Well what can I say about my new friends Mr Kane and Mr Lynch? Well, It’s certainly fair to say that neither of these two characters are the kind of people that you would like to spend an evening dinner party with followed by a game of charades. However, I’m more than happy to cause chaos and mayhem with both of these misfits – never mind your heavily armoured, wisecracking Army of Two types. In Kane and Lynch 2, this is the real deal.

Having got hold of a preview version of K&L2 what first hit me was how vastly the level of polish has improved since the first game. Square Enix have kindly furnished me with a demo of both the Single and Multiplayer modes and I’ve been able to get quite a taste for what the finished article will be like when finally released next month.

Lets begin with the single player experience first. The environments that these guys find themselves in look amazing and are expertly rendered. Take the opening sequence for example, which is set in a small Chinese Restaurant; few games I have played recently are so richly detailed. As usual, there is very little backstory to explain why the player is here, but it becomes very quickly apparant that something has gone badly wrong.

After spending a while on the run, it seems that the Police have finally tracked down our pair of anti-heroes and the only option will be for them to shoot their way out. This demonstrates the much improved cover and aiming system. As with the first game, players view the action from the 3rd person and the cover system will remind you a little of Gears or War 2 with a single button bind.
At the start of the first level, players start off with a trusty shotgun.

The environment is partly destructible so even if those pesky police are in cover behind a flimsy wooden wall; well more fool them! A couple of well aimed shotgun blasts and they are history. I really enjoyed the feel and sound of the weapons throughout and in most cases, I felt like I was dealing with a really meaty arsenal. The grainy, handheld style in which the game is depicted has also been a major talking point during development and certainly helps lift the cinematic appeal throughout.

There is no background music in the game to spoil the mood either. K&L2 is purely about getting the job done and getting to where you need to be. Once out of the restaurant, the duo head out into the back streets of Beijing. Again the area has all the spit and polish that I was hoping for and it really does look like Square Enix has listened to the fans and critics of the first game and actually done something to resolve them. An approach that I wish a few other developers would take note of!!

The AI seems ok but as this is only a preview it is a little hard to be too damning. Enemies will come straight at you or occasionally try to flank you. There is no going out all guns blazing on this game. Even on the easy settings you will be punished for standing out in the open thinking that you can do a Sly Stallone impression. Cover is your friend in K&L2 and this has been expertly laid out for you thoughout the game so I would suggest that you use it.

Despite being able to get a good feel for the single player game, there is no way to see if issues such as the annoyingly hard to reach checkpoints raised in the first game have been addressed here. All I can say so far is that I am very impressed. Enough for me to swing from “I will not touch that with a barge pole” to “hello Mr games retailer can I pre order this game”. But I suppose that could be why we have been given such a comprehensive and early promo for a change – because Square Enix needed to show people that this new K&L title is no longer a £3.99 bottom of the barrel title.

A massive amount of effort has been put into the multiplayer section of the game with some quite ingenious game modes, of which the main one being Fragile Alliance. Here, 6 players aim to steal 4 million in 4 minutes and make it to the checkpoint. However even though you are working as a team; in keeping with the theme of the game you have the option to double cross your other team mates.

Players can grab hold of one another and use them as a human shield when things get a little sticky, or simply shoot them to claim all the loot for yourself. But beware of either of these options, as once you have dispatched one of your team mates, they can respawn as members of the police to reap their revenge and line their own pockets with the money that you have stolen. So you had better make sure that you have your escape route planned out before you start to get trigger happy.

I am very much looking forward to this getting released .The final game is earmarked for 20/08/10.

Stu