Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days starts off violent, and appears to continue down an increasingly dark path that suits the game's uniquely stark and immersive visual style to a tee. While we can't currently reveal the game's opening - and indeed to do so would be a massive spoiler - we can say that there's an all-pervading air of bleakness to 2 from the very beginning. Lynch is a doomed character, stuck in a life of crime that sees things always go from bad to worse, even when he thinks he might be on the straight and narrow.

Self-medicated psychopath Lynch was the secondary star in Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, but for the sequel, he takes centre stage in the story. Lynch is now living in Shanghai with a girlfriend living a relatively calm and ordinary life, until he's called out for one last job by former employer Glazer, dragging old partner Kane along for the ride. Naturally, the job goes completely awry and before you know it, the duo are on the run from the Shanghai police and countless gun-toting goons through the neon-soaked streets and filth-encrusted alleyways.

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The very first thing that strikes you when you start playing Dog Days, is that aforementioned graphical style that takes user-created videos as its primary influence. Using a chasing steadycam, excessive film grain and plenty of lens flare, the visuals bring to mind the work of Michael Mann, in like Heat, Miami Vice and Collateral - especially the latter - which is something Danish developer acknowledges, and the whole thing works fantastically. It's quite startling how eerily realistic the game occasionally looks, although beneath the grain and other surface effects, you can't quite shake the feeling that there might be some slightly sub-par graphics. For the most part however, Kane & Lynch 2 looks every bit the gritty crime thriller.

From a gameplay perspective, Dog Days plays much like any other decent third-person you could care to think of, although it currently feels a little 'stodgy' and not nearly as robust as it could be given the strong pedigree of the developer, who has four Hitman games and more under its belt to date. Movement feels a tad floaty at present, and the cover system is a little off, especially when you think you're safely entrenched, only to soak up bullets from distant enemies. Certain pieces of scenery don't allow you to shimmy back and forth in and out of view, which can be annoying when you're stuck in one place with your head stuck out in the open, but this could be easily fixed we'd imagine (though the likelihood of IO making adjustments at this late stage are slim with the game turning gold).

Our preview code featured several of Dog Days' opening chapters, the second of which involves protecting Glazer's limo from an onslaught of attackers on a crowded highway. With enemies hidden behind the smashed and over-turned cars that litter the road, things quickly gets heated and chaotic, so using cover is essential. Lynch can carry two weapons at a time, and can pick up shotguns, rifles and pistols from fallen enemies, but Kane & Lynch 2's array of weaponry seems to lack impact, so when you shoot an enemy multiple times only to have them immediately get up, it can be a little exasperating.

Soon, Glazer's limo goes on the move, so Kane and Lynch follow it until something unexpected happens, resulting in a impromptu change of plans. Running to a nearby underground parking garage, the duo, Glazer and his burly bodyguard encounter the authorities and their attack dogs, which can be efficiently dispatched by throwing a fire extinguisher and shooting it in mid-air. Bang! And the dirt is gone.

Escorting Glazer the rest of the way goes off without a hitch with cautious progression, and haplessly wandering into the open results in Lynch being temporarily floored in what IO calls 'down but not dead'. While down, Lynch can fire off a few shots at his attackers, or get up into cover if in the vicinity of a wall or other barrier. Get downed out in the open though, and you're as good as dead.

The chapters that follow take Kane and Lynch to parts of Shanghai you don't see in the holiday brochures. The backalley sweatshops, the adult video rental stores, shabby fish markets, ragged and derelict hangouts - every inch of the twisting network of backstreets and dirty, trash strewn environments evoke a real sense of concealed urban decay, making up the dangerous underworld that Kane and Lynch find themselves trapped in.

Dog Days' single-player story will likely provide the main draw for players, but will provide long-term thrills with Fragile Alliance, Cops & Robbers and Undercover Cop actually being different enough to other, more conventional modes to warrant a closer look. Each revolves around a heist to steal millions of dollars divided between the members of your team of career criminals and the core concepts are simple, but compulsive. Do you risk it all and kill your teammates for a bigger slice of the loot, or do you play it safe and make a beeline for the escape vehicle? It's classic risk/reward stuff, that'll keep you coming back for more.

Add the game's new Mode to the mix - which allows you to play Fragile Alliance offline against AI, complete with leaderboard support - and you have a package that should hopefully offer a decent amount of replay value. Whether the single-player narrative portion of the game can provide a long and satisfying story however, will only be answered when we get our mitts on the full game. Here's hoping that IO have managed to spin a crime yarn that's as compelling as its multiplayer - and on the strength of what we've played of the story so far, the signs are positive - because if the storytelling fails to match the characters and unique visuals, well that would be just criminal.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is out on August 17th, 2010 in the and August 20th in Europe. There's currently a available on PC, and 360.

By Richard Walker