Perhaps it's a sign of our post-modern society, but in the gaming world the anti-hero is even more popular than the hero.

GAME: KANE & LYNCH 2: DOG DAYS

PUBLISHER: EIDOS

Adam "Kane" Marcus and James Lynch go a step further. They're scumbags: a middle-aged pair with few morals and less dress-sense.

This is the second of their adventures, and Lynch has left South America for Shanghai - where he lives with his girlfriend and works for a crime lord, Glazer (as a Manchester United fan I liked that touch).

Glazer is having trouble with other crime rings so Lynch calls in Kane to help out.

In the first game you played primarily as Kane, this time the balding, long-haired Lynch is the main character.

There have been some improvements to movement - such as the ability to take cover - though your shooting, particularly at the beginning, is poor, while your enemies are all crack shots.

Kane & Lynch2 has a gritty TV news-footage feel to it. This low-rent graphic look is deliberate and deceptive - stop for a moment and look around and you'll see an incredible detail.

Four of its stars are earned for plot and dialogue - X-rated and very funny.

THE GOOD

It achieves the rare feat of making two over-the-hill trailer-trash boys likeable.

THE BAD

The single-player campaign is very short: it can apparently be completed in five hours (presumably by nimble-fingered superheroes with the cheat codes at hand), though I'm way past that milestone and haven't yet finished.

THE IN-BETWEEN

It's very, very graphically violent. One of the few I've come across that I would not recommend for youngsters.

RATING: 8.7