I've heard of the Kane and Lynch series before, but never followed it closely. The plot in particular was supposed to be interesting... Now I bought part 1 during the sale and what can I say: it was the worst game I've had to play in a long time. It is short, gameplay is not fun at all (especially solo) and the storytelling is aweful. The premise of the story is somewhat interesting. Kane, a mercenary in prison awaiting execution, is suddenly freed by his old comrades. They force him to get the loot from their last job together or they will kill his family. Lynch is assigned to watch over him. Unfortunately, this is as far as the "interesting concept" goes. Kane is a cold-blooded murderer who will walk over dead bodies to save his family. In the process, you have to kill lots of innocent people (e.g., policemen, security guards) who have the misfortune to cross his path. Reflection, character development or at least an explanation as to why he became such a person? Not a chance. His psychotic “buddy” Lynch is no better. He even murders unarmed hostages. There is no recognizable moral compass in the story. All the characters are completely unsympathetic and it is difficult to feel anything other than disgust for them. Even then, there could have been an interesting story, but instead you're just chasing after one McGuffin after another. There's hardly any backstory, all the characters are clichéd decals and the cutscenes are never well directed. Moreover, scraps of sentences drenched in self-pity and sad music when Kane is about to die are no good for a character study. The gameplay is also a disappointment. In this 3rd person shooting gallery, you blast your way through hordes of enemies in relatively narrow, tubular and scripted levels. Their AI is rarely very clever. Danger usually arises from the sheer flood of enemies, enemies that are easy to overlook and the miserable cover mechanics. Summary: Not recommended (not even on sale)!
