Platforms: PC|PS3|X360 (reviewed)

Developer: IO Interactive

Publisher: Eidos Interactive/Square-Enix

I was genuinely excited for this sequel after my time down at the Square-Enix offices at the preview day a couple of months back. The guns felt solid, the pace was breathtaking and the presentation came across like a Michael Mann film marinaded in extra grime and stewed under a tramp’s armpit. But gradually the worry began to set in that this reaction had only really been provoked by having played the immensely disappointing first game just the weekend beforehand. Still, it certainly looked like progress was being made.

Having the final product in my hands, Dog Days, then, is something of an apology – IO have come out and said that they wanted to make the game that they felt the first one deserved to be and Square have responded with an ad campaign the likes of which are usually only reserved for painfully average big budget movies that are all mouth and no trousers. They’re pretty sure they’ve clocked it this time.

By and large, the first game was one of those salvageable titles that was big on innovative concepts but short on fun and fulfilled potential, a hotchpotch of gripping narrative elements and alienating gunplay that was, quite simply, broken. A bit like Mass Effect in that respect, but worse.

The comparison, although somewhat heretical one side of my brain is thinking, is actually pretty apt. As with BioWare’s sequel, this second pass has tightened up the action. No longer do you feel as if you have a Super Soaker in your grasp. The controller recoils nicely in your hands, the rifles feel robust, the SMGs like barely contained hives of spitting death, and the shotguns dispense emphatic brutality that’s often followed by the game’s pixellation of severe violence, punching the heads off of people with their shot.

But in spite of all of this, the weapons feel somewhat underpowered. Unless you have the precision rifle, firing at any range sometimes feels ridiculously hit-and-miss, like a lucky dip…but with bullets and screaming. It’s compounded by the fact that enemies can hit you from over half a mile away, creating firefights that are often incredibly frustrating, especially on the higher difficulty levels. Chance and general perseverance seem to have just as much of a bearing half the time as actual skill, which is slightly unnerving. Middling Spoiler Alert: It’s only really in the last couple of levels that you feel like a badass – ironically after shit has hit and destroyed the room that the fan was standing in, with you desperately needing medical attention – as the game thrusts a heavy duty, rapid-fire  support machine gun into your hands and has you take on a helicopter.

See if every dog has its day after the jump...