MDK2
Kurt is back in his tight black rubber stealth suit, and this time he's brought the Doc and Max the dog along for the ride...
Shiny's MDK was one of those games that got rave reviews from every magazine under the sun, but for some reason didn't sell very well. It had great graphics (for the time), lots of neat toys and weapons to play around with, and a unique visual style. Unfortunately it was also rather linear, but as third person shooters go it was ahead of its time.
Now Bioware (of Baldur's Gate fame) are working on a sequel, MDK2, which will drag the game kicking and screaming into the new millenium. Can it live up to the name? Three Of A Kind
The biggest change from MDK to MDK2 is that now you not only play as Kurt, but you will also take control of the Doctor and the mutant dog Max during the game.
Different areas will require you to play as different characters, and each has their own unique selection of weapons and equipment and allows a different approach to the game.
Kurt is much the same as he was in MDK, wearing a stealth suit with built in parachute and sniper rifle. Levels where you play Kurt tend to involve a lot of sneaking around, jumping, and picking off targets at long range.
The Doctor on the other hand has access to a huge inventory of bizarre items that can often be combined to produce something more useful. For example, combining a bottle of booze and a piece of cloth gives you a molotov cocktail that you can then set on fire with your lighter and hurl at enemies. The Doctor's levels involve more puzzle solving, making it more like an adventure game.
Finally there's Max, a four armed dog with a bad attitude. Able to hold a different weapon in each hand and use them all at once, his levels are more action oriented. Conclusion
Graphically MDK2 is just as stunning as MDK was in its day. And the version I saw was just the Dreamcast version - the PC version should look even better!
The twisted sense of humour is still there as well, with some great in-game cutscenes and a range of bizarre alien creatures, some of which appear to communicate by farting at each other.
With it's widely different characters and gameplay styles, effectively you're getting three games in one. If Bioware can tie the whole thing together into one coherent whole, they should be on to a winner...
Expect MDK2 on Dreamcast around the end of this year, with the PC version following soon afterwards.