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. Gamers' Temple
    84
    Kane and Lynch is quite a good crime drama experience and serves as a plausible move away from the Hitman stealth series that IO Interactive is very well known for.
  2. PGNx Media
    82
    Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is a solid heist game and a solid co-op game. The premise is very interesting but some of the core gameplay isn’t as polished as some of the other shooters you’ll find this holiday season.
  3. Official Xbox Magazine
    80
    Part thug brutality, part capers and hijinks, the latest wild ride from the developer of "Hitman" has its fair share of rough edges--maybe even more than its fair share--but its epic missions are so thrilling that they'll sear away the nuggets of disappointment you'll ocasionally feel. [Dec 2007, p.68]
  5. GameTrailers
    80
    The right combination of gameplay elements and design decisions make Kane and Lynch easy to recommend to crime junkies and anyone who enjoys a little therapeutic videogame violence. A well-executed plot really makes the game, while the multiplayer additions add replay value and variety.
  6. Pelit (Finland)
    78
    Puts player in a rather awkward role. You essentially play a person who hasn’t made a single good decision in his life. When none of your actions hold any kind of moral high-ground the whole experience starts to feel like a total downer. While the story certainly has an impact, the actual gameplay does not. Shooting behind the cover has been done much better. The real let-down is the last third of the game which is simply not fun to play. [Dec 2007]
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  7. Planet Xbox 360
    77
    The already strong story is helped along the way by some really good voice acting and a fantastic musical soundtrack that fits the game perfectly.
  8. 1UP
    75
    We rarely see scenarios and story structure this good in a game, and that makes it easier to forgive some of the more hardcore technical game-design issues. It's definitely more of a popcorn game for the action-movie crowd than a hardcore shooter, but there's nothing wrong with that.
  9. GamerNode
    75
    Kane & Lynch is entirely about story and style. The gameplay is years old, but Kane, Lynch, and their tale(s)? Fantastic. If you want a good story, pick this game up. If you only care about pretty things that blow up nicely, go with something else.
  10. Xbox World Australia
    75
    In a year that has seen more than its fair share of outstanding titles in the action/shooter genre, Kane & Lynch manages to set itself apart with an outstanding compilation of levels that are a joy to play through. Therefore, it is all the more disheartening that at the same time, it manages to fumble some of the fundamentals, chief among them the broken hit detection.
  11. Console Monster
    75
    Kane and Lynch could have been a fantastic game had they have spent some more time on it. Instead we are left with a fun but short and buggy game.

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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