The general manager of IO Interactive is OK with reviewers being split on Kane & Lynch 2.
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days received very mixed reviews when it was released in July. I personally thought that it had some good elements but that the realism failed in a couple of very key scenes, while Yahtzee said that “there is nothing fun about the game.” Others praised the grittiness and the originality of the characters. IO Interactive’s general manager, Niels Jørgensen, said that he’s cool with the response Kane & Lynch 2 received and understands that there will be people who “don’t get it.”
“I think it’s a game that you either love or hate,” Jørgensen said. “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.”
Did it bother him that some players of the game responded poorly? “Actually, I think that’s fine,” he responded. “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.”
I respect Jørgensen for not reacting poorly and saying that people who didn’t like Kane & Lynch 2 were idiots who didn’t play it right. He realizes that, as with all media, there are going to be people who like certain content and others that don’t. And with a game that features two unpleasant mass-murderers, you are bound to get some mixed reviews.
“The characters of Kane and Lynch capture the consumer’s imagination as they are more like middle-aged anti-heroes than the buff superheroes that you see in a lot of games,” Jørgensen said. “Part of the legacy of IO is to make games and stories that stand out and I think we achieved that with Kane & Lynch 2.”
I can’t argue with that statement; the game is definitely memorable. Of course, the complaints that I had with Kane & Lynch 2 had more to do with its poor storytelling and unimaginative mechanics, as opposed to the grim and gritty subject matter.
Then again, millions of people liked Transformers 2, so what the crap do I know?
Source: Gamesindustry.biz
Published: Oct 4, 2010 10:04 pm