The original Kane and Lynch had its share of flaws, but you couldn't say much against the game's unique Fragile Alliance multiplayer mode, which fused cooperative and competitive play to ratchet up the tension between players. Would you team up with your fellow crooks to carry out a heist and split the loot? Or would you shoot them in the back at the last moment and make out with the entire haul?

Fragile Alliance returns in Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days (out August 24) with the same basic formula: You and seven other players are tasked with pulling off a robbery and escaping with as much money as possible. Whoever has the most money at the end of a set number of rounds wins. Work together to split the cash each round, or betray the team to steal it all for yourself. Deciding when to turn traitor is a strategic decision -- you need to make sure you're in a position to defend yourself and escape to victory.

Stories tend to emerge naturally while playing Fragile Alliance -- how and when you or your teammates turn on each other follows the plots of dozens of Hollywood movies. IO Interactive decided to enrich those stories in Kane and Lynch 2. Each playable character now has a name and a backstory, and each level was inspired by real-life events. One level, for example, riffs on the true-life tale of a crime syndicate who smuggled diamonds inside fish sold at the local market.

Here's the inspiration behind the level I tried out recently -- and how my own story played out:

The Inspiration

A gang of hoodlums learns that a group of professional thieves is planning a major -- and complicated -- heist. Not being technically proficient enough to pull off the job themselves, the hoodlums decide to let the other guys do the dirty work and surprise them as they make their escape.

Sounds easy enough -- except the cops catch wind of the original heist and stand between the gang and their getaway car. They have to blaze through them in order to secure the haul. Somehow they do just that, and they're never caught.

My Story

My fellow criminals and I start the level on a balcony overlooking the back entrance to an office building in Shanghai's financial district. As a timer counts down, I notice a group of men exiting the building. The countdown reaches zero and we open fire on the men, earning some cash for each one we kill. We then sprint down the stairs and stand over their bodies to collect the money they were holding. Standing over the same body means you have to share the loot, so I race towards a lonely guy slumped in the corner and take everything he has for myself.

Our bags full, we head in the direction of the getaway van, located through an alley and across a street. As we round the corner, shots ring out -- the cops, alerted by the original robbery, have arrived. Some of us head up a flight of stairs for a better angle on them, while others duck into a garage for cover. We pick off the cops one by one, working in concert to speed through the alley before reinforcements arrive.

But we're too late. Nearing the street, we notice multiple police cars blocking our way, cops poised to fire behind them. I run up and take cover behind a sign before they can see me. As I try to figure out the path of least resistance to the getaway van, I see one of my "teammates" empty a clip into a comrade at point-blank range. I watch impassively. I don't have time to deal with that now; my only thought is getting to the van before everyone else does.

While the traitor occupies the cops, I haul ass behind them to the safety of the alleys across the street. Down one of these alleys should be the van -- there it is. I jump in and press the Y button to convince the driver to split my take 50-50 and peel away, leaving my former teammates high and dry.

Sure, I'm a traitor now, but I'm a rich traitor -- and in Fragile Alliance, that's what matters.