- "Crime Pays
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is a raw and brutal crime shooter that redefines the way you experience action shooters." - — Official Description
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is a 2010 third-person shooter video game developed by IO Interactive, published by Square Enix's European subsidiary for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is the sequel to Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. The game follows criminals Adam "Kane" Marcus and James Seth Lynch, who reunite in the city of Shanghai, China for an arms deal, having agreed to split the money for their retirement. However, when things go wrong, the two quickly find themselves fighting to survive and escape when they become targets of the entire Shanghai underworld.
Announced in November 2009, the game is described as having a new visual style inspired by documentary films and user-generated content. According to the press release, "every aspect of the game has been designed to deliver a fresh perspective to the words 'intensity' and 'realism'." A pair of teaser videos accompanying the announcement present game footage in a distorted surveillance camera perspective. Dog Days will be presented from Lynch's point of view, rather than Kane's like in the first game.
Play as two of gaming's most disturbing and realistic criminals; Lynch – a self medicated psychopath - and Kane - a disillusioned and desperate ex-mercenary, in a gritty,awesome and brutal crime shooter from IO Interactive. Kane and Lynch face the consequences of their actions when a simple job gone wrong finds them on a desperate and frantic struggle to escape. Experience their fight to survive through the back streets and rooftops of Shanghai’s gritty underworld. They can trust no one, not even each other as the cracks begin to appear in Lynch’s sanity and Kane’s stability.
Non-stop action in Single Player, online & offline Co-op and Multiplayer. New and unique Fragile Alliance multiplayer game modes provide an experience to suit all criminal minds.
Gameplay[]
- "Play as two of gaming’s most disturbing and realistic criminals: Lynch – an impulsive & reckless self-medicated psychopath, and Kane – a tactical and calculating ex-mercenary.
Experience their desperate and frantic fight to escape through the back streets and rooftops of Shanghai’s gritty underworld. They can trust no one, not even each other, as the cracks begin to appear in Lynch’s sanity and Kane’s stability. It’s kill or be killed.
Intense action in Single Player, online and offline Co-op and Fragile Alliance Multiplayer modes – Dog Days offers something for everyone." - — Official Description
Players in the campaign mode of Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days take control of Lynch who is backed up by Kane (except in the last mission, where the player takes control of Kane). The online enabled cooperative mode allows one player to take control of Kane. Players can carry two of any weapon they can grab from dead enemies, but unlike the previous game cannot swap weapons between allies. Players can take cover through a button press. While still having regenerating health, players can also get knocked down, though are able to immediately get back up. During single player missions, allies are invulnerable and cannot be given commands, making it unnecessary to look out for them. Unlike Dead Men, the PC version does not support split-screen co-op.
Multiplayer[]
Fragile Alliance returns along with two new variant modes (Undercover Cop and Cops & Robbers). The returning mode still has a group of players attempting to grab as much money as possible while escaping police forces and possible traitors. Undercover Cop follows the same fashion while a randomly chosen player must prevent the team from escaping. Cops & Robbers has a group of player controlled police officers going against the criminals still planned to grab money and escape.
The end of each match will allow players to buy new weapons from their heist money.
There is also a single player variant called Arcade Mode where players must accumulate as much money as possible for high scores while surviving increasingly difficult rounds.
Synopsis[]
Setting and characters[]
Dog Days takes place four years after the end of the first game, where the pair have parted ways. Lynch has started a new life in Shanghai with a girlfriend named Xiu, working for a crime organization led by English-born expat Glazer. When Glazer tells Lynch about a plan to smuggle guns to Africa, Lynch contacts Kane for aid in return for a split in the deal. The money would not only help them retire but also benefit Kane's estranged daughter Jenny (who survived the events in Dead Men).
Plot[]
The 2010 game switches the lead in the series, putting players in control of "self-medicated psychopath" Lynch. The story begins with Lynch having found peace in Shanghai as a low-level thug and attempting to "make a fat deal where the pay is beyond his wildest dreams and nothing is going to get in his way."
Following Kane's arrival at Shanghai, both Kane and Lynch soon deal with an informant against Glazer named Brady, though it is never explicitly said that Brady is an informant. Kane tells Lynch to take him to his hotel after they are done playing "gangster." Lynch informs Kane that they are in "mob turf" and to "be careful" before the duo stack up on the door to Brady's apartment. Lynch kicks down the door only to be met by a hail of bullets fired by a panicked Brady who drags along his naked girlfriend in a getaway attempt. The duo chase them down through gang territory all while fighting off Brady's backup. Kane and Lynch eventually corner both Brady and his girlfriend. A desperate Brady pops out of cover using his girlfriend as a human shield, firing his handgun at the duo prompting Kane to fire back, killing Brady's girlfriend with a bullet through her bare naked chest. Brady drops the corpse, looking down on it in shock. Lynch tells Brady to give it up with a smug voice. Brady proceeds to pull out a knife, holding it in a menacing manner towards Kane and Lynch before suddenly bringing it up to his own throat, slashing open his jugular vein. Kane looks on in disbelief before Lynch says that he needs to find something to tell his boss, Glazer.
The next day has Kane and Lynch running through the details of the deal with Glazer in his car. It is an arms deals in which Kane and Lynch are supposed to ensure the arrival of a ship carrying weapons to Africa. This deal is the reason behind Kane's arrival, it is what Kane says to be his last job. As the three are talking the vehicle is attacked and stopped by a posse of armed gangsters. Glazer orders the duo to get out and defend the car while the driver tries to navigate out of there. Kane and Lynch kill gangster after gangster only for Glazer's car to be rammed by an oncoming truck. Lynch pulls out Glazer from the wreckage while Kane and the driver provide cover fire. They are then ambushed by even more gang members. The chaos leads to the police getting in the mix, blocking off the streets with police vehicles. Kane and Lynch are forced to then also kill police officers responding to the scene. After an intense gunfight Kane, Lynch, the driver and Glazer retreat into an underground car park where Glazer calls for a ride out of there. As they navigate through the car park they are ambushed by more police, they are all killed as well. Eventually the quartet make it out of there and into the street where more cops are waiting. The getaway van arrives and they barely make it out of there alive. Glazer suspects they were attacked by known and feared crime lord Mr. Hsing, he continues on by saying he hopes Hsing doesn't have a problem with him as he doesn't need this right now.
Glazer sends Kane and Lynch to Hsing's headquarters along with some heavily armed backup. The group splits up, Kane and Lynch going with Tommy, another one of Glazer's men. As they try to stealthily sneak through Hsing's sweatshop Tommy opens a door, getting shot in the head. Kane and Lynch are then forced to fight through the building on their own, being met with many surprise attacks by Hsing's men. The larger group eventually links up with the duo, the leader asking what happened to Tommy, Lynch says he didn't make it. The crew slaughters their way through the building, arriving at a large courtyard where they are ambushed by an insanely large force of Hsing's men. They make it through alive and arrive at Hsing's office where Lynch begins to interrogate the crime lord, dragging him outside to be questioned by the larger group as well. Hsing makes the revelation that the woman Kane shot beforehand(Brady's girlfriend) was in fact the daughter of Shangsi, corrupt government official with the entire police force and his own private army under his orders. Lynch seems to not want to accept the reality, saying that "no, it couldn't be." Hsing continues on, saying the attack from the day before was not on Glazer but that it was actually on Kane and Lynch. The group who had fought alongside Kane and Lynch turns on them after learning of this, one of them saying "this is all because of you." The duo run for their lives, taking cover in Hsing's office before navigating upstairs, all while under fire. Kane and Lynch destroy the truck they originally came in with Glazer's men packed inside of it, preventing them from telling Glazer all of this. The police arrive as well, adding more fuel to the already hot enough fire. Kane and Lynch fight their way out of Hsing's domain and through the alleys surrounding it to make an escape, the police in search of them. Kane asks Lynch if this fiasco will affect the deal, to which Lynch replies that it won't if Glazer doesn't find out. Kane doesn't seem to know how much trouble they're really in, but you can tell Lynch does due to his mannerisms. Lynch tries to calm himself down by repeating to himself "he can't find us." It seems he's in denial.
Lynch attempts to call his girlfriend Xiu, but to no avail. He leaves a message saying that he messed up badly and that she needs to meet him at a local restaurant, the Shuang Xi, that they need to leave the country and disappear
Kane and Lynch conclude that they need to lay low, so they head for the restaurant to wait for Xiu. She never shows up, instead they are ambushed by a Chinese S.W.A.T. unit. Both men roll over the counter they were eating at, taking cover behind it, Kane angrily asking how they found them. Lynch says they were probably followed to which Kane replies by calling Lynch an amateur. The men fight their way through the restaurant, picking up whatever weapons they can find along the way. They go into the backroom where they find the restaurant's employees gagged and tied up. Kane asks what kind of police these guys are, it can be assumed the police were under the orders of Shangsi. The duo escape the restaurant, navigating through some back alleys only to be met by more police search parties which they promptly kill. Eventually they come out into a street with people all around, heavily and obviously armed. A police vehicle driving by spots them and another gunfight ensues with civilians all around. The duo battle their way through the streets, blowing up a shop and causing ridiculous amounts of property and collateral damage. Lynch says they need to go to Xiu's apartment and get her out of there before something happens to her. Kane agrees and they begin making their way to her apartment complex which isn't very far from the Shuang-Xi restaurant. They can't afford to take the streets so they take a route through the site of a few demolished buildings where they are spotted by a police helicopter. The S.W.A.T. teams then ambush them up ahead once more. Kane and Lynch manage to fight through the police onslaught, arriving at Xiu's apartment complex.
Kane and Lynch take the building's underground car park to get inside only to find that Hsing's men are already there, heavily armed and dangerous. The duo ambush a large group of them, successfully wiping them out using the element of surprise. They then push on up through the floors to reach the Xiu's apartment, meeting heavy opposition along the way. When they do get there the apartment is empty, Xiu nowhere to be found. Lynch begins to get desperate, rage filling him. Suddenly the wall of Xiu's apartment blows open, armed men in white hazmat suits with frightening cabaret masks begin to pour out of the hole. They are also killed by Kane and Lynch. Kane goes out onto the balcony overlooking the complex courtyard down below where he spots Xiu directly across on the other side. Lynch is happy to find her but his happiness turns into terror when Hsing's men begin trying to catch Xiu. Kane and Lynch defend her from the pursuers, keeping them off of her to the best of their ability. Lynch shouts out for Xiu to run away as fast as she can. She then runs out onto roof, Kane and Lynch close behind but still unable to reach her due to the constant waves of Hsing's men. Kane remarks on the skill of the men wearing the hazmat suits, saying they "fought like soldiers." This can be taken as implying that those are actually Shangsi's men working alongside Hsing's men. Kane and Lynch come out on top when suddenly Hsing appears holding Xiu as a human shield with a gun to her head. Lynch pleads with Hsing to let her go, saying she has nothing to do with this. More of Hsing and Shangsi's men come out, aiming their guns at the duo. Kane tells Lynch that he has a clear headshot on Hsing, telling Lynch to trust him and that Hsing won't do anything under these conditions. Lynch apologizes to Kane before giving him a sharp elbow to the head, trying to prevent anything that might hurt Xiu. It isn't known what happens after this but it can be assumed Lynch is knocked out and captured.
Later on in the following day, Xiu is brutally gang-raped and tortured by Hsing and his men, though we can't be sure if this was done in front of Lynch or not. Kane and Lynch were personally tortured by Hsing using the method of a thousand cuts with a box cutter. Believed to be near death, Lynch is thrown into a dumpster until he wakes up and kills Hsing with a chokehold. Although Lynch saves Kane, he was too late to save Xiu. Naked, both Kane and Lynch escape into the city trying to find clothes while being chased by police. Believing that the deal is still intact, Kane and Lynch arrive at the site where it's occurring. However, Glazer was aware of the death of Shangsi's daughter and has his men try to kill Kane and Lynch. Glazer is eventually cornered revealing that he has a plane that Kane and Lynch can use to leave Shanghai but is then shot by a military sniper. After fighting through military and police forces, Kane and Lynch were captured.
In a helicopter, Kane and Lynch immediately takes control and forces the pilot to land at Shangsi's building. Through multiple firefights in the building, Kane and Lynch corner Shangsi. Impressed by their skills, Shangsi gives them an unspecified offer that would pardon Kane and Lynch of their crimes. Taking no chances of betrayal and as revenge for being involved in Xiu's death, Lynch shoots Shangsi.
Kane and Lynch arrive at Wuyin International Airport searching for Glazer's private jet. When arriving at the warehouse containing the plane, right before embarking, they encounter ravenous dogs, a metaphor for the dog days our protagonists have lived through. The wharehouse is shown partially dismantled. With no other choice, Kane and Lynch escape Shanghai through a commercial airliner heading for Ecuador.
Downloadable Content[]
Audio[]
- Main article: Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days Official Game Soundtrack
The Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days original soundtrack was composed by German composer Mona Mur and originally released 8 February 2011 by Punchdrive, the album was then cancelled due to rights problems. It was re-released 9 March 2011 on a new label, Mad Villa. Mur was hired to create complex ambient soundscape layers generated from real city noises, vintage synthesizers, guitar amplifiers and unusual software. EMI Music Publishing Scandinavia, Dynamedion created 23 authentic-sounding Asian tracks for the game and recorded vocal talent singing in Mandarin backed up by a number of musicians performing Chinese instruments including percussion, shakuhachi, fue, violin, and pipa.
Trailer[]
- Main article: Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days Videos