, but then again the story in K&L is leagues ahead of that pile, which is saying quite a bit since the story in K&L isn't the strongest I have seen. Controls on the PC are great and pretty intuitive. Everything is done with one hand and key combinations for only a couple things like "Cycle backwards through the team."

Brent @ Dec 19th 2007 12:35PM

Well my brother picked this game up the day it was released. We played through MOST of the game, so I didn't get to see the ending, but it just wasn't much fun. He bought the 360 version, and it just looked bad. I don't really care about the Gamespot nonsense, I just care about whether or not a game is fun. Uncharted is fun. Gears of War is fun. Kane & Lynch is frustrating. For me it is probably a 5/10, and it is only that high because I like playing games on co-op. Obviously people's tastes vary...but I'd still recommend renting it before buying it (or avoiding it altogether).

Mort @ Dec 19th 2007 12:42PM

I agree that parts are frustrating. But it seems the horrible controls are console related, so I have to bow out of that since I am pleased with it on my computer.

I will rant however about if I want to play coop on my computer I have to have another person with me, own a 360 controller and adapter for the PC, and then it splits the screen vertically, so instead of making use of the widescreen left to right, I get two very wide, squat screens (If I were to play coop, but can't since I won't buy a 360 controller for my PC to make up for the programmers love of microsoft, not to mention the piece of crap bug that plagues live for the PC). It is a PC, let me play coop over the network or internet.

Oh, and no LAN play on the PC from what I can tell, so no getting together to play the heist mode without all having live accounts.

The sooner that abomination of Live on the PC dies, the better.

Geist @ Dec 19th 2007 3:01PM

I liked the storyline and the characters, but trust me, the ending was complete trash.

SPOILER: (read backwards)
.yletelpmoc uoy setah rethguad ruoy dna nem ruoy nodnaba uoy ro ,enola yletelpmoc tfel era uoy dna eid hcnyL dna rethguad ruoy rehtiE

Blazur @ Dec 19th 2007 12:06PM

Negative publicity has tarnished the reputation of this game much like the PS3. It may be a good game at it's core, but sadly, people who've been following the news aren't gonna be able to see past the gamespot incident.

KBeat @ Dec 19th 2007 12:14PM

Meh. There are enough mediocre action games to go around. There are far too few symbols of all that is wrong with gaming journalism. Thanks anyway Joystiq, but I'll keep Kane & Lynch right where it belongs.

TheWarden @ Dec 19th 2007 12:15PM

If I don't like it, do I get fired from the Internet?

arrrgh @ Dec 19th 2007 12:45PM

lol

Gangsta Smurf @ Dec 19th 2007 12:45PM

LOL of the day, sir +1

dan stabbingworth @ Dec 19th 2007 1:18PM

God I hope using the reply system to tell someone you gave them a [+] isn't going to be the newest joystiq meme.

Just click the fucking button and move on.

Micheal82 @ Dec 19th 2007 1:39PM

In the words of a great businessman Vincent Kennedy McMahon: "You're FIRED!".

Geist @ Dec 19th 2007 3:02PM

Hey stabbingworth, i gave you a (-), because spite is delicious.

refinedsugar @ Dec 19th 2007 12:18PM

You know what else is "sporadically pretty fun"? Selling out to the man, lol.

Stu @ Dec 19th 2007 12:24PM

The game just felt really generic and uninteresting. There was nothing there to really draw me in. The game play was ok, the cover system is incredibly frustrating and it's just better to not use it. They really should have taken *some* cues from Gears of War on that one.

Overall I'd say the game is alright and the heist multiplayer, which you unfortunately can't play on the demo, does sound very awesome. But this demo just didn't sell it for me. I think Gerstmann's 6/10 is a very fair critique.