The Charge:
Experience 48 hours of hell!

Opening Statement:
When you look down through the lengthy list of high profile titles that hit shelves in 2007, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men certainly distinguishes itself as one of the least likely titles on there to receive the sequel treatment. It’s probably most well known for single handedly annihilating the integrity of one high profile gaming site in particular, skirting a healthy dose of controversy to go along with middling reviews. Here we are, three years on, and lo and behold, here comes Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. Does this unlikely sequel succeed where the original fell short? Or is this one dog that should be put down.

Facts of the Case:
It’s been a few years since our “Dead men” went their separate ways, and Lynch, now working for a British mobster named Glazer, has pulled Kane in for one last job. They’re in Shanghai, China, tasked with smuggling weapons out of China and into Africa. They stand to make a lot of money, enough for Kane to settle down and retire, and for Lynch and his new gal live happily ever after. Things go wrong right from the get go, and after the wrong person dies, Kane & Lynch find themselves scrambling to get out of Shanghai alive, with every armed thug, cop, and mobster in China hoping to put a bullet or seven into their domes.

The Evidence:
I’ll just get this out of the way ahead of time, I was a fan of the original Kane and Lynch. I picked it up before reading any reviews, played the hell out of it, and was shocked when I finally started reading what others thought about the game. The cold reception that IO’s crime drama received soured me on video game reviewers and review sites, and I really haven’t recovered to this day (how hypocritical of me). When the sequel was announced, I was excited. When I saw what the mad geniuses at IO Interactive (best known for the Hitman series) were doing with the presentation, my excitement doubled.

"The Rogaine convention went bad when execs revealed that the popular product was actually fake..."

The gameplay is pretty standard fare for your average 3rd person shooter. Kane and Lynch 2 doesn’t rewrite the formula or anything; you move ahead through linear levels, taking cover behind any object that looks solid enough to take cover behind, and you rock and roll with whatever firearms you have on hand until the bad guys fall down. What differentiates the game is a sense of realism that permeates the cover mechanic and keeps you on your toes. It’s possible for enemies to hit you even when you’re in cover, and should a foe manage to get an angle of fire on you, things can go bad in a jiffy. This keeps you from turtle-ing up in one position and waiting for reloads, and keeps you moving about as you scramble for safe spots. It helps maintain the chaotic pacing of the firefights and keeps you in the game. It this chaotic nature that really keeps Kane & Lynch 2 feeling fresh. Moments of silence are few, and when they do hit, they are unsettling, ushering a sense of paranoia rather than safety. The firefights often hit with explosive force, they are frenetic and immersive, buoyed by the game’s unique presentation.

It’s the sparse production and “processed” look of the presentation that truly lies at the heart of Kane & Lynch 2. IO Interactive have mimicked the Youtube generation, presenting the game as though it were a poorly shot bit of video footage ripped from a stray cel phone cam or maybe a hand held 8mm. The camera is jerky, often extra close, grainy, pixilated, and every light source bands across the screen as though it were reflecting off of a tiny CCD lens. The effect is at once striking and disorienting, but it works. It feels intimate for a shooter, and in spite of the chaotic movements and the frantic pacing, the action generally doesn’t get disorienting. There’s an option to remove the shaky cam (but not the lo-fi filters), but it also takes some of the life out of the game as well. Still if you do find the camera disorienting, it can help with your enjoyment of the game. Graphically, the grain and digital noise are layered over a solid foundation of decent character models and texture work. The city of Shanghai feels remarkably well rendered and authentic, with a ton of light sources and crowded streets. It all has an air of realism that you don’t often see in shooters. Every bullet hit registers, whether on a crook, car, barrier, or innocent bystander, and there’s some subtle motion blurring in use on things like spent cartridges from your rapidly firing weaponry that makes things look pretty awesome in motion.

"Don't you wish you were as cool as me... check out my bitchin' skullet as I leap over this display case! OOH! Timex Inidiglo watches are on sale!"

The visual hook is backed up with some incredible sound design. There’s very little in the way of backing music, with every scene in the game punctuated by the resonant gunfire, explosions, and surrounding city. Even quiet scenes feature rustling and distant noise that fills the soundstage and is entirely convincing. This is some incredible soundwork that booms through a good surround sound system with all of the clarity and immersion of the best Hollywood flicks. Voice acting is also excellent, and wonderfully mixed. Everything from the roar of a high powered rifle to the tinkling of spent brass and shattered glass sounds phenomenal.

One of the most intriguing parts of the original game was the rather unique take on multiplayer, and it’s back in Kane & Lynch 2, in a much more fleshed out form. For starters, the entirety of the single player campaign is now playable in online co-op form, something criminally missing from the original. The co-op mode is about what you would expect, and a few of the levels make for a fun way to blow through some action with a friend in tow. It’s the game’s signature “Fragile Alliance” mode that is the real draw. Players take the role of a team of crooks on a heist, and each grabs as much loot as they can carry. The fuzz is onto them, however, and on top of that, each player can betray his gang and kill allies for their score. The more you score, the faster you level up, however you’re also marked as a traitor, and when you’re buddies get fragged, they respawn as SWAT. It’s a very strategic scenario, where the best players will succeed by avoiding the temptation to backstab early, and pace it so that there are enough of you left to make it to the getaway vehicle without being overwhelmed by the law. There’s also an undercover cop mode, where one player is notified of his “cop” status and must do what he can to halt the other players, the trick being he must wait until AFTER the heist has taken place. It’s intense as hell. There’s also your standard deathmatch mode in “Cops vs. Crooks”. It’s a robust suite of online features, with the requisite persistent levels and unlockable content you find in most online shooters these days. It’s hardly going to supplant Call of Duty for the masses, but it’s a different kind of game that’s targeted towards a more cerebral breed of multiplayer gamers. If you’re looking for something off the beaten path, give it a try.

Rebuttal Witness:
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is chock full of shooting. The entire game is a slow and steady forward crawl where every square yard of ground is gained with hundreds of rounds of ammunition. There’s very little in the way of downtime, character development, or story beats. The chaotic presentation serves the shooting well, but the mechanics are straight forward and as simplified as third person shooting gets. You snap to cover, spit lead, and avoid being hit by the lead spit from the mobsters, killers, cops, and soldiers who stand in your way. The first half is paced perfectly, with one or two truly twisted moments, and one level in particular that really shocked the hell out of me. When you near the finish the game starts just throwing wave after wave of tough to kill assholes in your direction, which slows down the pacing to frustrating levels. The final two chapters are pretty awesome, and make up for the third quarter’s total frustration, but there also isn’t much of an ending to speak of. You make it to the final objective in the last chapter, and you know it’s the end, but there’s no snazzy cutscene or story beat, just credits. Weak, and yet, I really don’t know how it could have been handled any differently.

"First those Army of Two guys, now this! And only 4 days until retirement!"

While many were inclined to bash the “last-gen” gameplay of the first game in the series, there was a great story in place, and a solid squad mechanic that worked well enough. All of the ancillary bits have been completely stripped out to focus on the shooter core, and the shooting lacks the sophistication of something like Gears of War or Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. The game is buoyed entirely by the unique presentation, but beneath the youtube/cel-phone camera sheen lies a rudimentary shooting experience. If you’re a fan of third person shooters, you’ll definitely find something to like, and the robust online mode certainly helps add value to the package, but the single-player campaign may not be the engaging experience some might expect.

"That SWAT guy on the left is on short time... he just christened a boat..."

Closing Comments:
Kane & Lynch remains a franchise entirely targeted at a specific group of gamers. It lacks the sophistication of some of its peers, but it wraps things up in a uniquely dark presentation that feels like it is an integral part of the game’s make-up, rather than a layer of filters applied as an afterthought. The single player campaign, while pretty awesome, is brief, chaotic, and doesn’t change gears much. Yet, the multiplayer component is deep, unique, and addictive, making for a worthy overall package.

The Verdict:

Platform: Sony Playstation 3/Microsoft Xbox360/Windows PC
Developer: IO Interactive
Publisher: Square – Enix
Release Date: August 17th, 2010
Rated: M (17+) for Mature

This is going to hurt come morning.

The Charge
One war, two epic sagas.

Opening Statement
A History Chanel fan’s electronic wet dream, Eidos Interactive’s Battlestations: Pacific, the sequel to Battlestations: Midway continues the tradition laid out by the previous installment of offering a unique twist on WWII-themed shooters, downplaying the “action” segments of WWII games and emphasizing the “strategic” and “simulation” aspects. Fancy yourself a general of the five-star variety? Think you can command a fleet of planes, boats and submarines to victory n the South Pacific?

Facts of the Case:
Pearl Harbor, 1941. The Japanese have attacked American soil, and the US now finds itself embattled into a conflict spanning the entire Pacific against a feisty and daring foe. Battlestations: Pacific puts you in command of entire fleets of naval vessels and airplanes as you march (uh, swim and fly) your way to victory. Experience one war from two perspectives—the American and the Japanese—and possibly even change the outcome of history. Well, for the Japanese at least.

The Evidence:
WWII games are a dime a dozen, literally. Go into any used game store, and with the exception of last year’s sports games, no other title will pocket the walls in such large quantities. Battlestations: Pacific, following the tradition of Battlestations: Midway chooses to rise from the pack by offering a more strategic and real-time-strategy twist on the franchise. There’s still plenty of action to be had, but now you have to micromanage! Hooray! The individual game elements struggle to assert themselves, but when taken all as a whole, Battlestations: Pacific is a unique and challenging game experience, rewarding those with patience and devilish ability to plot strategy.

Two campaign modes are immediately accessible, allowing gamers to take command of either the American or the Japanese fleet. The Japanese campaign is first up from a menu selection point of view, starting with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and here is where things get a bit funny. Historical accuracy, having had a few too many, goes to lay down for a few, and the campaign quickly diverts from the actual historical course of events in short order, no doubt to balance the amount of missions the Japanese have compared to the Americans. Purists may sneer, but hey, it’s a video game. What good WWII game doesn’t re-write history these days?

Um... did you feel something?

The game comes at you immediate with what appears to be an insurmountable learning curve of control schemes, unit management and placement of over 100 unique craft, strategic commands and various strategic mumbo-jumbo, when all you want to do is get in a plane and bomb Pearl Harbor. Early campaigns are simple “find the flashing object on your radar and blow ‘er up”, letting users get comfortable with the mechanics and controls of planes, boats and submarines before combining all three into a gigantic tour-de-force of military confusion and disorientation. It gets easier the more you play it, but the free-wheeling and all-encompassing style of Battlestations: Pacific can be disorientating to those not quite used this level of oversight.

Depending on your style, “micromanagement” might get you excited, but it also might be a word that gives you hives. Battlestations: Pacific splits the difference, allowing players to spend as little or as much time as they’d like supervising their charges, switching between units in the battle. It certainly leads to more successful campaigns, jumping into the cockpit of a strategically-placed fighter, as the computer AI is just good enough not to hurl itself upside-down into the ocean, but not quite skilled enough to actually sink an enemy ship for you. The downside of the system is that for optimal success and mission perfection, a lot of babysitting is required. How fun you find this kind of supervision is entirely personal.

At its most thrilling and frenetic, gamers control rounds of Battlestations: Pacific like an orchestral conductor—a swish of the hand here to dispatch a few more fighter planes, a press of the finger there to launch some torpedoes, a quick refuel and re-supply . It can be quite entertaining and open-ended, giving you the freedom to develop your own strategies of success and failure—for me, usually failure. I admit here that this kind of military strategy simulation is not my gaming bailiwick, but there are some truly epic moments of combat where you feel quite pleased with yourself at sending so many virtual men to their watery graves.

Improvements over the previous title in the series include a noticeable graphics upgrade, larger maps and environments, much more empasis on land-based objectives—capturing islands and re-purposing their resources for your own war efforts, etc. The addition of a cockpit-view adds an addition touch of realism (though no particular gaming advantage) to the flight segments, allowing you a first-eye perspective of that freighter you are about to kamikaze pilot right into. Oh yes, there are kamikaze units—actual units, not just lousy flying your plane into an enemy base—but only on the Japanese side of course.

Speaking of multiplayer, this area is well-realized and fun, if you can find somebody to play against that won’t embarrass and demoralize your invasion efforts. Five game modes are included: island capture, a points-based spending system where gamers purchase resource and send them into battle to capture control of an island. Duel is essentially a free-for-all mode, last one standing wins. Siege is a defense-based mode where one team holds and defends an island against invasion from the other team, who must capture it within a time limit to win. Escort is the same idea, but the key unit to protect is on the move. Finally, good old Competitive mode, which places all human players on the same time and battle to out-score each other with enemy kills. The few battles we participated in were gigantic debacles worthy of the history books in how quickly we got our @#$ handed to us—fun, but distressingly brief.

OH CRAP IS THAT A SMOKE MONSTER

Between the two campaigns and the multiplayer modes, there’s a reasonable amount of variety and replay value here, especially as the DLC packs continue to roll in, but even after a few harrowing and exciting rounds of Battlestations: Pacific, the innate repetitive nature of the format may turn off some people. The campaign missions really just recycle the same three game modes in different combinations, and unless you’re riveted by the historical placements of the troop movements across the Pacific, one round is often indistinguishable from the next. Multiplayer maps are often just wide tracks of endless ocean with a few islands tucked here and there—historically accurate no doubt, but not exactly awe-inspiring in its variety.

Graphically, the game hits the mark. Aerial sequences over endless stretches of shining, undulating sea, sunlight glistening are handsome, while pillars of smoke fly off your nautical vessels as you get pummeled by enemy artillery. Colors are vibrant and lush, and I do quite enjoy the little touches of chronological simulated authenticity, like aging film reel effects applied to news clip-style cut sequences, to really bring audiences into the historical action. Model designs are reasonably detailed and well-represented, but I noticed some screen tearing during some, uh, deliberate crazy flying when I lost control of my plane and drove it into the ocean. Yeah, deliberate!

Audio fares well with the constant cacophonic barrage of gunfire, explosions and radio chatter filling your environmental space. It gets challenging to decipher the constant dialogue sputtering from your radio, as some information is genuinely useful, but that’s part of the fun. An orchestral score brings gravitas and drama to an already packed presentation. Unfortunately, the dialogue is particularly tongue-gnashing; the Japanese voice actors sound straight out of a bad drive-in ninja movie, while the American actors sound even cornier. Bass response is satisfying—when you drop that torpedo into the water and hear it tear into an enemy submarine, your subwoofer will roar with approval.

How Battlestations: Pacific stacks up in your eyes will depend entirely on your level of appreciation for the genre and its numerous elements. You can almost break the simulatior into its “mini-game” elements, and when examined solely on their own merits, they all feel unimpressive. The flight potion is average at best; the control scheme is atypical and the physics feel sticky and sluggish. I’m sure someone will argue the “realism” of flying 1940s-era aircraft designs, but if you ask me, this argument is moot when you control a plane with dual analog sticks on a 360 controller. There is nothing realistic about that, full stop. Naval segments are slower-paced and often frustrating; maneuvering gigantic vessels that turn like cows to haplessly hurl artillery shots at distant specs in the horizon, which seem to be guided on a system of random chance. As for submarines? Forget about it. I’ve never been more bored in a video game in all my life. For people looking for a quick burst of action, this might not be the game for them.

Where Battlestations: Pacific succeeds is incorporating all of these lone, limited elements together, assembling them into a gigantic, living, breathing battle of Herculean proportion. On their own, the game elements are questionable and frustrating, but when you look at how all the elements incorporate into a fluid package, of players switching between them as the situation develops moving ships and planes and resources into key strategic positions? This is where Battlestations: Pacific earns its stripes. Think of the individual game modes like chess pieces; they are of little value in of themselves, but critical in the grand scheme of the battle.

Closing Comments:
If you can immerse yourself into the game and truly embrace all the nuances and high-level elements of controlling your armada, Battlestations: Pacific is a rewarding experience.

The Verdict:

Platform: Microsoft Xbox360 / Windows PC (Xbox360 version reviewed)
Developer: Eidos
Publisher: Eidos
Release Date: May 12, 2009
Rated: T for Teen