The era of movie-style games is dead, and James Lynch killed it -- probably with a shotgun blast to the face. Search for the clip on YouTube if you want proof.
What does this mean? Video games have been trying to imitate movies from the moment they began playing with polygons 15 years ago. We've moved from stylized CG cut scenes to seamless in-game cinematics, from laughably stilted line readings to Hollywood-caliber voice talent. In upcoming standouts like Heavy Rain, the graphical fidelity nearly bridges the uncanny valley -- no mean feat. In short, the game development community is this close to perfectly replicating the cinematic experience with you in control.
But the rest of the world has moved on. We're now in the age of instant gratification and relentless exhibitionism. Anything and everything can and will be seen by anyone at any time.
Enter Kane and Lynch.
Developer IO Interactive wants to tap into that zeitgeist with the upcoming Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days. Like a crack paparazzo, you'll follow Kane and Lynch for every waking moment over two days in Shanghai. That means you'll experience back-alley shootouts and bathroom breaks, chaotic manhunts through sweatshops and quiet conversations held over noodle bowls.
Consider Kane and Lynch 2 to be the first video game of the YouTube era, a voyeuristic paean to violence in the digital age. Think of shaky cell phones capturing tense high school brawls, or cheap digital camcorders recording the horrific acts of street gangs in South America, and you'll have an idea of the mood IO is trying to recreate.
This aesthetic permeates into the functional elements of the game. Levels don't load, they "buffer." Instead of blood spattering the screen alerting you when you've been shot, compression artifacts appear, like a low-quality streaming video. Large explosions, like those caused by propane tanks, can tear the screen and lock up the image for a moment. And if you pull off a particularly brutal up-in-your-face headshot, the resulting carnage will be purposefully censored, looking much like the grisly videos you can find lurking in the darker corners of the Internet.
Kane and Lynch 2's experimental revamp is frankly surprising for a series known more for the GameSpot editor fired after reviewing the first game than the quality of its content. But it's a savvy move. At worst, it drums up renewed curiosity in a flagging series. At best, it just may influence the aesthetics of games for years to come.
