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Name: Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

Adam 'Kane' Marcus and James Seth 'Lynch'; two of the most violent and bloodthirsty characters ever to come out of the video game world. Dog Days; the hottest and stagnant days of the year, a term first coined by the Greeks when noticing the Dog Star, Sirius, was closest to the sun. What happens when you cross these two explosive characters and the hottest days? Well, it isn't good that's for sure, there's going to be blood, there's going to be carnage and none of it is going to be pretty.

Cue the second outing for Kane & Lynch. The two parted ways at the end of the first game with Lynch settling down for a new life in Shanghai with the new love of his life, Xiu. Although he has a new life it isn't too different as he finds himself still working for an organised crime cartel led by an English chap known as Glazer. One day Glazer comes to Lynch with a new assignment, smuggling some guns out of Africa for him, with the payday being a big one Lynch accepts and gets his old pal Kane on the phone for some help on what he views as their retirement plan. This introduction to the game, bar a few cut scenes which seem to be glimpses into the way the story is going to go, doesn't elaborate much, if any, on the duo's previous exploits, you might even end up confused as to what is happening but don't let that put you off.

As soon as the game starts you notice something different, it's the camera, its been done as though someone is following your character with a handheld camera and documenting the whole thing; if you've ever seen the Blair Witch Project or its ilk then you know what to expect. Like many action games it takes the form of a third person shooter and also employs a cover system, the controls are simple; one button runs, one button aims your weapon, another to fire and other actions such as kicking down doors and collecting ammunition are prompted on screen.

The adventure starts with Kane arriving in Shanghai, Lynch meets up with him and after exchanging a few pleasantries, or rather after telling each other where to get off, Lynch mentions that he's just got to pull a quick errand for someone before they can go on. Kane begrudgingly tags along and soon enough, after a brief introduction to the controls, the doors are being kicked in and chases ensue. This chase involves a hurried run through an apartment block and then through a market, this is where the camera work really kicks in to full tilt as it adjusts itself to match the pace, the amateur camera action comes in and out of focus and sometimes even struggles to keep up as you watch the action ensue on screen with a myriad of film like effects such as noise and lens flare.

The initial chase has you chasing a semi naked man and completely naked girl, complete with pixelated body bits, likewise, anything that might be deemed to bloody for post watershed TV receives the pixilation treatment if you shoot someone close up in the head then instead of dealing with the mess it is instead hidden behind a mask of pixels. Unfortunately this is something that you can't turn off, it's a nice and novel feature but some might want the option of playing with the blood and the guts intact or indeed the nudity which doesn't seem to be an option. It's an odd decision given that the whole point of the camcorder effect seems to add a touch of realism to the proceedings.

It's also around now that you're going to decide if you want to work with the camera or wish for a more traditional view on things, should you decide you want to have the normal camera then you can simply select that option from the in-game menu, a blessing for those that become easily disorientated and even nauseous from the fast motion. Keeping the handy camera work on does become a little frustrating in parts, especially when it comes to combat. You'll often find yourself up against the police who bring dogs along to the party. if your unlucky enough to find yourself in a corner when one attacks then getting back up alive is proves tricky because by the time you've orientated back on the dog to either shoot it or make your escape it's likely to have you back on the floor, eventually killing you.

The camera isn't the only problem you're likely to face with the combat either, the cover system is somewhat flawed as well. Unlike the first game where you naturally stuck to cover when you came near it, this time you have to press a button, which works well enough most of the time, however, sometimes it can stick you somewhere you didn't intend to go. Not only that, but when you're accompanied by additional AI characters they can get in the way, blocking your attempts to reach cover you thought would provide the best advantage, only the AI thought it first.

When the story returns to just Kane and Lynch it definitely takes a turn for the better. No longer saddled with redundant AI characters following you the action becomes much more enjoyable as you no longer have to fight for the best position. Both characters bring back the sense of reluctant camaraderie between the two, they talk, but just barely, and seemingly more out of necessity than anything else, leading to some heated exchanges as the bullets fly and Kane blames Lynch for dragging him into the middle of what essentially becomes a big gang war. The story can be played through alone or with a friend, the split screen mode returns from the first game and works in the same manner as it did before. More importantly however is that there is now the option to play with a friend online, something that was missing from the first outing.