Graphics: Overall, Kane & Lynch has a decent look, but there’s a lot of room for improvement. The facial expressions during some of the main scenes were good, but during the actual game itself, everything just looked average. The clothes looked more like an outer layer of skin, the way they clung motionless to the bodies, and Lynch’s hair was pretty stiff throughout the game. When you get shot, bleeding bullet holes appear on your body. If you get shot in the back while wearing a huge backpack, the bullet holes appear to be bleeding out of your backpack, and it just doesn’t look right. The level designs are pretty cool, and are definitely the most detailed part of the game.

Interface: The game menus are easy to navigate and everything is fairly easy to figure out in both the campaign and Fragile Alliance. While playing, checking weapons is done on a little radar-like pop up. There’s also a small target window that pops up when you’re about to be sniped, which gives you a chance to duck for cover.

Gameplay: Playing through the game by yourself is challenging, but not really fun. There’s always something to kill, but the aiming feels sluggish and the guns move too much when you fire. The grenade throwing takes time to get used to, but once you get the hang of it, you can make either short tosses or long throws to blow up whatever is in your way. Playing with a second player makes the game incredibly easy, and you can finish it in about four hours.

Multiplayer: At first, Fragile Alliance feels new and exciting. You do a few runs as a team player, and then you mix it up a bit and murder everyone. You try to get through the maps as fast as you can, and then you take your time and try to collect the most money. After a while, everything feels like the same thing and it just gets boring. Fragile Alliance is fun for a little while, but it doesn’t feel like something you’ll go back and play over and over again.

Sound FX: The sound effects are very well done. The gunshots and gratuitous female screaming are especially notable.

Music: The score for Kane & Lynch really helps drive the game. I always found myself noticing the music as I played through it, which is something I usually don’t do. It always fit the situation and enhanced the action.

Intelligence: Your squad is filled with people who seem to want an unhealthy increase of lead in their diet. Their accuracy ranges widely, and relying on them to take something out for you often takes forever and results in their death and your mission failure. The enemy AI isn’t much better, but there are a few spots where it shines. The enemy snipers are pretty good at following you around and waiting for you to move, for example. I got picked off several times in one of the Tokyo levels by a sniper hiding on an overpass.

Difficulty: Playing through the single player campaign is difficult, but that’s only because of the AI of the teammates with which you have to work. Having to babysit them and kill everything else took a little while to get used to. Once you add a second player, the game difficulty becomes almost laughable. All of the things that make the single player campaign difficult become extremely easy to do with a second person.

Overall: Despite its flaws, playing through Kane & Lynch was fun most of the time. The characters in the game are great, the voice acting is solid and the story is, for the most part, pretty good. The dialogue is just plain awful in places, though, and both endings leave you feeling unsatisfied. The AI, on both sides, makes some levels a pain in the ass and turns something that should be fun into a chore. If you’re going to play Kane & Lynch, play it with a second player. I had a lot more fun beating the game with my brother than I did by myself.