IO: K&L2 is a "love or hate" game

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 4 October, 2010

Not bothered some didn't get it.

You "either love or hate" Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, creator IO Interactive has admitted.

The sweary shooter divided critics upon its August launch. Eurogamer gave it 4/10 and it's currently sitting on a 63 out of 100 Metacritic review score average.

"I can't talk too much about the commercial reception to the game at this stage but I was interested in how it was received by the critics and journalists," general manager Niels Jørgensen told gamesindustry.biz in a new interview.

"I think it's a game that you either love or hate. It's interesting that we have scores ranging from 1/10 to 9/10, so we have critics that really loved it and those that didn't really get it."

You'd think low review scores would have depressed IO – but Jørgensen wasn't bovvered.

"Actually, I think that's fine," he said. "I actually like the approach that you take some chances to reach out to an audience. People have different tastes in all kinds of media and we see that with music, films, books and also with videogames.

"It's about choosing an approach to give people entertainment and variety and I think we've been able to produce something that's a bit different, if not to everyone's taste."

He added: "It's difficult to get everything that you need to know from a review or article as it's difficult for words to convey how you might experience a game and so I think people should try it for themselves and decide based on their own tastes.

"Marketing is very important. The reviews are important for some people but others will just browse through the games available in a store or online and pick up whatever they think is exciting. If you look at some of the charts you'll find plenty of games in there that don't score so well on Metacritic so arguably that's a mixed thing.

"Obviously you try to incentivise consumers to buy your product and advertising can help with that, especially when a purchase can be very much an impulse thing. Reviews and advertising can often reach very different people."

Despite mixed reviews, Kane & Lynch 2 did the business for publisher Square Enix. It went straight in at number one in the all-formats UK chart.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (49) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Quint2020 #1 2 years ago

    K&L2 is shite, end of discussion.

  • darkmorgado #2 2 years ago

    Frankly, I have problems playing a game that gives me migraines, let alone loving it.

  • spazmo #3 2 years ago

    "It went straight in at number one in the all-formats UK chart"

    I have no words...

  • UsernamePending #4 2 years ago

    "Frankly, I have problems playing a game that gives me migraines, let alone loving it."

    That's what I thought, until I got Bayonetta!

  • muscleblade #5 2 years ago

    I bought it and i hated it. The mp is quite good but dead sadly.

  • makariel #6 2 years ago

    downloaded the demo, played it, got sick, puked in the corner, deleted demo, went on.

  • Retro_ #7 2 years ago

    K&L 2 worked for me. I like seeing developers try something different and not follow the herd.

  • bad09 #8 2 years ago

    I actually quite enjoyed K&L2. Don't really understand why it's "crap" TBH. It does pretty much the same as any TPS out there and looks amazing.

    Still I agree with this though.

    "But nobody can excuse that fecking ending! "

    It was if they just gave up making the game. I do suspect they will go down the gamer fleecing DLC route and sell the ending. They have to be, surely they didin't look at that and say "yeah that's the game finale. Perfect"

  • Beano #9 2 years ago

    "You "either love or hate" Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, creator IO Interactive has admitted."

    Not really. K&L is boring and doesn't appeal to me. I don't hate it - I just don't care.

  • gesheed #10 2 years ago

    Yep. I didn't bother at all...

  • DreadedWalrus #11 2 years ago

    Just make another Freedom Fighters. :(

  • CaptainQuint #12 2 years ago

    The baffling K&L media debacle continues - why does an extremely substandard duo of games keep getting so many column inches on websites et al? All this hearsay is completely inconsequential - people are indifferent to this rubbish, so please, put it to bed and stop giving the games and their developer undue, undeserved attention.

  • bodypopper #13 2 years ago

    "Something that's a bit different, if not to everyone's taste"

    I'm sure that was the exact pitch in the boardroom when the devs laid out to the money men which game they wanted to make next. Certainly not 'it'll shift units, honest!'
    Faiir play to IO for sticking to their macho guns but the poor reception given the first game didn't inspire confidence in me and shaky cam in a game gives me nausea.
    Freedom Fighters 2 please.

  • Trikk #14 2 years ago

    When you have to pay companies to fire reviewers who give your game a bad score, the problem isn't that people "didn't get it".

  • UncleLou #15 2 years ago

    I actually quite enjoyed K&L2. Don't really understand why it's "crap" TBH. It does pretty much the same as any TPS out there and looks amazing.

    K&L is still tainted from the Gamespot incident - it's why the first one is criminally underrated (at least the PC version was a very good game), and explains the often irrational, hyperbolic reactions to the K&L2 demo.

    edit:
    Hah,just see the post above mine. :D
    Edited by UncleLou at 04/10/10 @ 10:39

  • rojjer #16 2 years ago

    "You'd think low review scores would have depressed IO – but Jørgensen wasn't bovvered."

    I guess this is written in this way to try to defend Eurogamers 4/10. Still a disgraceful review for a game that did not merit such a low score. Get over yourselves.

  • bad09 #17 2 years ago

    @UncleLou

    Yeah that's the thing K&L1 wasn't half as bad as people make out either and the overreaction to these games is amazing. Maybe it was their own fault with the Gamespot incident.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #18 2 years ago

    I love the turn of phrase they use:

    'so we have critics that really loved it and those that didn't really get it'

    Either you are with them and love it, or you are some kind of mental retard and don't understand why it is so good.

  • LR100 #19 2 years ago

    At least he didn't accuse anyone of playing it wrong...

  • bad09 #20 2 years ago

    LOL people are seriously marking people down for liking this game? You sad little twats.

  • Jonathan_Fakenham #21 2 years ago

    Love and hate are such strong words. I'll admit I thought K&L2 was cool at first, but I got really tired of the sameish gameplay during the last two hours of the five hour campaign. So I traded it in, and got my money back.
    Edited by Jonathan_Fakenham at 04/10/10 @ 11:16

  • Gromit #22 2 years ago

    Who seriously gave that pile of crap 9/10?

    And for those who gave you "disagreable" reviews - why not have them sacked like you did the first time round?!

    You reap what you sow...

  • Whizzo #23 2 years ago

    Well I really enjoyed it so there!

  • midnight_walker #24 2 years ago

    I neither loved nor hated it. It wasn't awesome but it was by no means completely awful. I liked what they did with the game and it was OK while it lasted, but it was instantly forgettable.

  • geeza2020 #25 2 years ago

    bad09:
    "LOL people are seriously marking people down for liking this game? You sad little twats"

    Ha, so this is the kind of person that likes K&L2? Oh dear.

    Truly awful game. Terrible characters, no story, awful graphics, terrible gunplay, stupid AI for allies and enemies, childish attitude towards violence and other crimes. Yeah, so it's really just that I didn't get it, eh?

  • bad09 #26 2 years ago

    @geeza2020

    What? You think secretly marking people down for liking a game is not the behaviour of a little twat who is sad? I stand by the post.

  • geeza2020 #27 2 years ago

    good luck with that

    edit: and for the record, no, I believe someone getting all angry about being negged on a games website is a sad little twat.
    Edited by geeza2020 at 04/10/10 @ 14:39

  • alan_stealth #28 2 years ago

    Yeah Kane & Lynch 2 had it's faults, but the direction it was taking with the style and art, I thought was brilliant.
    It's nice to see a game take a bold step, even if it ends in shit for them.
    And I'm sure it won't be long before another developer uses the style, and perhaps pulls it off better, and then everyone will praise them for their creative genius.

    The amount of times I've read on internet chatboards, people asking if there is a cheat to turn off the censoring, makes me just want to headbutt a wall.

  • local_celebrity #29 2 years ago

    K&L2’s commercial success was purely down to marketing. They released it at the height of the games drought, after one of the biggest ad campaigns I’ve ever seen. And then, when the sales started dipping, they immediately slashed the price. Amazon were flogging it for £20 a mere two weeks after release. They were completely shameless about it.

  • DAN.E.B #30 2 years ago

    "Something that's a bit different, if not to everyone's taste"

    So the problem was It was too original ?

    Oh......... OK!!

  • steve1979 #31 2 years ago

    "It went straight in at number one in the all-formats UK chart"

    All that proves to me is that people will buy any game if the price drops in half within the first day of sales.

  • AdamAsunder #32 2 years ago

    'There were those that didn't like it and those that just didn't get it.'

    He hasn't really entertained the idea that maybe it was just a bit shit. Of course he's not going to question the validity of the 9/10s that came from the 'official' rags.

    I'm still at a loss as to why they keep releasing stuff that noone wants when everyone really just wants them to do another Hitman.

    Having said that, they seem so out of touch these days that maybe they shouldn't bother?

  • Lunatic4ever #33 2 years ago

    He may not be bothered..but Ii bet IO's bank account is.

    Still,i loved it.

  • MrE26 #34 2 years ago

    I neither loved nor hated it. I thought it was a decent enough shooter that got very dull, very fast. Not a bad game, but not exactly a good one either.

    TBH, if i'd paid full price for it, my opinion might be slightly more skewed towards it being total dogshit though.

  • cobaltfram #35 2 years ago

    I never do like people saying a low score means that somebody didn't "get" your game. It could be they thought it was horrible; maybe you could listen to people OTHER than those giving you ten-outta-tens, eh?

  • shadow1979 #36 2 years ago

    It did capture that feeling of being out in Asia really well at least. Then again thats purely just aesthetics.. :p
    Edited by shadow1979 at 04/10/10 @ 16:18

  • UncleLou #37 2 years ago

    As the guy above me posted: I fear for the legend of Hitman should the IO of today decide to do one...

    That would be the same IO that did Blood Money, the pinnacle of the series...

  • Nephirion #38 2 years ago

    Ending was epic cut off point

  • Trikk #39 2 years ago

    The Eidos Internet PR Squad has descended on this thread, just look at the ridiculous post ratings handed out.

  • Seehuusen #40 2 years ago

    Absolutely loved the game, though it was a bit short and the ending must be one of the worst game endings ever made. 7.5/10.
    Now please go make Freedom Fighters 2 or Hitman 5 allready, we kow you wanna do it, so fricking do it allready ! ;D

  • Toxicity8 #41 2 years ago

    I loved it, loved the style, the characters etc. I can understand why people wouldn't like it.

  • Lord_Gremlin #42 2 years ago

    This is actually the worst game I've ever played.
    And I still remember times of Pacman, first Prince of Persia and Duke Nukem 3D.

  • costa_k #43 2 years ago

    Haters will hate.
    I'm one of them.
    Edited by costa_k at 04/10/10 @ 21:20

  • onyx_elite #44 2 years ago

    Feckless, scar-faced chavs who have taken so many blows to the head they could be entertained by a marble in a paint tin will LOVE IT!!! Rational human beings with an interest in half-decent games and no discernible scuff marks on their knuckles will HATE IT!!!

  • onyx_elite #45 2 years ago

    Also even if it were amazing I wouldn't buy it on principle after the Gamespot debacle. That kind of shit holds no water with me and I won't encourage it.

  • Skurmedel #46 2 years ago

    It's good we have you onyx to tell us what to like. Now keep rolling that bandwagon to the end of the moon.

    The game was totally okay, the bugs were not.

  • djed #47 2 years ago

    According to sales numbers, MOST people didn't get it.

    OH BURN!

  • kangarootoo #48 2 years ago

    "I think it's a game that you either love or hate. It's interesting that we have scores ranging from 1/10 to 9/10, so we have critics that really loved it and those that didn't really get it"

    Oh not this tact again. Those that liked it are right, and those that didn't failed to "get it". SHUDDUP!

  • onyx_elite #49 2 years ago

    Yes you're right it is good. The things I do for you people. I'm just a giver, it's how I roll.