my ode to Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

After replaying DD for the fourth time, i can surely say that this is my favourite action game of all time. But first i wanna talk a bit about Max Payne series.

I think gameplay-wise MP have the best gunplay in TPS and action genre. From time to time i'll organise a marathon of the whole series for myself and that would be very fun time for me. However i will play them GDQ-style, blasting Disintegration Loops or Everywhere at the End of Time in the headphones, kinda like that, because here's the kicker: the novelty of those games worn out for me pretty quickly and all other elements apart from gameplay became really boring.

This is strictly personal issue. I understand that it's a "noir" style and to be fair it's executed as it should be. when i was a kid i thought that MP 1 and 2 were the coolest shit ever. But as i kept replaying them, plot became less and less interesting (i couldn't care less about anything that was happening in MP3) and dialogue became just plain unbearable. What i used to think as a cool lines became borderline edgy ramblings (pretty much like this post). I have nothing against neo-noir (Rian Johnson's "Brick" is one of my favourite movies) but it's very hard for me to relate to situations when MP speaks like James Joyce while bullets coming at him like flies speeding to buffet of shit. Again, this is only my personal issue.

I was really anticipating first KL game. i wouldn't say i was disappointed when it released, it wasn't THAT great as i was hoping but i can't deny the power of its strongest moments, particularly voiceover. Brian Bloom's work as Kane is seriously underrated as hell. He's 150% feeling his character and injects him with such life that you can't help but to be enthralled by Kane even though we know very little about him. And Jarion Monroe as Lynch knocks it out of the park too. Peak moment in KLDM for me combines my favourite part of a game (abduction and subsequent trade off) and my favourite interaction (Kane simultaneously speaking with Lynch and Retomoto). It was so tense, the reactions seemed so logical and genuine, throughout the game too, not just that part. Our protagonists are constantly screaming angrily and hysterically because, well, the situations were pretty intense and fucked up. Although the third act was a slug, KLDM still won me over and made me hope for the sequel.

Enter KL2DD. I would still play that game no matter what but that reveal trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsUEhe8Tshg) was like adding not just a fuel but a goddamn nuclear bomb to a fire. This trailer is a masterpiece on its own but more than that it gives you honest view of what this game is - freaking Michael Mann on mix of coke and some good ole crack. Gameplay-wise it's very rudimental, story-wise it's very simple but the atmosphere... Holy shit, it's like that thing that i'm seeing in my mirror every day - very thick and unwelcoming. The lo-fi-cam aesthetic fully clicked with me and, being a fan of vaporwave, drone and heavily reverbed pop songs were cherry on the top. I would compare DD with Gaspar Noe's "Enter the Void" in a way that "Void" has its obvious cons but it's a truly unique experience and there's nothing quite like it. In DD it's not just "style over substance", it's pretty much 90% style that is still totally unique and unmatched in gaming. Everything in cranked up to 11, you're absorbed in absolute bat-shit craziness that surrounds you, shootouts are deafening, everybody is yelling, everything is stressful and you're just trying to catch a break. The best moment for me is something that i rarely see in any game. Chapter 4, "Laying Low", the very first cutscene. Our protagonists are sitting in a restaraunt. While Lynch is eating, Kane, voiced by arguably the best "fuck"-yeller in the business (cast of Spec Ops The Line come very close second), is silently trying to contemplate the clusterfuck of a mess that they're got themselves into. This moment lasts for four seconds but it's refreshing (and again, rarely seen in industry) to see that developers understand that you don't need to talk all the time to be felt real and in my opinion they succeed. DD is the most real and immersive action i've experienced so far and unfortunately for me there's a very high probability that that won't change for a very long time.

great Jacob Geller video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4TNu0oBtKs

thanks for reading! i'm not that great of a writer, so i could've forget to add some other thoughts. i think DD is getting some love now and keeps getting mentioned as an underrated gem which is great because it's really much better than most people think. let me know what you think!