Antiheroes are a tricky lot. On the one hand, they have to be mean, surly and volatile enough to make them believable bad guys. On the other hand, they also need to have some redeeming qualities; there has to be something about them that makes a person think that, deep down, they're actually kind of good. At the very least, you need to be able to care about what happens to them. And that's where Eidos' new ultraviolent crime drama Kane & Lynch: Dead Men falls down.

Our protagonist, Kane, is a convicted murderer. The game begins with Lynch, Kane's psychotic, unpredictable, and thoroughly evil sidekick, pulling off a deadly prison break. They turn urban streets into a war zone as they make their escape, killing an ungodly number of innocent police officers without batting an eye.

And that's pretty much par for the course throughout the game. Kane shoots through anything and everything he encounters, much of the time without good reason -- or remorse. Worse, his actions reflect his personality. Constantly angry, rarely sympathetic, and quick to pull a trigger, he's an extraordinarily disagreeable person. You won't like him, and you won't enjoy playing as him.

Once you realize just how abhorrent your character is, there's little about the game that will make you want to continue playing.

Kane & Lynch employs a fairly standard third-person shooter formula. You'll wield a traditional selection of ballistic weapons, including pistols, machine guns, and sniper rifles, all of which control and perform about as you'd expect. You can also pull off a few context sensitive actions, such as stealth killing, wall rappelling, and taking cover, though quirks with the cover mechanic make it alternate between frustrating and useless most of the time.

Meanwhile, you have limited control over the bad guy buddies with whom you do your murderous affairs. You can let your crew do their own thing, or issue orders for them to fall back from or fire at specific targets. Squad combat is functional; indeed, even vital in a few of the game's battles. That said, it's not compelling enough to make you think about using it except when other avenues of attack have failed.

Long story short: The action is usually competent, but always unexceptional.

Kane & Lynch's one distinction is art direction. Technically, the graphics on all three platforms hover around average, but the game has a polished, cinematic feel. Plus, some of the character models are downright lovely -- you may hate Kane and Lynch, but the former, with his bloody, bandaged nose, and the latter, with his tinted glasses and black, stringy hair, are certainly two of the more visually memorable video game characters of 2007.

However, respectable production values hardly make up for the game's distasteful narrative and average action. There has been plenty of hype leading up to Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, but if you've a modicum of perspicacity, see past it and don't buy the game -- not new, anyway. There are all sorts of more entertaining (not to mention more wholesome) ways to spend your time.