For years I've been wanting a shooter where I didn't feel like a superhuman. Whether you're the soldier, cop, or criminal, you're often capable of carrying thousands of rounds of ammo and a dozen different weapons of varying sizes. You can deliver pinpoint-accurate shots while your enemies appear to have recently graduated from the James Bond Villain School of Marksmanship. And even after being in a heated firefight for hours you're able to stare down your weapon sights with hands as steady as a surgeon's. Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days replaces all that by making you a standard "guy with a gun." It's chaotic, gritty, disturbing, often times confusing, and sometimes downright frustrating. It's exactly these qualities that make it stand out as one of the most memorable and entertaining games I've ever played, despite it's one glaring flaw.

Kane and Lynch 2: Dogs Days uses the most unique visuals of any game I've ever played. It's a third-person shooter and could almost be passed off as an amateur documentary made with a hand-held camera. It uses the "shaky-cam" recording that everybody hates in Hollywood*, but fits perfectly in the sense of this game. They give you the option to turn it off but I never once wanted to lose that visual element. Compression artefacts and lens flare from bright light sources add to the realism. In an interesting twist, the especially graphic aspects of the game are pixelated to hide the gore or nudity. Topping this all off are the best sound effects of any game I've played in recent history. Played with my volume knob turned all the way up to 11, it didn't take long for me to be completely immersed in that world. 

The enemies can take at least as much damage as you can, especially if they're armored. Don't hope for an easy headshot either: when you're crouching behind a desk in a row of cubicles while seven SWAT team members quickly destroy your cover (did I mention the environments are destructible?) you won't have the luxury of sticking your head out for more than second to line up your shots. Throughout the game your enemies will outnumber and outgun you, and it'll be up to your clever use of cover and flanking to make sure you get out alive.

Combine all this and you get one of the best shooters I've ever played (if not the best). The levels are pretty linear, but they do an excellent job of looking like they're not. Case in point: you and your partner are running down a dirty, crowded street in Shangai. Suddenly a police van pulls up and heavily-armed cops come piling out. Before you know it you're hiding behind a tiny two-door car, the windows are being blown out by bullets, the cops have spread out so you're not sure where the biggest threat is, and all you know is that you need to get out. Frantically looking around you see an open storefront across the street. You clear out the cops between it and you and make your way from cover to cover until you're safely inside. Turns out that's where you were supposed to go all along, but it felt like a rush decision made in the heat of the moment.

Sadly, there is one major flaw that sullies my otherwise glowing opinion of Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days: on the medium difficulty I completed the single-player campaign in 2 1/2 hours. I don't judge games on their length, but when I spend $50 on a game I expect to be entertained for longer than that. Granted, the online co-op and very intriguing multiplayer will let me squeeze some more time out of it, but I don't feel the return on my investment was enough. To add insult to injury, Io Interactive is releasing map and weapon packs for the multiplayer for an additional $6. 

My final verdict: Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days is the most unique and entertaining games I've played in years. It will definitely stand out as one of my all-time favorites. But i f you haven't purchased it then I strongly suggest you wait until the price goes down. In six months when they've (hopefully) dropped the price to around $30 then it will be a must-have in your library. 

Check out some gameplay footage here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4hn4YF6X84

* Why are directors still using this? I haven't met a single person that enjoys this cinematography, and met many who have to leave the theater due to motion sickness induced by the movie!