If life on death row is supposed to be one of solitude and quiet reflection, no one bothered to inform IO-Interactive, creator of the venerable Hitman series now-a-major-motion-picture-coming-to-a-multiplex-near-you. As their new game, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, opens, the titular duo are busted out of their prison transport and ushered through the streets amidst the ensuing chaos to safety. However, instead of heading south of the border, the apparent mecca of all escapees, they're brought before The7, a clan of powerful mercenaries with a bone to pick with Kane.

It turns out that Kane was a member of The7 until an operation gone-haywire, he was rumoured to have stashed the loot before being arrested and incarcerated. Now, The7 wants the money and Kane will retrieve it for them in exchange for the lives of his estranged wife and daughter. What follows is around 8 solid hours of non-stop action as Kane and Lynch make new enemies, forge old alliances, and shoot hundreds of people in the head in a bid to save Kane's family. The story is par for the genre but well-told and nicely integrated into the game, and you're even given two fairly potent endings depending on a single choice you make near the game's conclusion.

The game can be played through either solo as Kane (with Lynch in the somewhat competent hands of the AI), or in split-screen co-op where a second player can handle the aggression-prone Lynch. Sadly missing is an online co-op mode that's fast becoming the status quo for this type of game. Regardless, the game sets you up for an impressive variety of action-packed scenarios that just keeps escalating in both scale and intensity, from a humble (in comparison) bank robbery to a fire-fight in a strobe-lit Tokyo nightclub, and eventually all-out war.

Almost all of the 16 stages in Dead Men feature exemplary pacing and direction, with your objectives shifting constantly as Kane's plots keep getting waylaid – making for levels that never feel stale. Fans of the Hitman series may find the transition from Agent 47's much more finessed style to carrying out missions to Kane & Lynch's take-no-prisoners approach a little jarring, however, if you happen to have played and enjoyed Freedom Fighter, another property from the same developers, you're in for a treat.

On the middle of three difficulty levels, Kane & Lynch initially plays like your standard third-person shooter, where you progress through each chapter of the game shooting everyone in sight. Your teammates' role is relegated to occasionally reviving you with shots of adrenaline, or supplying your with ammunition, making for a fairly breezy first few chapters. However, as you progress further, and as the story's conflict escalates, the game turns into a whole new beast all together.

As the challenge level increases, Kane will find himself allied with up to 3 other henchmen (in addition to Lynch), and it is here that the game truly shines. Your teammates will obey simple squad commands, and if you've played the aforementioned Freedom Fighters, you already know that these are easy to execute in the heat of battle as well as being rather effective. Some of the later levels accommodate this change of pace very well by opening up the environments and rewards you for trying out different approaches.

Unfortunately, for such an action-oriented game and an experienced developer, Kane & Lynch features several amateurish shortcomings that may be a deal-breaker for some. Firstly, the default turning and aiming speeds are way too slow, and if I hadn't found the option to turn these right up (I recommend at least putting them on 90%) I may have a far more negative view of the game, not to mention a tougher time getting through it.

Then there's the horrible hit detection, and for a game that's all about making bullet holes appear on your enemies, this is quite an egregious oversight. You will notice this strange phenomenon from the get-go, as you line up a perfect headshot only to be cheated of the pleasure of watching your enemy go down. Even shooting someone dead in the chest is no guarantee that your shot will actually land on target. A small consolation is the fact that this isn't game-breaking, and one eventually learns to abandon a measured approach to combat and to just unload clips in the general direction of your enemy – a method not without satisfaction.

Lastly, the enemy AI in Kane & Lynch can be rather uneven. For the most part, enemies will competently put up a fight, and even become rather punishing towards the end. By the end of the game though, you will no doubt come across situations that take you out of the experience such as when you snipe at enemies that remain blissfully unaware that they're in combat, or adversaries that will let you walk right up to them and dispatch them with a quick melee attack.

On top of the story mode, you can also try out Fragile Alliance, a creative online multiplayer component that seamlessly combines co-operative play with competitive play. Each player begins the game as a robber about to pull off a heist, be it knocking off a jewelry store in the mall or robbing a bank. Players work together to dispatch AI-controlled security guards and grab the loot. The player to reach the get-away car with the most impressive loot value wins.

However, if you're killed at any time, you respawn as a law-enforcer to prevent the robbers from accomplishing their goals. Yet more interesting is the fact that at any time you can gun down your cohorts and make off with their loot. Of course, then you're left to face the cops all by your lonesome. Matches are usually short, fast and a hell lot of fun. It remains to be seen though whether it can endure the competition from many, many other games that feature more complex and full-featured online components.

Another area where Dead Men may be outshined by the competition is in its visuals. Environments are delightfully varied, but aren't particularly detailed, with distant scenery often suffering from blurry textures. Character models are again more stylistic than realistic, and don't feature any fancy facial animation that many will expect from modern games. Taken as a whole though, the game features a visual style that may be minimalist in approach, but feels distinctive and cohesive nonetheless.

Where Kane & lynch can kick it proudly with the big boys is in its excellent soundtrack from veteran composer, Jesper Kyd, whose score does a fantastic job to help intensify the cinematic action sequences. The game also features top-notch voice acting, and the frequent banter between Kane and Lynch not only provide appropriate exposition, but are usually quite entertaining.