(continued from previous page) ...anyone noticing, and since it was Kane doing all the action, knocked him out against a wall, and he was left just lying there, unnoticed to the partying crowd.

An amazing addition, with the gameplay and storyline, to the game is there is essence in strategy for missions now. For some, you will want to, not necessarily need to, use Kane’s persona to your advantage. When Kane and Lynch reached the top of a staircase, Kane took out a gun and shot his way in to see a receptionist. Lynch's violent personality took over and he knocked her out when she said they weren’t supposed to be in there. The two continued to argue over whether they should kidnap her for hostage to the company, but eventually Kane won out and Lynch carried her out onto the dance floor for all to see. Then Kane’s dented nature allowed for him to shoot into the crowd, which responded realistically as well. At this point, your objective is to take the secretary out with you safely. That’s it for one level.

The second one we were shown was a bank heist. Kane and Lynch both approach in a car, and the objective is simple. Get in, and out with money. The best part about the game that is worth mentioning is that there are no mission screens or briefings like traditional games. IO interactive fully immerses the player in the characters and story, rather than immersing them in gameplay to find out the story. A brilliant feat of accomplishment for IO Interactive in addition to this is that the screen is not befuddled by any HUD during most of the gameplay. They’ve kept the HUD as simple as possible, only displaying statistics of your squad and their condition for a more movie-like approach. Also, there is no notion of a health meter. To indicate that you're near death, the screen will begin to turn red, similar to when you are about to die in Hitman: Blood Money, effectively warning you to take cover immediately and wait for your life to regenerate. If you do die, you'll be given a flashback movie that reveals more of Kane's background, a nifty little addition than staring at your corpse with an instant and idiotic “reload game save” option.

Aside from that, a correspondent told us that there will be online co-op for the PlayStation 3 and that it’s in the works, with a mixed connection variety. For example, 2 can play at your house and link to two people online. Or two people can play at your house and with 1 person online and have the other squad member as an NPC, and then continue onto specific mission sets if more than 2 people—whether custom or single player missions with squad is unknown for more than 2 people. But with 2 people, there is a full online co op single player campaign mode in the works.

As we continue in the bank, the whole squad disperses and takes the entire guards hostage. Lynch yells “No body f---ing move or I’ll blow your heads off!” with Kane appropriately responding “If he doesn’t do it, I sure as hell will,” but suddenly a flash of a kid with a gun in his mouth happens and Kane responds to it accordingly. Lynch tells him to snap out of it and the game is on. Even though we alerted the people to remain still, someone set off the alarm. That’s right. The police now arrive, and it’s a big “f---ing mess” according to a paranoid squad member. Early on in the game, you are marked as a known mercenary with a reputation for leaving your team behind. That means you'll only be able to recruit some desperate and repressively angry people. Some might refuse to even give you their gun or might not follow your order fully and ask if you’re “trying to f--- up.” As you move through the game, you'll be able to recruit more professional help and hopefully things will look brighter in a darker world in the minds of our two criminals.

We appointed 2 people to do defense on the front door, as the police was giving out warnings. Afterwards, we shoot everything around us ... (continued on next page)