Friday 6 October 2006
IO Interactive's psychotic adventure Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is leading the way for next-gen gaming. The infamous nightclub scene, featuring a hundred-strong crowd of dancing, writhing people, blew us away when we were treated to a recent close-up viewing. So, to get a deeper view on Kane & Lynch, we sat down with executive producer Neil Donnell and gave him the interrogation treatment.

What's the reaction been to Kane & Lynch?
In general it's been extremely positive. We've tried to keep it reasonably behind closed doors but I think somebody sneaked a camera in at Leipzig and uploaded the movie on to the web, on one of these YouTube sites, and that got a lot of good reaction.

We were a bit unhappy about that because it wasn't showing the game in its best light. When we release footage we want people to get it at a decent quality, rather than a grainy, shaky cam video.

Above: The nightclub level is packed with moving people, and it's a truly amazing sight

How has next-gen improved squad gameplay?
We can give more AI to the squad, they can examine scenarios that they're in, so if they're under heavy fire they'll be looking after themselves. They've got fear levels and personal characteristics, so some might be more selfish - for example Lynch is a complete nutcase and, depending on whether he's had his medication or not, his reactions can be unpredictable.

Next-gen just lets us do more, so rather than just 'hide and fire', we can do 'hide, what's the enemy location', - much more strategic thinking. Just like a player would approach the problem. The AI will work together and try traditional manoeuvres like pincer movements, they'll call for back up and they'll even exchange things like ammo if needed.