Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

The shines on the frozen water outside of the window of the crowded canteen where discussions are running high.

If you take a quick glance at the people who are enjoying their evening meal, you will notice that most are young, and that those who appear a little older don't act their age. There is a positive energy in the place, which is in complete contrast to the game that most of the people here are working.

Regardless of the cosy atmosphere, the two main people today are Kane and Lynch, who were created in 2007 by developer who had previously gone from strength to strength.

In spite of mixed reviews from the press and the unfortunate "Gerstmann-gate" that IO Interactive themselves had nothing to do with, the consumer still went out and bought Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. During my visit at the developer, it becomes apparent that the motivation for the team is to create a better game than the original.

Carsten Lund, game director on Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, is quick to point out that he and the rest of the team were very aware of the faults and shortcomings of the first game, and knew they had to rectify if the criminal pair was to make a comeback.

But before we move on to the improvements in gameplay that IO Interactive have been working on, perhaps we should mention what fortunately remains mostly unchanged, the main characters.

Since we saw them last they have each gone about their own business, with Kane looking for that one big score to enable him to pull away from his criminal life, while Lynch has moved to Shanghai and gotten his psychotic tendencies in check thanks to a plethora of pills. Lynch has settled down with his woman, but he still performs services on the wrong side of the law for the British crime lord Glazer. When Glazer offers Lynch a bigger job, a big weapons heist, Lynch decides to contact his old partner Kane, as he is more experienced with these kind of affairs.

However, things don't go as planned and an innocent woman is shot, and the consequences are severe as her family is heavily involved in Shanghai's criminal underworld. All of a sudden the duo is not just hunted by the state, they are also marked men in the criminal networks they have taken refuge in.

The fact that IO Interactive have opted to move the story to Shanghai, may not sound very exciting for those of us who haven't been there, but as soon as the game comes on the reasons for the choice of location quickly become apparent. The screen is bathing in neon lights. The lights do their best to hide the tall grey buildings and dirty alleys. IO Interactive have just shown us pictures from their visits to Shanghai and have they have worked in order to paint a realistic image of the impressive city. The hard work seems to have paid off.

Carsten Lund, also tells me how the team has used everything for Youtube videos and private tapes to capture that ugliness and distinct realism that make them stand out from Hollywood productions. The camera appears handheld and the image has been washed with several filters to make the screen unsharp and grainy without it taking its toll on the graphical quality. In the few scenes we get to witness the effect is very immediate, and most notable when a headshot is blurred out as if we were watching a newscast.

But even if the game looks better visually this time around, and the setting is inspired, it is the many improvements in gameplay that will prove whether IO Interactive have not just listened to the criticism, but also dealt with the issues.

Since Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days remains a third person shooter, it is necessary to improve the cover system from the first game, and this has been done by implementing a system similar to that in Gears of War, where the player sticks to the closest piece of cover with a simple push of a button. The shotouts are far more chaotic, thanks in part to the "handheld" camera, but there is also a lot more going on. This is also why a "Down not Dead" system has been put in place, where you have the chance of crawling to cover and recovering after taking one bullet too many. The artificial intelligence has also had its IQ raised, and the idea is that it will co-operate much better this time around, however, we are not given a demonstration of this at the event.

Something that will please fans of the series is that it will be possible to play through the entire story from start to finish co-operatively, both online and offline. Something that was missing in the original and something everyone at IO Interactive seemed to agree was an essential addition to the sequel.

As I leave IO Interactive's offices for the bitter Copenhagen cold I do so confident that the developer is on the right track with Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. I have often wondered why there aren't more games that have taken inspiration from films like Heat, while there are so many space marines, and the Danish developer no doubt felt the same way. At this early stage the next entry in the Kane & Lynch saga appears more cinema like and experimental than most other titles in the genre, and if they can only nail the gameplay mechanics, this could very well be everything the first game should have been when it sees release in the second quarter.