I always found this game fascinating. I really liked what they did but I could never articulate what It was that made it interesting to me beyond surface level aspects. I read an interview and watched a GDC talk with the art director of K&L2 and it provided a lot of insight into what makes this game click for me.
Kane & Lynch 2 doesn't look pretty, no character is likeable, the music sounds like it's falling apart and dying, and it ends before you know it. From what I can gather is most of what's on offer is deliberate. The game is built to just be an experiment; It's anti-fun and anti-game. The whole thing is bleak, depressing, and brutal. Everyone wants you dead.
Most game's would have a puzzle or some sort of mini game that breaks up the constant combat. But K&L2's downtime is showing the underbelly of Shanghai and some vacant or depressing environments with some Silent Hill-esc music right before you are thrown into more combat. The weapons feel inaccurate but because you can get ammo consistently, not landing all your shots accurately feels like an intentional decision to make it frantic and overwhelming.
The gameplay is reminiscent of similar games within the genre, but everything around K&L2 is anything but the norm for third person, cover based shooters. The combat is tiring, relentless, and you're always outnumbered.
The visual style of K&L2 turned out great. I love the commitment and accuracy to make the game look like it was shot on a cheap camcorder. The game has poor sound quality, visual glitches/artifacts, poor shot composition, blown out lighting, muted colors, and sudden cuts with no consistency. The game is both beautiful and ugly at the same time. It's kind of an achievement to make your game look and sound so appalling on purpose.
What's great to me is how much of the pre-production research and design goals made it into the final game. It's not common for a title to come out from a big publisher that's experimenting but also made to be unpleasant when you play or look at. When the team is aware that some people won't like it, but do it anyway because they feel it's interesting and different is something I find commendable.
Kane & Lynch 2 doesn't look pretty, no character is likeable, the music sounds like it's falling apart and dying, and it ends before you know it. From what I can gather is most of what's on offer is deliberate. The game is built to just be an experiment; It's anti-fun and anti-game. The whole thing is bleak, depressing, and brutal. Everyone wants you dead.
Most game's would have a puzzle or some sort of mini game that breaks up the constant combat. But K&L2's downtime is showing the underbelly of Shanghai and some vacant or depressing environments with some Silent Hill-esc music right before you are thrown into more combat. The weapons feel inaccurate but because you can get ammo consistently, not landing all your shots accurately feels like an intentional decision to make it frantic and overwhelming.
The gameplay is reminiscent of similar games within the genre, but everything around K&L2 is anything but the norm for third person, cover based shooters. The combat is tiring, relentless, and you're always outnumbered.
The visual style of K&L2 turned out great. I love the commitment and accuracy to make the game look like it was shot on a cheap camcorder. The game has poor sound quality, visual glitches/artifacts, poor shot composition, blown out lighting, muted colors, and sudden cuts with no consistency. The game is both beautiful and ugly at the same time. It's kind of an achievement to make your game look and sound so appalling on purpose.
What's great to me is how much of the pre-production research and design goals made it into the final game. It's not common for a title to come out from a big publisher that's experimenting but also made to be unpleasant when you play or look at. When the team is aware that some people won't like it, but do it anyway because they feel it's interesting and different is something I find commendable.