Kane & Lynch: Dead Men Preview

Multiplayer is shaping up to be rather unique

Pro-G: Kane & Lynch is coming out in November, which looks like being a really crowded month. Do you think it will get the exposure it deserves?

MH: There's definitely a crowded fall season for games. So I think any publisher has a hard time getting an audience for their game, their specific title. That's going to be a battle of getting the word out to people and getting some good demos out and make the players interested. A lot of big titles have slipped to next year already which obviously we're not that unhappy about. But I really hope that people are going to see the characters and want to see what it's about, what the story is and maybe hear something about Fragile Alliance and decide to check out a new take on multiplayer, so hopefully we'll be doing all right.

Pro-G: The multiplayer seems to be trying to do something different to what we're used to. Why is that?

MH: The single-player component of the game is pretty much a heist movie. It's all about getting something you need for whatever reason. We all love heist movies at IO, so we wanted to take that element, with the loot and the disputes and the fragile bonds between people doing these sorts of crimes, and see what kind of gameplay elements we could build up around it, and it turned out to be Fragile Alliance. It was a conscious decision from our point to try to do something hopefully unique and interesting, which was also one of the reasons we didn't go for a traditional death match or capture the flag. It's trying to take a lot of the core elements of the single-player campaign and lift them into a multiplayer scenario. So it's not going to feel like you're playing a completely different game. It's going to feel like you're in the same world as the one you experience in single-player.

Pro-G: Would you say Kane & Lynch's multiplayer is more interesting than say Gears of War or Halo 3?

MH: Well I think so! Personally I'm pretty tired of team-one versus team-two and various types of body armour and whatever laser gun they chose to put in there. I think it's something new to try and actually get some team dynamics going with some people that you know are eventually going to betray you, or you are going to betray them. So you're forced to work together with that guy you really hate from the last round. That sort of thing really makes for some interesting gameplay. You get angry and frustrated when the other guy betrays you, but on the other hand the feeling of being the one who knew when to break the alliance and to double cross the other guy is so rewarding. It really gets your adrenaline going in a way that I haven't experienced recently in a regular deathmatch.

Pro-G: You've had a hand on the PC side of the game. What's your take on Vista and Games for Windows?

MH: They've taken a lot of things that they are offering on the Xbox and giving that to Windows developers, which is in many ways a good thing. I don't think many people are keen on spending time to implement their own voice chat or friends list or user sign up process, they want to do games. So in that way it's definitely a benefit. It's still in the early stages of development. It's a technology that's maturing. We've been with it pretty much from the beginning, getting some of the first internal releases on it. So we've seen it mature quite a bit during development. It's going to turn out well for getting developers to focus on the games.

All three versions will be nigh-on identical

Pro-G: What about Windows Vista?

MH: I think the main thing is probably the Games for Windows program, which has been expanded to include Windows XP now. If you're doing something specific on Vista it's probably going to have to do with DirectX 10, which is a nice graphics technology. Beautiful games have been made on DirectX 9 so it's not that groundbreaking, but it's certainly an effort to streamline the whole gaming experience on Windows which is a welcome addition as far as I'm concerned.

Pro-G: Kane & Lynch doesn't utilise DirectX10?

MH: No it doesn't. It's all DirectX9. It works equally well on Vista and XP.

Pro-G: On what platform would you say is the premium version of the game?

MH: It all depends on taste. Some people couldn't imagine doing it without their mouse and keyboard, others really want to sit on their couch and have the nice big screen TV with the PS3 or the Xbox 360. I think all the platforms will continue to have an audience and appeal to different people for different reasons. The game is running good on all systems, providing you have a recent PC. On the PC it's going to be a higher resolution of course and you can see more details and textures and so on. Apart from that there's really not much difference. It's a third-person action game so I think it's pretty well suited for the controller as well, which of course you can also use on Windows if it's the 360 controller.

Pro-G: What version do you play when you get home?

MH: That's probably going to be the 360 version because I've been sitting in an office chair at a computer all day. When I get home and want to relax with some games it's gonna be on the big screen TV and on the couch with my girlfriend.

Pro-G: Thanks for your time Morten.

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is out for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on November 23.