I was in the minority with the original Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. I liked it. I didn't love it, not by any means, but I was able to overlook many of the faults and enjoy the game for what it was: a dark, unique shooter. That's not to say that there weren't faults, but just that, when compared to most people, I didn't find them as encumbering. Luckily, after a few hours with a preview build of the sequel, I'm happy to report that many of the problems from the original have been fixed, and while there's still room for improvement, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days appears to be a much stronger game than the first.

The demo began with Kane arriving in Shanghai, and the reunited duo going on a quick mission together to "teach someone a lesson." As expected, Kane is none too happy about this, as he was promised that he was being brought on to traffic some guns to Africa, and didn't want to be dragged into additional operations. Lynch assures him that this will be a quick, painless job, and that they would return to the mission at hand right away. Also as expected, things don't go well. The quick stop turned into a run and gun mission fast, and began to set things in motion that will follow the duo throughout the rest of the game.

However, for most interested in the game, the story isn't really something anyone is worrying about. Even those who trashed the original usually admitted that narrative was a strong point, and that the flaws were found in the controls and presentation.

In order to improve the presentation, the developers gave the entire game a gritty, realistic look and style. Not realistic in that it looks like something you might see with your own eyes, but realistic in that it looks like something off of Youtube or Liveleak. It has been covered enough that it's not worth talking about too much, but it's worth pointing out that the effect becomes less distracting the longer you play, and, instead, simply fades into the environment, improving the overall feel of the game. It takes some getting used to at first, but before long, it's a welcome shift from typical shooters.

The same can be said about the gameplay itself, though there will likely be more contention as to whether or not that's a good thing. Kane & Lynch 2 is a very hard game, mostly because many of the weapons are incredibly inaccurate. With few exceptions, it usually takes a few well placed shots to even hit a foe, something that, for as frustrating as it might be, isn't entirely unrealistic. When bullets do hit the enemies go down hard, but it's harder to land a shot in K&L2 than it is in most other shooters. It wouldn't be so obvious if enemies didn't seem to have perfect aim, something that will lead to many, many deaths. Well-placed checkpoints stop this from being too frustrating, but it definitely will be a polarizing experience.

After finishing the first third of the game, I'm fairly excited to continue fighting through the streets of Shanghai. While it's not the tightest shooter on the console, it's still a step in the right direction, and it's good to see that the developers have found a new, strong direction to take the series. Hopefully there's still time to clean up the accuracy, though, since it's likely going to be the largest complaint among those excited to pick up Dog Days next month.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Daysis due out on August 17th for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.