Software Review: 'Kane & Lynch: Dead Men'

With its filthy language, senseless violence and rampant immorality, the game has no artistic charm or important message.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
kane and lynch 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
kane and lynch 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, a DVD-ROM in English by Io Interactive for Eidos, distributed by Hed Artzi Multimedia, requires Windows XP and above and a 2 Ghz PC, for adults 18 and over, NIS 219. Technical rating: ** Moral rating: 0 stars Bloody mess One wonders what the game developers at IO Interactive were thinking when they produced this horrid DVD-ROM. With its filthy language, senseless violence and rampant immorality, the game has no artistic charm or important message that could justify its repulsive and hellish content. It is violence for the sake of violence, and since there is no law to prevent young kids from getting their hands on it in computer software stores, it is potentially dangerous as well. The lurid third-person action shooter "stars" two men - an ex-convict mercenary named Kane and a psychopathic killer named Lynch. The plot begins with Kane on the way to execution for his crimes, but he is rescued by his old compatriots, a gang of mercenaries named The 7. These guys believe they have been cheated by Kane and want back what they think he has stolen from them. His "babysitter" is Lynch, who is so mentally unstable that he needs psychotropic drugs to calm him. Together, they are a brutal team. The three levels of difficulty are designated "aspirin," "codeine" and the ultimate "morphine." You can opt to turn off the spilling of blood while the pair shoot hundreds of innocent cops, bystanders and security personnel - as well as criminals - but even if you do, the game is extremely violent. The enemy's artificial intelligence is so poor that even if you shoot at various targets in an identical way, sometimes they will die and sometimes walk away. There is no logic in it. Four-letter words flow like water from the mouths of all combatants whatever situation they are placed in. Orders appear on the screen in short sentences as you carry out missions that include a botched bank robbery and an assassination attempt requiring the Spiderman-like scaling of tall buildings. Always take along your deadly weapons, which become more sophisticated as you proceed, to shoot, shoot, shoot. If you have an itchy trigger finger, I recommend that you go instead to a dermatologist for skin cream rather than play this senseless and mediocre game.