MDK2: Armageddon

A little company you may have heard of called BioWare didn't start out making space operas; one of their earlier titles was a sequel to Shiny's MDK, aptly named MDK2 (the PS2 version is an Armageddon, for, some reason). MDK2 combines three very theoretically solid gameplay mechanics - platforming, shooting, and puzzle solving.

The game stars three characters. There's Kurt, a janitor, who dresses up in a coil suit for killer jumping ability and can snipe with pinpoint precision. Max, the six-legged cigar-smoking dog, wields up to four guns at once and is all about unloading as many bullets as possible. Finally, the mad doctor Fluke Hawkins uses pickup items to solve puzzles. Each level of the game is played from the perspective of one character, e.g. level 1 was Kurt, level 2 was Max, and level 3 is the doctor.

While it sounds great in theory, unfortunately the game falls flat on some core mechanics. The biggest problem is the controls: you can select from about a dozen different control schemes, but none of them seem quite right, and you can't customize individual buttons. And the 3D engine, I mean it looks good for the time the game came out, but it feels like it runs a bit slow.

Anyway, it's an interesting title, and I'm just up to the doctor's first level. More on this as it develops.

Progress: Level 3A