The Force Unlynched

[Roderick]

Okay, two unconnected things here.

First, I watched the trailer to the upcoming Force Unleashed DLC, which features a boringly masked Sith warrior. The question is: why couldn't they find a better Emperor voice over? He sounds so awful, so over the top. I mean, I know he's supposed to sound saucy, but Ian McDiarmid did a swell job. This nameless VO doesn't. I cringe!

Second! I'm finally finishing up Kane & Lynch, which I was really enthusiastic about before it came out, and then I bought it and discovered it was meh, but still liked it because of the characters. But now that I'm delving into the game for real, it's REALLY SHIT. The aiming and gunning is super fuzzy and uncontrollable and mission objectives are vague. This is really a half-baked game. How could they fuck this up so badly? The concept is great, but halfway through they go bonkers. Does the game really need a war-torn Havana setpiece where you're suddenly a guerrilla commando? Please keep to stylishly robbing bank and busting prisons, thank you much. I maintain that there's great promise in the concept, it just needs proper execution. Wasn't there a sequel coming?

I don't expect people to comment on this, so you're all excused!

[Chris]

Second! I'm finally finishing up Kane & Lynch, which I was really enthusiastic about before it came out, and then I bought it and discovered it was meh, but still liked it because of the characters. But now that I'm delving into the game for real, it's REALLY SHIT. The aiming and gunning is super fuzzy and uncontrollable and mission objectives are vague. This is really a half-baked game. How could they fuck this up so badly? The concept is great, but halfway through they go bonkers. Does the game really need a war-torn Havana setpiece where you're suddenly a guerrilla commando? Please keep to stylishly robbing bank and busting prisons, thank you much. I maintain that there's great promise in the concept, it just needs proper execution. Wasn't there a sequel coming?

Which version are you playing? When I was still at Shacknews, I ran an editorial by Steve "Hot Scoops" Gaynor defending Kane & Lynch, but he mentioned to me in particular that he played both the Xbox 360 and PC versions, and found the control in the Xbox 360 one to be really poor in comparison.

[Roderick]

I played the 360 version.

Damn, I really wanted to like this game. From the moment I heard of it I liked the characters and the setting, and the demo was pretty good too. But the way they visibly rushed every aspect of the game is depressing. I just finished it and it was terrible. The only way you can get through a level is dying enough times to know exactly which enemies to shoot first, which is especially infuriating in the later (and last) levels, where there's an added bonus of vulnerable squads (and a special guest) who keep dying and dying and getting you game over'd. The sloppy, emotionally deadweight ending confirms that there was a lot of ambition, but a serious lack of time. As it is now, the characters, the only real reason to play this game, are sorely underdeveloped, suffer from bad writing and never surpass their 'cursing bad guys' stigma.

I'm really disappointed with this game, because it tangibly could have been so much more. I hope the sequel gets the love it deserves.

[Roderick]

I've read the article Hot Scoops Gaynor posted on Shack, and feel the need to give a completely outdated, unnecessary comment on it.

I can't really argue with him over the control issues: maybe the PC game DOES offer an intelligent, planning-out version of the game, or maybe I just wasn't playing it correctly, but the 360 version is nothing like the game he describes. The truth is in the middle here though: the levels that do offer tight gunplay with lots of hiding and crouching involved are the most fun of the game. Unfortunately, they only account for about half of it. The rest is haphazard, trial-and-error tedium.

The second part of Steve's article lauds the character design, with Kane's backstory being 'fascinatingly multi-layered'. And I have much sympathy for this point of view, but I think Steve is reading way too much into the game here. Like me, he probably wants these characters to be all they can be, because he feels their promise. But if you play through the game, none of that potential shines through. To be true, both Kane and Lynch have a few moments where something begins to surface, where you start to see a glimmer of what could have been gaming's most fascinating characters yet. But the game never allows them to develop, burying them in sloppily directed cutscenes, weak story exposition and horrendous side characters.

I would really like Kane & Lynch to be as good as Steve describes. But for the life of me I can't find it in there. The game just doesn't deliver on its unique, ambitious promise.

[toblix]

6.3/10

[12kill4]

*cough*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBD0cUeeEQc

*cough*

[twmac]

I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum in regards to Kane & Lynch. I had very much respected IOI up until I had the misfortune of experiencing the developer's attitude first hand.

Now I won't say that IOI was completely to blame for their reactions and I would like to think that they might have turned down some of their rudeness now that they have had a few flops on their hands but at the time they were amongst the most arrogant, pompous developers I've ever had to deal with.

Then when Kane & Lynch came out I thought I'd at least give a try (I liked Freedom fighters so why not). It put a huge grin on my face after the demo. It was awful, the control system was terrible, the levels looked of original xbox quality and the story was looking predictably shit. I will concede that I saw potential in the characters but that was hardly a high point for me.

In short, I'm glad IOI were amid this controversy and I hope that they learn from being massive douches and that whatever they make next shows all that was good and great about their other games. But until then IOI, fuck you.

[brkl]

I enjoyed that game and played it through. I don't remember having many problems with the PC controls. I went in expecting a Michael Mann film in game format and that's what I got, down to the stupid plotlines and growling two-dimensional characters, though they still had enough personality to carry the game to the finish. But I'd rather not have played it on a gamepad.

[Noyb]

I was hoping this would be an announcement of David Lynch's The Force Unleashed.