Before this review starts, I invite you all to take a ride in my
magical time machine. The year is 1997 and Quake, Diablo, King's
Quest 18 top the charts, along with Myst for its 476th consecutive
week. News of Quake 2 and Unreal rule the Internet, and every
time a new screenshot is released the entire Internet is slowed to a
crawl. Lots of other stuff happened in 1997 too, I think, maybe.
But of all the games, of all the news, of all the worldwide sporting
events and many court trials, by far, the most important thing to
happen that year was the release of MDK.
Okay, maybe MDK wasn't the most important thing in the world
that year, but it damn sure changed a lot of games, and gamers'
opinions. People became bored of the normal shooter with the
same boring guns and levels. Rocket Launchers, Grenade
Launchers and Chainguns, oh my! Click here, click there, flip a
switch, and click again. It got old. That's where MDK came in.
The one game that was the perfect blend of action and thinking
that any gamer (except for old people) could totally dig. There
was a certain odd humor to the game; something between
carefully scripted comedy, and the just plain weird that added
much to the already incredible atmosphere. You played as Kurt, a
janitor who was Earth's only chance of survival. Equipped with a
sniper rifle helmet, a shitload of guns and ammo, and a six-legged
dog (to bomb the crap out of enemies when needed), you
single-handedly saved the planet from those bastard aliens.
Until....
Step out of the magical time machine, open your eyes, make sure
all your limbs are attached since the machine has a few bugs (we
took the Daikatana style of building this machine, years and years
of development for a product that just don't work quite right) and
look at the present. 2000, the millennium, and finally, after 3 years
of being on the edge of my seat, MDK 2 is out. Okay, now to the
review.
MDK 2 contains the same basic elements as the original. You run,
you see alien, you shoot alien, maybe solve a puzzle, maybe shoot
some more. Or maybe that's just one way of accomplishing what
you're trying to do. While this may sound like your normal
tried-and-true cookie cutter action game, I assure you, it is not.
For one thing, shooting isn't always the answer. Since you are no
longer limited to playing as Kurt, but may also play as two other
characters, Max and the Doc, there are 3 times as many items and
weapons and levels, and 3 times the fun. As Kurt, you do what he
does best. Snipe. Sure he gets big guns and grenades, but
shooting the off an alien's head from 300 yards and watching him
suck in the air that kills him, well that's something that every
person on this planet should experience in their life, along with
drunken bowling. As Max, the aforementioned six-legged dog,
you shoot, but not with your standard action gun, no, no. As Max,
you have a wide selection of handguns, uzis, shotguns and
chainguns, and best of all, you can hold up to 4 at a time.
And then there's Doc. From what I've read on Interplay's message
forum, most people detest the Doc. He doesn't really get weapons,
so to speak. Instead, he picks up random items, such as a toaster
or duct tape, and uses them not only in the surrounding
environment, but also, sometimes, as weapons. Come on, what
other game gives you an atomic toaster as a weapon, answer me
that. But alas, Doc is not the action hero type. No movies will be
launched about the Doc, and the normal shooter junkies will be
disappointed, but if you like to think about how to solve something,
rather than just what body part to aim for, then you will love the
Doc, as I do. Or, on certain levels, you can just grab some
Plutonium (available at a Wal-Mart near you) and turn into an
Incredible Hulkish Doc where you can bash the crap out of
enemies.
Unfortunately, you don't get to choose who to play as. You play
one (long) level as Kurt, then as Max, then to the Doc. Lather,
rinse, repeat. While I didn't like this idea at first it grew on me
very quickly, as it gives you a chance to play as someone you may
not have gone back and played after you beat the game once.
And even if you don't like one character's first level, the next is
different.
While graphics are a major part of today's games, with more and
more emphasis on making games prettier rather than making them
better, looking at screenshots of MDK 2 before the game was
released, I was a little worried. Why, you may ask yourself, was I
worried about such a pretty game? I thought it was going to suck,
that's why! Riven, Quake 3 (I'm a UT kinda guy), C&C2, are all
prettier sequels, and are all crappier. But some games do get the
mix of incredible visual style and great gameplay just right, and
MDK 2 is one of the few. Resolutions up to 1280x1024 are
available, provided you have the hardware to run it, and if you use
the highest texture quality, you're in for a visual treat. 32 bit color,
mipmapping and hardware T&A, err T&L (again, provided you
have the card .. aka, GeForce) make a great game even better.
Bright colors are used instead of the drab palettes of most
shooters, especially in Doc's levels. Enemies and architecture are
top notch too, and a few of the bosses, while slightly humorous
looking, are modeled exquisitely.
So how does it sound? Great. Sorry, that was the best adjective I
could think of, you just have to hear this. EAX support adds to the
game nicely, but I actually had the most fun playing this with my
headphones. I'm just weird like that. Shell out the cash for the
Live and the speaker set and I use headphones, go figure. But
anyway, great sound effects and voice acting, and some really
cool and appropriate music top the game off. And while the music
is very well done and fits in nicely with the game,. I don't know
why, but I just love playing this to the sound of the Gladiator
soundtrack (available right next to the Plutonium, at your local
Wal-Mart), again, that's just me.
Really, the only negative thing I can find is the interface, and even
that isn't horribly bad. The main menu is fine, but I have few
minor gripes about the control setup. For one, you can't simply
reverse a setting you didn't mean to set, such as accidentally set
mouse 1 to do 8 things at once, instead, you have to re-map the
key you want to use, and also a second key, to delete the Mouse 1
setting. While I know this is just a minor thing to bitch about, it
can get annoying if you don't catch it right away. This can end up
putting you in situations where, while you only meant jump out of
the way, you also end up firing your last 8 lasers, throwing a
grenade and switching to sniper mode. Of course, most people
are smart enough not to do that in the first place but it was 4am on
a Friday night, Cinemax was on and I wasn't paying much
attention to the game.
All in all, MDK 2 is one hell of a game. Another reason I was a
little skeptical was because it's sort of a port from a console, and
ports haven't had the greatest track record. But this is one of the
few that was done right, adding full keyboard support (which
should be a given when porting games), and save-anywhere
capability, among other gameplay enhancements. If you like to
have fun playing games, and even if you like to laugh, there are a
few parts in MDK 2 that are simply FUNNY, not the normal
supposed-to-be-funny crap that you see in a lot of games, but
clever humour, something that is generally very rare. So go buy
this game, now!
By: 
