Disturbing Mad Masterpiece
Obvisouly you noticed all the bad reviews and all the hate for this game...
Let me say that I first fully trusted the GS review and considered the game a missed opportunity, but after all the crazy controversy I wanted to test the game my self... and I have to say it is indeed a great if not unique game that could inovate the whole way of storytelling in video games...
THE TRUTH is, this game is a MILESTONE
it mixes gameplay and storytelling so brilliant that the established media-forms are doing good in hateing and fearing it so much...
let me explain:
the story is never fully revealed, you get bits of information about things that happened in the past and reasons that characters may driven by, from cutscenes, from conversations between the characters while you are actually playing the game, from conversations that happen in loading times and MOST IMPORTANT you get flashbacks when you are shoot down, in the form of conversations from the past, Kane, the character you are playing, hears again, while he is "waiting" to get revieved by one of the teammates.
in fact there was a bit of conversation from the past from kanes wife that revealed a very dramatic moment wich could have lead to the hate of Kanes wife towards him...
so theres never a narrators point of view on everything that happens, wich makes you think about what really could have happend and if the characters are really guilty or just the victims of the circumstances...
important to notice is that you are never clear about Kanes motivations and his real relationship to other charcters, you are playing Kane during the action sequences but overall you take the role of a bystander to the plot and story... you will only be able to make up your mind about Kanes real role and the kind of his motivations at the very end of the game, not before the last line of dialoque is spoken....
so the whole game is like an interactive movie to play through, but the game does a briliiant job of playing everything out, the gengre of video-gameing has to offer to draw someone into the things that happen on the screen by mixing gameplay with actuall storytelling... in a completly new, inovative and foreward striking way...
the story and characters are compareable to a TARANTINO movie, in the form that theres no cheap moral that covers everyrthing or predictable patterns or lame and even more prdictable storytwists.... there are only REAL characters ... I mean ... even if you dont like the characters personaly you can always totally feel them and maybe you will be able to understand them and if so you will have mercy or hate them even more...
but, let me say it again, it is always believable, never cheap or superimposed ...
its disturbing mad... like reality ... this game brakes the border to storytelling only very good movies where able to provide till now...
GRAPHICS:
the gameengine is not on the latest level of the technique:
there is no HDR, no advanced shader-effects, no method to render a lot of particels and decals and therfore no impressive explosions
there are some very impressive normal-maps and very good looking refelections on floors etc.
the character design is outstanding, they are looking great, natural in behaviour and movment, they have absolutly high-res textures and all the performence is used to bring those characters on-screen to live...
there are in general a lot of polygons used to build the levels even if the environment itself can have very blurry textures and has no normal maps in gneral.... but overall you will be impressed of the games ability to render beautiful scenerys and ...
the leveldesign in generell is always absolutly believable and very realistic
GAMEPLAY:
I heard all the critics about the various gameplay mechanics and how bad or busted they are... but they are not
you can discribe the flow of the gameplay as SMOOTH
Coversystem:
this system is in place but it does not bother you, you dont need to push a button or something, its totaly automated and it dont forces you to stick to that one spot if you aim and you need to move a liitle further out of cover to hit your target ...
Squadsystem:
in every mission you get teammates up to four... you give them all individuel orders one by time, if you gave one member an order the next in the line is automaticaly selected...
you dont need to use the squadsystem, if you dont they will be always around you and will barely go down, they move into coverspots and they are good at holding a position and following you, all on there own...
defend-position command:
this command does not mean "give cover fire in that direction" it means,
"go to this spot and stay there"....
you can make good use of the system, for instance if you approach a room you could sent two men to the corners of the door, or you could send them to individuel spots in the room while you stay outside
its good for spreading your men in large rooms and to send them to spots while you flank the enemy, maybe together with one of your following teammates
fire at my target command:
this command orders the teammate to CLOSE-IN to the target...
logically it makes no sence to use this command if you see the target you want to be attacked... cause if you can point on it theres no reason why not to shoot at it your self...
so this command is usefule for situations where you are pint behind a cover by an powerful enemy or cause you are injured and cant leave cover,
than hit the "fire at my target" button and even if you dont see the enemy it will be selected and the teammate will start to fire at that enemy making it go into cover itself or starting firing in an other direction than yours...
other things:
press and hold the M-key and the camera will start to swing in the direction where you have to go... use it often, very good...
you can always put up weapons from fallen enemys, all kind of weapons
you can equip your teammates with the weapon you are holding and take there weapons... Lynch always has a shootgun at the start of every level, every teammemeber has an individual weapon... you dont need to change them, but you can play with this system by giving them all shootguns or assault-riffles or MGs... while you take the sniper rifle...
you can throw grenates... frag, smoke, teargas... they are all very useful and make the enemy react like you would expect it... just learn to hold the grenade button to build up throughing distance and aim well...
AUDIO:
the music is superb and does a great and good part in sucking you into the action, it changes and reacts to the situation, its of the finest art like in movies like matrix if you like...
the voice acting is very important so I recomment to play the game in your own language.... if you are German, switch to German Language... the speakers of Kane and Lynch are so good they are even better in carrying the personality of those characters than the english voice acters are able to do...
put the SFX-Volume to 75% and make only the Voice-volume 100% to get all the bits of conversation and talking while shooting through the levels...
Final Words:
I first thought this game is about heists, getting into some building, steeling, getting away... buts thats not the case, actually it has nothing to do with bank robbery at all... the outstanding way of storytelling and plot-layout combined with the addictive and diverse shooting action, is what sucks you into the world of this game, wich seems like it bears no hope, for no one...
its an disturbing mad masterpiece. you have to play, if you dont fear the truth