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Raising Kane... and Lynch
Product: Kane and Lynch: Dead Men
Company: Eidos Interactive
Date: 07/16/2007
Avaliable On:

Kane and Lynch: Dead Men is an action shooter being developed for the PS3, 360 and PC by shooter veterans Io-Interactive, makers of the Hitman series. It chronicles the unlikely pairing of Kane and Lynch, “a flawed mercenary and a medicated psychopath.” Although they despise one another, they must work together to save their own lives and those of their loved ones.

In the demo I saw, Kane and Lynch have to kidnap the daughter of an enemy who holds an item they require. They work their way past the security in a bustling nightclub, past hundreds of gyrating bodies and amongst flashing lights and pulsing music. Each dancer and light was responding to the music playing in the club in a very realistic manner, not like your typical crowd. It was like a living, breathing environment. Once Kane and Lynch actually kidnapped their victim and began retreating from her office, the real fun began. Shooting broke out as security was trying to rescue their boss from the kidnappers and as you can imagine, that living, breathing crowd responded accordingly. People ran from bullets in all directions, a typical panicked crowd. They got in your way and also in the way of those pursuing you, so you could use them as barriers to save your own skin. The action was quite frantic and intense.

We also saw another level where Kane and Lynch were not acting alone. They had a team of equally insane guys with them to help them rappel down the side of a building and snatch a briefcase, after killing everyone in the room and blasting their way out of the building, of course. You command your team quite simply by pressing either (B), (X) or (Y) (on the 360 controller, as the 360 version was being demoed). They mentioned that those familiar with Freedom Fighters, an earlier Io-Interactive title, would be familiar with the squad-based system. Kane went first, rappelling down the building and placing a bomb on the window in front of the surprised group of businessmen. As he dodged the blast, the rest of the group rappelled down, jumping into the room through the destroyed window, taking out everyone along the way. Once the room was cleared, the briefcase was grabbed and the mad dash to escape began. Of course, the initial blast brings law enforcement of every kind to bear on top of the group and bullets hail down from every angle. Citizens working in the building run around panicked, just as the nighclub goers had, becoming meat shields along the way.

Kane and Lynch: Dead Men looks to be shaping up as the next big hit for Eidos, complete with psychos, plenty of weapons and non-stop action. Look for it to make the drop on the PS3, 360 and PC this holiday season.

Psibabe aka Ashley Perkins

GameVortex PSIllustrated