It’s going to be an interesting week in the gaming world. We’ve got a sequel to a game that was universally hailed as awful, and a new installment in an old franchise that takes things is a completely new direction.

Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days (360, PC, PS3)

I’m a subscriber of the belief that gameplay must come first and foremost before anything else. A great story and intriguing characters only go so far in a videogame. The first ‘Kane and Lynch’ is a testament to that. Both of the main characters were rich and interesting, even revealing information about themselves as they neared death.

The game played like crap, though. Aiming was strange and moving didn’t feel right. Only after some tinkering with the settings could it be made playable. The second game aims to fix those mistakes and redeem the unlikely franchise. Will it be enough? We’ll see.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (XBLA)

Remember when Lara Croft was a marquee name in American gaming? The first few games were enormous hits and managed to spark a franchise that’s been going since. It hasn’t necessarily been going strong, but it’s kept going.

‘Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light’ takes things in a completely different direction from what you might expect to see in a ‘Tomb Raider’ game. It’s a cooperative isometric game, like the ‘Ultimate Alliance’ series, but with more cooperative puzzle solving. It’s available for download tomorrow on the Xbox 360.

Everquest II Extended (PC)

Are you ready for some confusion? ‘Everquest II’ is going free-to-play. Sort of. Starting today, you’ll be able to sign up for the game without paying a dime. If you’re a current subscriber, things get weird.

The whole situation is explained in the membership matrix, which should be a nice indicator of just how complex it is. There’s a free-to-play version, a version where you pay $10 up front, a version where you’ll pay monthly fees, and a platinum tier for folks that shell out $200 for a full year’s membership. Yikes.