Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

 Xbox 360
Metascore
65

Mixed or average reviews - based on 57 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 57
  2. Mixed: 41 out of 57
  3. Negative: 6 out of 57
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  1. GameCritics
    45
    Given the subject matter, Kane & Lynch never had a chance of being a fun game, but it had every chance of being a good one. It's not.
  2. Gaming Age
    42
    If it had been given the proper treatment, budget, and amount of time, Kane & Lynch would have easily been an A-/90% game. As it was released, it feels like a preview build that somehow hit retail shelves.
  3. The A.V. Club
    42
    The game is merely frustrating until you get to Havana, when it becomes a nightmare of trial-and-error repetition.
  5. XboxAddict
    40
    This had all the ability to be a top notch 360 game, instead it ends up being a painful gaming experience.
  6. Destructoid
    30
    All in all, Kane and Lynch is a bad game. With characters like Kane and Lynch, we should have seen more variety in the plot and gameplay -- with developers like IO Interactive, we should have seen better shooting mechanics and level design.
  7. NTSC-uk
    30
    Being blunt, Kane and Lynch: Dead Men is a sickly mess of a game with the multitude of negatives undermining every positive.

Awards & Rankings

11
#11 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2007
23
#23 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2007

User Reviews

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User Score
3.3

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 350 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 81 out of 350
  2. Mixed: 46 out of 350
  3. Negative: 223 out of 350
  1. JohnP
    Feb 22, 2009
    5
    This game is so fun. But oh my god, the glitches and difficulty is can be atrocious. The story line makes up for the glitches. Would love to This game is so fun. But oh my god, the glitches and difficulty is can be atrocious. The story line makes up for the glitches. Would love to see a sequel with everything worked through.… Full Review »
  2. Sam
    Mar 23, 2008
    4
    With the badass trailers and the very appealing character concept, I was expecting this game to be IOI's finest since Hitman: Silent With the badass trailers and the very appealing character concept, I was expecting this game to be IOI's finest since Hitman: Silent Assassin. They proved me wrong. While this game isn't as bad as the Gerstmann sympathizers say, it's still pretty bad. Which is a shame, because IO had everything they needed, every tool to make this game great. They just didn't use them. First of all, the gameplay is trial-and-error based, and is overly frustrating. There's no open-endedness to the game at all, which was what IOI made their name from: letting you decide what you want to do. There's none of that here. You just go around shooting, escorting, and doing what the game tells you to. You don't get to plan out the heists, or any of that. The poorly written script plans it out for you. But the game does its best to keep you from sticking to that. It is a very buggy game. The controls don't do anything to help it, either. The aiming is horrible. You will never hit who you're trying to the first few tries. This applies for every time you attempt to shoot someone. And beyond firing and team commands, they're very hard to use, often involving drawn-out button combinations just to perform a simple action. What's worse is that after you've put in that sequence, the action you're supposed to perform has a high chance of not working. The biggest example of this is taking cover. Now, unlike the rest of the game's controls, the input for taking cover is pretty simple. Unconventional, but simple. You just run up to a wall and slap the analog stick to press up against it. The problem is, 9 times out of 10, it doesn't work, and even when it does, the horrible collision detection this game sports will get you killed anyway. Your character often just runs up to the wall, rather than sticking to it, often leaving you open to enemy fire. And speaking of enemy fire, you'll get it a lot. The enemies in this game have decent AI, but they are often crack shots, which is more than what can be said for the ally AI. These are by far the worst teammates you'll ever see in a video game. They pretty much do nothing but get shot, and when they aren't getting shot, they're either missing their targets or shooting you. Yes, it is just that bad where your friends kill you twice as much as the bad guys do. In actuality, you're better off just sending them to draw fire, as that's all they'll succeed at. Just make sure you're close to them, because they don't revive each other, and if they die, it's game over. The story doesn't do the game any favors, either. It's never particularly well written at any time, and what's worse is that it doesn't explain everything that it should. It also doesn't quite hold its own against several games that came before it, which is a total shame, but isn't totally unexpected. Strong plots and interesting stories have never really been a part of IOI's traits. But at least you'd think it has decent dialogue. Unfortunately, it fails there, too. First off, it's not cleverly-written, and it uses the F-word more than any single piece of media you'll ever find. There are very few sentences said in this game that don't have it. It was an obvious attempt to make the game seem grittier than it is, but all it did was just take away the drama and strong feeling that the word evokes. Most of all, it really just feels like they hired an angst-filled teenager to write out the dialogue. It's just that poor. However, the game has one good point: Its multiplayer concept. Fragile Alliance is a very well-thought out concept that follows the game's themes of trust and betrayal very well, in that the outcome of a match is entirely in the players' hands. You can stick to the plan and be a team player, or you can pull a Kane and leave everyone of your partners for dead. Unfortunately, the very same flaws that the Campaign mode has are carried over to this mode, save for the ally AI. You'll still have the same control problems, the same poor collision detection, and the same horrible aiming. It doesn't flat out ruin it, but it doesn't do anything good for it. All in all, this game could have been so many things, but achieves none of it, not even its main selling point: Its own story. The only way I can really recommend this game is if you have absolutely nothing else to play at all. It is a rental at best.… Full Review »
  3. IntruderG.
    Feb 8, 2008
    4
    This game is not the worst game ever nor is it the best game ever. If anything it is terminally mediocre. Whie it has some fun scenarios, This game is not the worst game ever nor is it the best game ever. If anything it is terminally mediocre. Whie it has some fun scenarios, there are entirely too many technical flaws that make the experience below average. The graphics, especially in game animations, are are below average. The vertical split screen on co-op seriously hampers your peripheral vision. The controls are a little loose. The music and story are the highlights of the experience and the unique multiplayer is a nice diversion from Team Slayer and the like. Unfortunately, the few fun parts are outweighed by the bad. Kane and Lynch is worth playing, but only as a rental. It is definitely not worth $60.… Full Review »
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