From the people who brought you Freedom Fighters and following up the footsteps of Hitman: Blood money, we welcome Kane & Lynch Dead Men. From the first part of the name you will think that it's a fairy tale story but think again as the action and crude violence will not little in this criminal action game of the year.

The game is played in third person and it's a squad-based shooter which means that you can control actions and interact with other AI characters in the game which leave you the ability to play your style during the game. In the game, you can give orders to Lynch to attack a specific target while you can pickup weapons and give them to him as well. There is a good range of weapons but be careful on which object you go cover behind, because the game features semi-destructible parts which will make it more difficult for you to get cover.

Although it's good to have an automatic covering system, it's not quite perfected because it can back fire on you in certain cases. First of all the one thing I didn't like is that you would be moving a character near a wall and the character is sucked into the wall automatically. Talking about clipping, it is not quite perfected as well since while covering behind a wall a part of the player would be still visible and vulnerable. You're not the only one who suffers from this issue since the AI players (Criminals and Police force) are doomed to the same ending. This will result in your favor during the fight and for a good laugh on the police force which they think they are in a good covering spot but will be totally in your firing range.

The game involves two main characters which are Kane and Lynch being your non ordinary heroes and just two bad people. The game begins with a death sentenced criminal named Kane (which you will be controlling during the game) who is writing a final letter to his daughter for not being the father he had to be... while you are being escorted in a convoy to the death sentence, in the van you will meet Lynch (A John Lennon look-alike guy) which in short he will tell you to keep your head down.All of a sudden you will end up with a frontal terrorist attack on the police convoy and people helping you escape for no reason at all, and getting beat up by them if you ask too much questions.

This is the first part of the game where you will need to grab any weapon you find on the floor and start running like hell while fighting the police and Special Forces along the way to your rendezvous with the helicopter for the escape. In this part you will learn your basic moves and firing techniques while fighting your way out. Unfortunately you will end up running in a van.

After you manage to escape with Lynch and held with a bag in your head, you will meet some old acquaintances. A group of seven men dressed in black suits which call themselves The7, which you have made part of and after a big hit... you seem to have stolen from them instead of sharing the loot. Lynch is recruited to keep an eye on you by The7 and has to report to them your progress to get their money back... it's a bit weird to have a medicated psychopath to look upon you, but hey that's the criminal world. Well, your job is to get their money back. You tell me, what's the catch or motivation? The only motivation for you to get their money back is that The7 are holding you wife and daughter as captives. From now on... life will be filled up with betrayals, killing and non stop pumping action.

The best thing about Kane & Lynch is that it's a game which does not go round corners and cut a sharp and pointy corner when it comes to violence and puts morality aside. In fact the game is rated Mature, and even if you play it with a young person near you... you will feel a bit uncomfortable, so the game is truly for adult audiences. Apart from the killing of the police force, there is the swear words. If you like words which begin with the letter 'F' this is the game for you because it is used most of the times.

The game is not only about killing and swear words, the game gains its notoriety from the story which give the game its awards and it's not easy to create a game where the main characters of the game are anti-heroes moving around in a non civilized way to accomplish their missions. Kane & Lynch are two hard men put in impossible situations where their journey is set to be wild with a bumpy ride.Helping the story and the characters are some great Hollywood movie style cut scenes which really show the dramatic effect of what's happening during that time. The story doesn't end there since during the game-play, Kane and Lynch interact and argue with each other revealing more details on the plot and the actual story which contribute to make a great cinematic effect.

IO Interactive have made a great effort on the presentation and story and the dramatic effect of the game great, but regarding game-play and graphics... they needed more refining and details. One example which would have been done is that characters talking during the game... their lips would not move and occasional flickering textures.

Apart from these issues, playing Kane & Lynch online in Fragile Alliance mode is a great deal of fun, especially if you know some people who know how to play the game well. The game-play is set with four or six players contending a load of money and of course getting out alive. The only drawback is that you have to split the cash or valuables with the survivors of the run or in the other hand you can kill them all and claim all the cash, hehehe.

Conclusion

The game is quite good and its story/ characters are well designed and shown in a well built environment. The game is a bit short and not difficult to complete, and the online game-play could use more than four maps. Apart from this, if you would like an action filled game with a story of betrayal and murder, Kane & Lynch is the game for you.