Slightly better than the original- short, uninteresting singleplayer backed by some EXCELLENT multiplayer.
The story takes off a short while after the first- Kane and Lynch having parted ways. If the first game wasn't so horrible that I refused to review it, because reviewing bad games that I spend money on is too depressing, I would have mentoined that Kane's character arch makes absolutely no sense. Fortunately, Lynch plays a much bigger role in the duo's drama. Lynch's character is a presumably schizophrenic psychopath- who found love, and a stable life as a proffesional generic henchmen. Kane is obviously desperate after a failed heist (presumably he lost that game of Fragile Alliance). The two reunite for a job that goes wrong, and fuels the insuing struggle. Kane and Lynch's story is very dark.The violence in Kane and Lynch makes the "No Russian" massacre scene look like "New Kirby's Super-dooper Funtastic Funventure with Friends ok Wiiiiiii!"
But back to the violence; this game will make you feel uncomfortable more than once, and if it doesn't, then you are sick in the head, and should probably be playing that Kirby game I mentoined to fix that twisted mind of yours. The violence tries to be more artistic than tasteless, such as the antihero's of The Darkness (Jackie Estacado) and any other Rockstar game that comes to mind. However, any literary value is heavily overshadowed by the game's extremes, which are not justified by the story. Did I really need to see a torture scene followed up by 30 minutes of seeing Kane and Lynch bloodied and naked?
The gameplay in Kane and Lynch has a number of slight improvements. The cover system actually works- and thanks to partially destructable cover, firefights can get really intense. The game encourages co-op play, however there aren't many co-op gameplay mechanics to speak of. The single player game is a basic run-and-gun third person shooter that, like all games that value production cost over actual value, is very short. I beat the game in six hours playing with a partner online. Online co-op was pretty smooth, but was not much more interesting than just going through alone due to the lack of co-op gameplay mechanics. Split-screen is also available, if you can't find a partner with good enough connection- however the splited screen supplemented with the shaky camera and blurry visuals can make it overly difficult to see what the hell is going on
The multiplayer is the best part of the game by far. Hell, I would have liked to see them make a multiplayer only game and sell it to me for 20 bucks- everything else isn't quite worth it. For those new to Fragile Alliance: a quick update... You and a team of players go on heists over multiple rounds. You go in, get the money, get out, and split the shares accordingly. The player with the most money at the end wins- of course, since you split the shares of the loot, that means greed is a component of winning. Bust a cap in another player, and that's one less share to split up- more money for you. Other players of course may do the same to you- especially if you aren't proving to be a valuable member of the team, don't expect people to want to share with you. When killed, players respawn as a cop, and play against the original team- you may still earn cash by taking down criminals, particularly the one that killed you for some revenge.
It is a FANTASTIC formula that mixes cooperative gameplay and competitive gameplay. It brings in elements like greed and trust; giving the game a uniquely human element. There are other multiplayer modes, but they feel more like they were there because people love to cry about a game that (and god forbid!) chooses to model multiplayer around its strength rather than slap in a plethora of standard multiplayer modes that are neither unique or fitting to the gameplay. Of course, if a Battlefield game does not feel complete to you because it doesn't have a capture the flag mode, or Team Fortress seems boring because there isn't a free-for-all deathmatch mode, then you won't appreciate Kane and Lynch's focused multiplayer experience. For everyone else however, the mutliplayer makes this game worth a rent as soon as it comes out, before the online community is inevitably killed by reviewers (RIP Quake Wars).
The graphics in Kane and Lynch are solid. You will either love or hate the presentation effects. They are unique, but I had a headache after just an hour of playing the single player. You are conveniently given the option to turn off the shaking camera, however, so I won't harangue the game over the camera, which is more shaky than a Jason Bourne scene, and more blurry than a youtube video recorded on a cell phone (though it is important to remember that these effects are intentional, as they are meant to add to the game's gritty feel). Sound design has improved, which is fortunate, because the original had the most broken sound design I've ever seen in a game to the point an exploding car made no sound at all. Voice acting is good, with Lynch being the highlight. The voice acting is overshadowed by the gritty story that does not do enough to justify the character arc that Kane and Lynch are supposedly on.
Kane and Lynch is definitely worth renting if you enjoy Fragile Alliance, and may be a good future bargain bin pickup. But it definitely isn't worth dropping 60 on (Though I got it for 50 on the PC as a part of a Steam deal).
Extra notes:
I bought this game on my laptop via steam, but I also rented the 360 version at blockbuster. I played through the campaign on the 360 version, and did multiplayer on the PC version. I have heard some whispers of flaws with the 360 version, but I encountered none of them during my entire playthrough, and I did not download any updates as of yet. I originally was about to score this game a 7.8, however I subtracted points for lack of split-screen for Fragile Alliance and Arcade mode, and another .3 for Duo-DLC (despicable use of downloadable content)