GunnyMo
07-31-2007, 06:49 AM
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y38/GunnyMo/Review%20Pics/MDK2.jpg
The gods of gaming work in many mysterious ways. Sometimes they are cruel masters (or mistresses, if you prefer) and other times they are crafty but loving. I had such a moment last week. I opened a box from storage and there, atop a pile of swag from my days working in video game retail, was a shrink wrapped, big box copy of MDK 2 for the PC. I swear, I heard angels singing as I gripped its slick surface. I felt the gods had been good to me that day and I wasn’t wrong. As the first slammin’ notes of the techo soundtrack of MDK 2 pumped out of my speakers, I knew I’d been blessed.
Story
If you had told me, just last month even, that a janitor would prevent the annihilation of the world by marauding aliens I would have scoffed at you. That was, of course, before I’d met Kurt Hectic, janitor to the eccentric Dr. Fluke Hawkins. Not only is he the mild mannered waste management artisan of the scientific research spaceship, Jim Dandy, he is also the wearer of the Coil Suit and savior of Earth. Partnered with a six armed, cigar smoking robotic dog named Max and the brilliantly mustachioed Dr. Hawkins, Kurt Hectic will snipe his way into your heart as he keeps you safe from one funky alien after another.
Graphics & Sound
Put on your Way Back in Time hats ‘cause we’re talking The Year 2000 (in terms of technology) so you should have no troubles running MDK 2 with all of the graphical sliders turned up to eleven. I ran the game on Windows XP with a 1.8GHZ processor. However, if your PC still has a 5.25” floppy drive on it, put down the mouse and go pick up the Dreamcast or PlayStation 2 versions of the game. With the few people running 450MHZ systems aside, MDK 2 looks wonderful. Bright, vibrant alien vessels along with elegant golden brass ejecting from the Coil Suit’s chain gun and the gentle, green reflections of Atomic Toast are beautiful to behold.
I have to say that one of the best graphical features of the game are the loading screens between levels (see the screenshots below). Simply gorgeous, pulp comic book style artwork that is a blessing to the eye.
Even when the main menu is sitting on your screen you can tell that the movie, The Matrix, was very popular when MDK 2 was created. The pounding techno beat throughout the game is very reminiscent of the soundtrack to the Lobby Scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpc1SpDgUIA) in the best of that trilogy. Spent brass clinking to the floor, the gentle spring of a toaster and the melodic blast of a shotgun will waft forth from your speakers in audio bliss. Wait, can a sound "waft"? Hmm, oh well, it does in this game. The voice acting is great for all three characters although I thought Max could have been a bit better. You can really feel the reluctant angst of Kurt as he’s summoned to don the Coil Suit once more or the unconventional wisdom of Dr. Hawkins as he puts on a fish bowl to walk in space.
Control
You play as each of the three characters throughout the game and each one necessitates a different control scheme. They are of varying degrees of difficulty depending on how quick fingered you are. It took me several tries for Max and Dr. Hawkins to get a comfortable layout down. Dr. Hawkins requires you to move and select items laid out on either side of your screen for each of his yellow gloved hands. You have to pay attention to your key layout as you will have to select different items in both hands and use and/or combine them often times in the middle of hectic combat or timed puzzles. Max is able to wield four weapons at once (if you have them in your inventory but don’t worry, they are plentiful) and you must be able to quickly select and deselect as weapons run out of ammunition. Kurt has a simple interface of chain gun, sniper rifle and items. Floating with the Coil Suit is a simple double tap/hold of the jump key. The first individual levels you will encounter for each character are gentle enough on you that you’ll have time to get your configuration down pat.
There are nice control touches like the mouse pointer changing to a yellow glove, a hand or a paw depending on who you are that level. You will also find that Quick Save and Quick Load are your best friends. Trust me on that one.
My only real gripe with the control system is that there is no aiming reticle for any of the characters (except Kurt when he is sniping). With a little practice you can get the hang of it but in situations where you aren’t sniping as Kurt the lack of even rudimentary aiming is annoying.
Gameplay
MDK 2 is fraught with humor (your first mission is at the coordinates 8675309 and the mirrors in the bathroom tell you that your “image is not available at this time”), frenzied action and quick paced puzzles. Throughout the game, as you save Earth from alien invasion, you will alternate playing as each of the main characters. Each level, of course, is designed to challenge the particular strengths (and weaknesses) of the hero you are blasting away as. The health packs for each personality are also individually tempered: hunks of meat for Kurt, batteries for Max and bottles of soda for Dr. Hawkins. I like the attention to little details like that throughout the game.
Since each character, and control scheme, are vastly different I’ll break them down one by one.
Kurt: He wears the tight fitting, black Coil Suit which has some incredibly powerful weapons and is “an alternative to classy evening wear”. One of the two main weapons Kurt wields is a chain gun installed on the right arm. The basic model has unlimited ammo but, as you might surmise, isn’t that powerful. Along the way you will find Super Chain Guns as well as Laser Chain Guns with finite, but much stronger, ammunition. Kurt’s second weapon, and specialty, is the Sniper Scope. Using the right mouse button, you are zoomed into, you guessed it, sniper mode. The majority of puzzles you will encounter as Kurt require you to snipe. You will also come across some crazy sniper upgrades like Bouncing Bullets, Sniper Mortar, Sniper Grenade and the Homing Bullet. Kurt can also pick up a Sniper Shield which comes in extremely handy during a couple of boss fights. While Kurt’s sniper mode is much more powerful than the spray-n-pray chain gun, you are limited in movement to just left and right strafing. Your forward and backward movement keys control zoom in and out.
One of the best features of sniper mode is the little window in the upper right corner of your screen. When you fire the sniper rifle, the camera in that window follows the bullet to its destination. There are many puzzles that are solved by following your round and seeing where it hits.
Kurt’s Ribbon Chute poofs out the back of the Coil Suit when you are in mid-air, tap twice and hold the jump key. This will allow Kurt to float to whatever you need to get to. You cannot snipe when you are floating but your chain gun works very well. Kurt will only float up when over a fan or air current so don’t get too jump happy unless those things are around.
Max: A cybernetic, four armed, two legged dog with a downloaded action hero personality, Max is a walking powerhouse that loves a good cigar. Max starts out with a Magnum pistol (unlimited ammo, of course) but soon finds sexier weapons for his four arms. He can equip any combination of weapons with his quad arms but they all fire at the same time (no single arm selection unless you don’t put a weapon in an arm or two) and, other than the starting Magnum, they all run out of ammunition. You do have to be careful picking up every weapon you see as there is no manual Discard Weapon key if you grab a shotgun and then see a chain gun around the corner. Max can carry up to eight weapons (not counting the Magnum). You can equip one to four weapons, of any combination, at any time and switch them out as you please until they run out of ammo and are automatically dropped.
On several occasions Max is given a jet pack for the level and you must fly (and shoot) to survive. The Standard Jet Pack has limited fuel (which runs out very quickly) and has to be filled up at the filling stations you will find. You will find out just how quickly it runs out of gas during a flying level over a giant pool of green nuclear waste as you follow the floating fuel station to the exit! There is an Atomic Jet Pack with unlimited fuel but, alas, you don’t get that until much later in the game.
Due to his robotic construction, Max has the highest health of all the characters (200) but that just means he’ll have to fight more aliens, right?
Dr. Hawkins: Ok, don’t be alarmed here but with the Doc you might have to use your brain a bit. I know, I know it’s a scary prospect but stay with me. The power of Dr. Hawkins comes from his ability to combine different items to create new and exciting abominations of science. You’ll be amazed when you combine a toaster with bread and end up with, wait for it, toast! Alright, so maybe that isn’t the height of excitement but add a little toxic waste and you end up with exploding Atomic Toast! See, now that was fun! Granted, the combinations you can make are predetermined and unalterable but they are still fun to figure out. Levels with Dr. Hawkins are usually split between some combat and a puzzle or both at the same time. These combinations are where the control scheme familiarity I mentioned earlier comes into play. There are times when you are running around trying not to die (Doc only has 60 health) while frantically creating new combined items.
The fun of playing the Doc is enjoying his eccentric Mad Scientist personality. He might not have the best fire power but Dr. Hawkins was, for me, the most exciting and challenging to play.
Gunny’s Recommendation
One of the things I was really struck by as I played through MDK 2 were the similarities it shared with another title to hit consoles a few years later: Dr. Muto (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Muto). Especially evident when playing Dr. Hawkins, the quirky comedy and scientific gadgetry make MDK 2 very enjoyable. The game is a fairly straightforward, quick play (5-7 hours depending on how much you struggle with the puzzles) but has enough comedy, action and beauty for it to be an enjoyable play.
Where to Buy It
There is very little difference between the PS2, Dreamcast or PC versions of the game so even though this review covers the PC specifically, I'll list where to pick up copies of the game on any system. GoGamer (http://www.gogamer.com/MDK-2--Armageddon-Front-Page_stcVVproductId1776724VVcatId444710VVviewprod. htm) has the PS2 version (new) for $18.65 while GameStop (http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=938113) has it used for $3.99 (the kicker is that there is no box or instructions...boo!). eStarland (http://www.estarland.com/SegaDreamcast.cat..product.860.html) lists the Dreamcast version for $8.76. The PC version, however, takes some work to find. You can hit the bargain bins at your local brick-n-mortar stores or give the ol' eBay (http://cgi.ebay.com/MDK-2-from-Interplay-BioWare-for-W95-98-ME-XP-NEW_W0QQitemZ270121946456QQihZ017QQcategoryZ80329Q QrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem) a whirl.
Fun Factor
http://www.evilavatar.com/images/icons/e4_5.jpg
There are a few minor irritations in the game but, overall, it is a great action title and worth the quick search through the bargain bin.
Our Evil Eye graphics are on hold with the server move but MDK 2 earns a 4.5 out of 5.
Official Site (http://www.bioware.com/games/mdk2/)
(did I forget to mention the game was developed by BioWare? Well, it is, so go play it!)
Screenshots
With our recent server and software upgrades, the screenshot viewer is not functional as of yet. So we'll have to do this primitive like. The screenshots are below.
The gods of gaming work in many mysterious ways. Sometimes they are cruel masters (or mistresses, if you prefer) and other times they are crafty but loving. I had such a moment last week. I opened a box from storage and there, atop a pile of swag from my days working in video game retail, was a shrink wrapped, big box copy of MDK 2 for the PC. I swear, I heard angels singing as I gripped its slick surface. I felt the gods had been good to me that day and I wasn’t wrong. As the first slammin’ notes of the techo soundtrack of MDK 2 pumped out of my speakers, I knew I’d been blessed.
Story
If you had told me, just last month even, that a janitor would prevent the annihilation of the world by marauding aliens I would have scoffed at you. That was, of course, before I’d met Kurt Hectic, janitor to the eccentric Dr. Fluke Hawkins. Not only is he the mild mannered waste management artisan of the scientific research spaceship, Jim Dandy, he is also the wearer of the Coil Suit and savior of Earth. Partnered with a six armed, cigar smoking robotic dog named Max and the brilliantly mustachioed Dr. Hawkins, Kurt Hectic will snipe his way into your heart as he keeps you safe from one funky alien after another.
Graphics & Sound
Put on your Way Back in Time hats ‘cause we’re talking The Year 2000 (in terms of technology) so you should have no troubles running MDK 2 with all of the graphical sliders turned up to eleven. I ran the game on Windows XP with a 1.8GHZ processor. However, if your PC still has a 5.25” floppy drive on it, put down the mouse and go pick up the Dreamcast or PlayStation 2 versions of the game. With the few people running 450MHZ systems aside, MDK 2 looks wonderful. Bright, vibrant alien vessels along with elegant golden brass ejecting from the Coil Suit’s chain gun and the gentle, green reflections of Atomic Toast are beautiful to behold.
I have to say that one of the best graphical features of the game are the loading screens between levels (see the screenshots below). Simply gorgeous, pulp comic book style artwork that is a blessing to the eye.
Even when the main menu is sitting on your screen you can tell that the movie, The Matrix, was very popular when MDK 2 was created. The pounding techno beat throughout the game is very reminiscent of the soundtrack to the Lobby Scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpc1SpDgUIA) in the best of that trilogy. Spent brass clinking to the floor, the gentle spring of a toaster and the melodic blast of a shotgun will waft forth from your speakers in audio bliss. Wait, can a sound "waft"? Hmm, oh well, it does in this game. The voice acting is great for all three characters although I thought Max could have been a bit better. You can really feel the reluctant angst of Kurt as he’s summoned to don the Coil Suit once more or the unconventional wisdom of Dr. Hawkins as he puts on a fish bowl to walk in space.
Control
You play as each of the three characters throughout the game and each one necessitates a different control scheme. They are of varying degrees of difficulty depending on how quick fingered you are. It took me several tries for Max and Dr. Hawkins to get a comfortable layout down. Dr. Hawkins requires you to move and select items laid out on either side of your screen for each of his yellow gloved hands. You have to pay attention to your key layout as you will have to select different items in both hands and use and/or combine them often times in the middle of hectic combat or timed puzzles. Max is able to wield four weapons at once (if you have them in your inventory but don’t worry, they are plentiful) and you must be able to quickly select and deselect as weapons run out of ammunition. Kurt has a simple interface of chain gun, sniper rifle and items. Floating with the Coil Suit is a simple double tap/hold of the jump key. The first individual levels you will encounter for each character are gentle enough on you that you’ll have time to get your configuration down pat.
There are nice control touches like the mouse pointer changing to a yellow glove, a hand or a paw depending on who you are that level. You will also find that Quick Save and Quick Load are your best friends. Trust me on that one.
My only real gripe with the control system is that there is no aiming reticle for any of the characters (except Kurt when he is sniping). With a little practice you can get the hang of it but in situations where you aren’t sniping as Kurt the lack of even rudimentary aiming is annoying.
Gameplay
MDK 2 is fraught with humor (your first mission is at the coordinates 8675309 and the mirrors in the bathroom tell you that your “image is not available at this time”), frenzied action and quick paced puzzles. Throughout the game, as you save Earth from alien invasion, you will alternate playing as each of the main characters. Each level, of course, is designed to challenge the particular strengths (and weaknesses) of the hero you are blasting away as. The health packs for each personality are also individually tempered: hunks of meat for Kurt, batteries for Max and bottles of soda for Dr. Hawkins. I like the attention to little details like that throughout the game.
Since each character, and control scheme, are vastly different I’ll break them down one by one.
Kurt: He wears the tight fitting, black Coil Suit which has some incredibly powerful weapons and is “an alternative to classy evening wear”. One of the two main weapons Kurt wields is a chain gun installed on the right arm. The basic model has unlimited ammo but, as you might surmise, isn’t that powerful. Along the way you will find Super Chain Guns as well as Laser Chain Guns with finite, but much stronger, ammunition. Kurt’s second weapon, and specialty, is the Sniper Scope. Using the right mouse button, you are zoomed into, you guessed it, sniper mode. The majority of puzzles you will encounter as Kurt require you to snipe. You will also come across some crazy sniper upgrades like Bouncing Bullets, Sniper Mortar, Sniper Grenade and the Homing Bullet. Kurt can also pick up a Sniper Shield which comes in extremely handy during a couple of boss fights. While Kurt’s sniper mode is much more powerful than the spray-n-pray chain gun, you are limited in movement to just left and right strafing. Your forward and backward movement keys control zoom in and out.
One of the best features of sniper mode is the little window in the upper right corner of your screen. When you fire the sniper rifle, the camera in that window follows the bullet to its destination. There are many puzzles that are solved by following your round and seeing where it hits.
Kurt’s Ribbon Chute poofs out the back of the Coil Suit when you are in mid-air, tap twice and hold the jump key. This will allow Kurt to float to whatever you need to get to. You cannot snipe when you are floating but your chain gun works very well. Kurt will only float up when over a fan or air current so don’t get too jump happy unless those things are around.
Max: A cybernetic, four armed, two legged dog with a downloaded action hero personality, Max is a walking powerhouse that loves a good cigar. Max starts out with a Magnum pistol (unlimited ammo, of course) but soon finds sexier weapons for his four arms. He can equip any combination of weapons with his quad arms but they all fire at the same time (no single arm selection unless you don’t put a weapon in an arm or two) and, other than the starting Magnum, they all run out of ammunition. You do have to be careful picking up every weapon you see as there is no manual Discard Weapon key if you grab a shotgun and then see a chain gun around the corner. Max can carry up to eight weapons (not counting the Magnum). You can equip one to four weapons, of any combination, at any time and switch them out as you please until they run out of ammo and are automatically dropped.
On several occasions Max is given a jet pack for the level and you must fly (and shoot) to survive. The Standard Jet Pack has limited fuel (which runs out very quickly) and has to be filled up at the filling stations you will find. You will find out just how quickly it runs out of gas during a flying level over a giant pool of green nuclear waste as you follow the floating fuel station to the exit! There is an Atomic Jet Pack with unlimited fuel but, alas, you don’t get that until much later in the game.
Due to his robotic construction, Max has the highest health of all the characters (200) but that just means he’ll have to fight more aliens, right?
Dr. Hawkins: Ok, don’t be alarmed here but with the Doc you might have to use your brain a bit. I know, I know it’s a scary prospect but stay with me. The power of Dr. Hawkins comes from his ability to combine different items to create new and exciting abominations of science. You’ll be amazed when you combine a toaster with bread and end up with, wait for it, toast! Alright, so maybe that isn’t the height of excitement but add a little toxic waste and you end up with exploding Atomic Toast! See, now that was fun! Granted, the combinations you can make are predetermined and unalterable but they are still fun to figure out. Levels with Dr. Hawkins are usually split between some combat and a puzzle or both at the same time. These combinations are where the control scheme familiarity I mentioned earlier comes into play. There are times when you are running around trying not to die (Doc only has 60 health) while frantically creating new combined items.
The fun of playing the Doc is enjoying his eccentric Mad Scientist personality. He might not have the best fire power but Dr. Hawkins was, for me, the most exciting and challenging to play.
Gunny’s Recommendation
One of the things I was really struck by as I played through MDK 2 were the similarities it shared with another title to hit consoles a few years later: Dr. Muto (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Muto). Especially evident when playing Dr. Hawkins, the quirky comedy and scientific gadgetry make MDK 2 very enjoyable. The game is a fairly straightforward, quick play (5-7 hours depending on how much you struggle with the puzzles) but has enough comedy, action and beauty for it to be an enjoyable play.
Where to Buy It
There is very little difference between the PS2, Dreamcast or PC versions of the game so even though this review covers the PC specifically, I'll list where to pick up copies of the game on any system. GoGamer (http://www.gogamer.com/MDK-2--Armageddon-Front-Page_stcVVproductId1776724VVcatId444710VVviewprod. htm) has the PS2 version (new) for $18.65 while GameStop (http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=938113) has it used for $3.99 (the kicker is that there is no box or instructions...boo!). eStarland (http://www.estarland.com/SegaDreamcast.cat..product.860.html) lists the Dreamcast version for $8.76. The PC version, however, takes some work to find. You can hit the bargain bins at your local brick-n-mortar stores or give the ol' eBay (http://cgi.ebay.com/MDK-2-from-Interplay-BioWare-for-W95-98-ME-XP-NEW_W0QQitemZ270121946456QQihZ017QQcategoryZ80329Q QrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem) a whirl.
Fun Factor
http://www.evilavatar.com/images/icons/e4_5.jpg
There are a few minor irritations in the game but, overall, it is a great action title and worth the quick search through the bargain bin.
Our Evil Eye graphics are on hold with the server move but MDK 2 earns a 4.5 out of 5.
Official Site (http://www.bioware.com/games/mdk2/)
(did I forget to mention the game was developed by BioWare? Well, it is, so go play it!)
Screenshots
With our recent server and software upgrades, the screenshot viewer is not functional as of yet. So we'll have to do this primitive like. The screenshots are below.