History VideoGame / KaneAndLynch

* ForWantOfANail: Less than a day after Kane and Lynch reunite, their lives once again go straight to hell; [[spoiler: what feels like everyone who owns a gun in Shanghai is after them, Glazer double-crosses them in an attempt to save his own skin, and Lynch's girlfriend/LivingEmotionalCrutch is raped and murdered while he and Kane are tortured. All because Brady's girlfriend, whom they accidentally shot at the end of the first level, was the daughter of the most corrupt politician in the country.]]

* DeconstructionGame: Both games are surprisingly subtle deconstructions of crime-themed action games like ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' and ''VideoGame/SaintsRow.'' Unlike the colorful and darkly humorous worlds of those games, the criminal underworld in Kane and Lynch is presented as deeply harsh and cutthroat, full of greedy scumbags who won't think twice about betraying their allies for greed or to save their own skin.

* ClusterFBomb: The titular characters pretty much say "Fuck" every other word.

* ClusterFBomb: ''Every'' character has one thing in common: a love of cursing. Although the situations they get themselves into don't leave much else to be said.

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Played stunningly straight by Shangsi. [[spoiler:After pursuing the boys all over Shanghai with hundreds of police officers and soldiers operating under orders to shoot to kill, they suddenly decide to apprehend them rather than kill them, then escort them across the city in a military grade transport helicopter ''without even restraining them''. Which gives them the chance to steal said chopper and directly assault Shangsi's office. WhatAnIdiot.]]

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: Once Kane and Lynch corner Brady at the end of the first level, they get into a quick gunfight with him, but his girlfriend is accidentally killed in the crossfire. Once he realizes this, Brady pulls out a knife and slits his own throat. [[spoiler: Once it's found out that the girl was [[TheDreaded Shangsi's]] daughter, it becomes apparent that Brady took the easy way out of avoiding his wrath.]]

* ForWantOfANail: Less than a day after Kane and Lynch reunite, their lives once again go to hell; [[spoiler: they have every gangster and cop in Shanghai gunning for them, Glazer hangs them out to dry, and Lynch's girlfriend is raped and murdered. All because Brady's girlfriend, whom they accidentally shot at the end of the first level, was the daughter of the most corrupt politician in the country.]]

* HollywoodHealing: Approximately half-way through, the "heroes" get [[ColdBloodedTorture carved up like turducken by box cutters]] and bleed out long enough for one of them to lose consciousness. Not only are they hale and hearty enough to engage in lengthy firefights with police across three blocks minutes later, but after an hour and a change of clothes they are ready to oversee an arms deal. Both make mention of the significant pain they're in, and Kane is adamant to oversee the deal and get his payment ([[ASimplePlan optimistic of him]]), but the sheer amount of cuts would require them to be jacked up to the eyeballs on adrenaline just to stay conscious, because if they had fallen asleep they wouldn't have woken up for a week.

* ScreamingWarrior: Lynch, especially in the Shangshi Tower climax;

* SnuffFilm: Heavily implied. When Hsing is torturing Kane, Lynch [[spoiler:and Xiu]], you can in both chapter 6 and the intro cutscene for chapter 1 that Hsing has a camera set up filming the whole thing. Based on that with some comments made by Lynch and Glazer in chapter 2, it's likely that Hsing is heavily involved in snuff films.

* ViolenceIsDisturbing: The game deliberately avoids glorifying any of its violence, and instead goes out of its way to portray realistic consequences of it. The firefights are messy and chaotic with civilians often being caught in the crossfire, Kane and Lynch become increasingly worn-out and unhinged, and the entire atmosphere feels more like a psychological horror piece than an action shooter. The camera isn't making things better in the sequel as often times the camera will try to censor mutilated bodies and head.
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Played stunningly straight by Shangsi. [[spoiler:After pursuing the boys all over Shanghai with hundreds of police officers operating under orders to shoot to kill, they suddenly decide to apprehend them rather than kill them, then escort them across the city in a military grade transport helicopter ''without even restraining them''. Which gives them the chance to steal said chopper and directly assault Shangsi's office. WhatAnIdiot.]]

* WouldNotShootACivilian: Averted. They would do this frequently.

!! Examples found in both games:

->"What would you not do for love? For acceptance? When would you give-up? For Kane & Lynch, there is no limit. When there are no options, when the situation is broken beyond repair, [[TheDeterminator they'll never give-up."]]

!!The first game provides examples of:

----

* PunctuatedPounding:
-->'''[[spoiler:"YOU SHOULD! HAVE LET! ME TALK TO THEM!"]]'''
-->'''Kane''', ''[[spoiler:while beating Mute to death with a shovel]]''

* SpiritualSuccessor: to IO Interactive's own ''VideoGame/FreedomFighters2003'': it uses a very similar interface, and both scores were composed by Jesper Kyd.

* WouldNotShootACivilian: ...yeah, they would actually. Frequently even.
** And in ''Dog Days'' executing a civilian (and headshots in general) will cause the victim's face to become digitally scrambled.

----
!!The second game provides examples of:

-->'''Kane''': When we're done playing gangster? I want to go to my hotel.

--> '''Lynch''': "DON'T FUCK WITH ME!!!"
* SequelDifficultySpike: ''Much'' more unforgiving compared to the first game. The guns aren't accurate, you can't carry as much ammo, the enemies are more numerous and aggressive. About the only thing that's easier here is that you don't need a buddy to revive you.

* ArtisticLicenseLinguistics: Glazer uses the american expression "cops", while the correct british variant would be "coppers".

* EliteMooks: Shanghai Swat and Chinese soldiers, who have the best weapons in the game and body armor that lets them take more hits than the player can.

* DroneofDread: The soundtrack is mainly comprised of experimental industrial dark ambience music. Created by Mona Mur, it's used to reflect Kane and Lynch's frayed, deteriorating mental states as they find themselves in increasingly chaotic and just plain fucked up situations.

* NoEnding: [[spoiler: After Shangsi is killed, The pair sneak into Shanghai International Airport and, after fighing through authorities, flee onto the runway and hijack a commericial airliner heading for Balzar, Ecuador. The plane takes off and the game suddenly ends, leaving it ambiguous as to what'll happen to the two after they finally escape Shanghai.]]

* ShortRangeShotgun: Averted, like in the first game. The shotguns provide more range than certain weapons like the machine pistols, which are better suited for close quarters and upclose encounters.

* EvilDuo: The franchise is arguably based around the premise of letting the player portray the half in charge of this team dynamic while emulating the cinematic stylings of Michael Mann. In any other series the protagonists would probably being [[MidBoss mid bosses]] for a more heroic protagonist to take out before the end of the first act.

* MadeOfIron: Both Kane and Lynch. Killing them is a task that seems borderline impossible at times. The 2nd game, from Chapter 6 and beyond, takes this into flat-out absurd territory. Not only do the duo get [[spoiler: lacerated with a box cutter on pretty much every inch of their body, with Lynch getting tossed into a dumpster after passing out, but they also proceed to engage in intense firefights. Then they survive a ''helicopter crash'', not really worse for wear, and fight across a ton of PMC and hijack an airplane]]

* ForWantOfANail: Less than a day after Kane and Lynch reunite, their lives once again go to hell; [[spoiler: they have every gangster and cop in Shanghai gunning for them, Glazer betrays them, and Lynch's girlfriend is raped and murdered. All because the girl they accidentally shot at the end of the first mission was the daughter of the most corrupt politician in China.]]

* ForWantOfANail: Not long after Kane and Lynch reunite, their lives go sideways once again; [[spoiler: they're thrust into a fight for their lives against every gangster and cop in Shanghai, all their allies betray them, and Lynch's girlfriend is raped and murdered. All because they accidentally shot the daughter of the most powerful man in China.]]

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: Once Kane and Lynch corner Brady at the end of the first level, they get into a quick gunfight with him, but his girlfriend is accidentally killed in the crossfire. Once he realizes this, Brady pulls out a knife and slits his own throat. [[spoiler: Once it's found out that the girl was [[TheDreaded Shangsi's]] daughter, it becomes apparent that Brady took the easy way out to avoid the man's wrath.]]

* IdiotBall: [[spoiler:Hsing. When Lynch loses consciousness under torture he has him tossed into the trash, without finishing him off or even binding him. Minutes later an angry naked schizophrenic collapses his trachea.]]

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: The franchise is arguably based around the premise of letting the player portray one half of this team dynamic while emulating the cinematic stylings of Michael Mann. In any other series the protagonists would probably being [[MidBoss mid bosses]] for a more heroic protagonist to take out before the end of the first act.

''Kane & Lynch: Dead Men'' is a third-person cover-based shooter with squad-based gameplay inspired by Creator/IOInteractive's previous such game, ''VideoGame/FreedomFighters''. The plot follows the titular characters through a story of escape, betrayal, and redemption. The game opens with Adam "Kane" Marcus being transported to jail. His prison bus is then assaulted by a very well-organized group of men, and one of the prisoners being transported with him shoots his cuffs off and threatens to kill him if he doesn't follow. You see, Kane was one of The 7, a group of mercenaries - until he ditched them with the money, during a mission that went bad.

* SpiritualSuccessor: to IO Interactive's own ''VideoGame/FreedomFighters'': it uses a very similar interface, and both scores were composed by Jesper Kyd.

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: Once Kane and Lynch corner Brady at the end of the first level, they get into quick gunfight with him, but his girlfriend is accidentally killed in the crossfire. Once he realizes this, Brady pulls out a knife and slits his own throat. [[spoiler: Once it's found out that the girl was [[TheDreaded Shangsi's]] daughter, it becomes apparent that Brady probably had the right idea.]]

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: [[spoiler:Kane and Lynch unintentionally murder the daughter of the most powerful man in China, Shangsi. He decides that in lieu of this the best tactical choice is not to have them arrested, their car bombed or their food poisoned. Instead he decides to send the entire Shanghai police department at them in a bloody vendetta that tears a large part of the city apart, and eventually dispatches fully armed soldiers and attack choppers.]]

* VulnerableCivilians: A present part of both games. They appear in the form of random civilians who have the horrible luck of being present in whatever location Kane and Lynch are blasting their way through, being caught in the crossfire between the duo and whatever enemies they are fighting and often winding up dead.

* DeconstructionGame: Both games are surprisingly subtle deconstructions of crime-themed action games like ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' and ''VideoGame/SaintsRow.'' Unlike the colorful and darkly humored world of those games, the criminal underworld in Kane and Lynch is presented as deeply harsh and cutthroat, full of greedy scumbags who won't think twice about betraying their allies for greed or to save their own skin.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Almost impossible to believe, but the second game is even ''more'' grim than the first. Here, the duo is caught in a series of increasingly violent and out of control situations as they fight to survive against what seems to be the entire city of Shanghai after they unintentionally kill the daughter of a powerful and very corrupt government official.

* ViolenceIsDisturbing: The game deliberately avoids glorifying any of its violence, and instead goes out of its way to portray realistic consequences of it. The firefights are messy and chaotic with civilians often being caught in the crossfire, Kane and Lynch become increasingly worn-out and unhinged, and the entire atmosphere feels more like a psychological horror piece than an action shooter.