Anyone try the Kane and Lynch Demo on Live

[Soulchilde]

Saw it on Live this morning before I went to work.  Anyone grab it? 

[Doopri]

yup i did soul.  completely meh.  not that pretty, and pretty straightforward stuff.  stranglehold was much better.  if youre a die hard 3rd person action fan then im sure youll like it or at the very least not hate it.  but from the demo if youre anything like me you also wont think twice about it after youre done

imagine the last gen graphics of say, one of the early grand theft autos.  and the lousy aiming.  and slow controls.  now take away all the free form play, all the varied missions, the ability to steal any car, and all the other things that made gta fun.  oh, and the ability to pick up most guns. take that away too.  yea...

[Pyperkub]

I can't reply to this thread - Eidos might pull my funding...

[Farscry]

Kane & Lynch can both bite me.

[leo8877]

There's a demo?

[Louis Cypher]

Theres a game called Kane and Lynch?

[CeeKay]

I'll be grabbing it later.

[TheMissingLink]

I played it then I deleted it.

Man, I remember the screenshots of this one when it was first announced...what happened, good lord.  This game looks like last-gen and plays like poop.

[USMC Kato]

I rented the retail game, one hour later it was returned 

[Simon]

There's a demo?

Wasn't that the disc they're selling in the stores?

[CeeKay]

There's a demo?

Wasn't that the disc they're selling in the stores?

I heard that was actual a box of poo.

[metallicorphan]

i downloaded the demo last week from PSN ...the demo was not bad actually(or at least it was a lot better than i thought it was going to be),i quite liked it,only i really didnt like the PS3 controller(i have gone right of that thing now)...the trigger buttons are way to steeply angled.....so i was wishing for an xbox live demo so i could try out the good old 360 controller on the demo,and get more into it.......so i will be downloading the XBOX LIVE demo tonight

[EngineNo9]

I just tried out this demo tonight and I have to say that I actually enjoyed it.  It may not be the prettiest or best game ever, but based on that demo I would definitely buy it for $30, if only for the chance to finish that escape shootout where the demo ended.  It was reminding me of Heat, and that is a very good thing. 

I like the auto-cover mechanic and think that unlike some games it actually worked quite well.  The destrucibility was also kind of fun; not as crazy as Stranglehold but lots of chunks falling off pillars and such. 

I didn't like the dialog and I think that and the "story" would be the only big downsides for me.  I don't need to hear "fuck" every fourth word to realize I'm playing a mature game. 

[mikeg]

I liked it okay.  I agree the graphics are last gen, but boy oh boy, I have been burned on pretty graphics this gen only to find that they are merely there to hide a crap game in many cases.  Give me meh graphics and fun any day.

I also found the use of the work f*ck over-the-top ridiculous.  Gimme a break. 

Tone the language some and I would have given in the $20's someday for it.  Now, won't even bother to rent it.

[naednek]

I played the demo, and I actually liked the game mechanics, as others have said the swearing is over the top and unnecessary and that's keeping me from buying it., that and I'm broke

[biggercup]

Played the PC version at my friend's house for about 20min.
It looked and played better than I expected.

[EngineNo9]

Well, after seeing the game on sale this week and Knightshade playing it on Live (mostly likely for review, but I can pretend it was for fun) I went out and picked it up with a BB gift card I had.

So far I have to say that I like it quite a bit.  The gameplay mechanics are the same as the demo, although there are some things I didn't realize I could do before.  For example, if you get next to a teammate and pull up your inventory (click right stick) it will also bring up theirs so you can give/take/swap weapons with them.  You can also do silent hand-to-hand take-downs by walking up to a guy and hitting 'A', which is useful when trying to not alert other enemies.  Your AI teammates are actually not total retards for once, but you can give them quick orders if you'd like to have them defend, follow or attack your target.  If you stick close to them they can revive you with an adrenaline shot if you go down, and you can do the same for them (although they rarely get killed). 

The graphics are not "next gen" by any means, but they are serviceable and pretty good considering all the bullet holes and destructibility in the levels.  It's a more understated "soft" style than something like Stranglehold, but I don't think it looks any worse as a whole and the levels are less cluttered.  The effects while in tear gas and such are kind of cool.  Also, the nightclub level is quite cool in a disorienting, claustrophobic way.  With the crazy lights and all those people in there you get paranoid that one of the guards got behind you (and they probably did if you weren't careful).

The story has turned out to be a little better than I was expecting, other than some mediocre dialog and stuff (especially involving Lynch's blackouts).  There is still an abundance of swearing, but only really in those scenes so not while acutally playing the game for the most part. 

The only big downside so far is that there seem to be points where things just get a bit difficult for me and I die about 10 times and have to restart the 'scene' (there are frequent save checkpoints).  That can usually be overcome by switching up your tactics a little, but it can be frustrating.  Unlike COD4, if you want to take your time and kill the enemies one at a time instead of rushing at them, it is a valid way to play and the cover mechanic supports that. 

I'm guessing KD will be writing a review for the site soon enough, but if you enjoyed the demo you should give the game a rent because I think it's better than the hype/hate made it seem.  A bit of a spiritual successor to the gameplay of Freedom Fighters mixed with a heist movie like Heat.  These are good things.

[Kevin Grey]

Thanks for the impressions EngineNo9.  I've heard enough about the game to think I might enjoy it with suitably lowered expectations.  I plan to grab it once it hits the bargain bin. 

[greeneggsnham]

I'm waiting on the DLC where you go on a mission to get Jeff Gerstmann fired from Gamespot. Till it's available, I think I'll pass. 

[EngineNo9]

I'm waiting on the DLC where you go on a mission to get Jeff Gerstmann fired from Gamespot. Till it's available, I think I'll pass. 

You wouldn't just get him fired, you'd get him "F*$#ing fired in his stupid f@$%ing face, Lynch!  What the hell's wrong with you?". 

[mikeg]

Thanks for the impressions EngineNo9.  I've heard enough about the game to think I might enjoy it with suitably lowered expectations.  I plan to grab it once it hits the bargain bin. 

My sentiments exactly.

[Calvin]

Thanks for the impressions EngineNo9.  I've heard enough about the game to think I might enjoy it with suitably lowered expectations.  I plan to grab it once it hits the bargain bin. 

My sentiments exactly.

On principle alone I will never try it. Eh, I'm sure I will survive.

[Bullwinkle]

I'd been saying all along that I thought this game was suffering more from timing than anything else (aren't I brilliant?  Where are my kudos?).  It was just a time when too many brilliant games were coming out.  An average shooter wasn't going to cut it.

I bought the game myself, played the first level, then never went back to it because of the plethora of great games calling to me.  I wish I'd waited.  I know I'll be looking for something new in Feb or Mar when this'll come down in price.  Oh, well.  It won't be new, but I'll give it a shot around then.

[CeeKay]

Thanks for the impressions EngineNo9.  I've heard enough about the game to think I might enjoy it with suitably lowered expectations.  I plan to grab it once it hits the bargain bin. 

My sentiments exactly.

I expect the PC version to be there soon.

[leo8877]

I tried it.  The controls were really clunky.  Destructible environments were neat.  That's about it.

[EngineNo9]

I tried it.  The controls were really clunky.  Destructible environments were neat.  That's about it.

I'm curious, what aspect of the controls did you find clunky?  The only thing I don't like about it is clicking the left stick to run/slow-walk, but you do that rarely enough that I don't mind too much.  It seemed like a very adequate and responsive control scheme for a 3rd person shooter. 

[leo8877]

I tried it.  The controls were really clunky.  Destructible environments were neat.  That's about it.

I'm curious, what aspect of the controls did you find clunky?  The only thing I don't like about it is clicking the left stick to run/slow-walk, but you do that rarely enough that I don't mind too much.  It seemed like a very adequate and responsive control scheme for a 3rd person shooter. 

I didn't try to mess with them at all, but I found the aiming/looking to be really slow and unresponsive and the camera seemed to always be chugging on something. 

[Caine]

played it and while it screams meh! in the loudest voice possible for a flatlined OD'ed crackhead, it wasn't half as bad as i thought it would be.  the swearing is so prevalent, they must have run out of script writers and just used the first 14 y/o live player who kicked their butt in halo 3. 

this seems to be a decendent of freedom fighters in that your aim is more of an approximation than an actual aiming.  kind of like tomb raider legends.  i hate it when a game makes you inaccurate for no reason. 

not sure when i'll rent this as the more time goes on, the more games worth playing come out.  oddly enough, it's always in low availability on gamefly.  probably due to their low quantity due to expectations.

[WalkingFumble]

borrowed it from a friend.  its not that bad.  you can go into the options and increase the control speed.  cant really try it online with live acting the way it is.  defiantly wouldn't buy it.  can beat it in 3-4 hours on easy or 4-5 on medium.  wouldn't try hard without a friend for split screen co-op.  no co-op over live.

[CeeKay]

I tried the demo and liked it.  of course it was the PC version, so now I need to see if the 360 version is better.