Introduction

Developed by Bioware
Published by: Interplay
MDK2 official page: http://www.bioware.com/mdk2/index.html
More MDK2 resources

What the heck is an "MDK"?

Ahh! Not another action game… No, actually, this is not your typical action game. The original MDK (lovingly known as Murder, Death, Kill… sounds grim, doesn't it?), developed by Shiny Entertainment, was critically acclaimed. It was the game that helped put Shiny on the map. It's too bad that what reviewers say doesn't always affect sales. MDK did not achieve its full potential in popularity, being out gunned by those first-person-shooters. So this time around, Interplay (the publisher), took the franchise to BioWare, makers of the immensely popular Baldur's Gate, and let them work their creative magic.

This guy requires internal and external damage

It's a dog-eat-dog universe

The original MDK was an action-packed game filled with dark, off-the-wall humor, a shining example of a third-person shooter done right. No other third-person-shooter to come along since has captured the unique game play of MDK. This means MDK 2 has a lot to live up to, but it manages to excel nonetheless.

Make Da Karma

The first thing that sets this game apart from others in its category is the story: the game actually has one and it actually matters. This is a throwback to the days of yore, when the singular immersion into the storyline of a game outweighed whether or not you can get that sub 50 ping.

Nice level design and architecture

Brianiac leaving you a nice surprise

The game has three stars, each of which are playable. One of them is Dr. Fluke Hawkins, your typical under appreciated, misunderstood mad scientist. He gets fed up and exiles himself to space. He's joined there by Kurt Hectic, Dr. Hawkins's loyal janitor (Hey, space is a dirty place), who goes along because, well, money equals power equals respect, and the good doctor pays well indeed. Finally there's Max, a six-legged gun-toting cyber dog, a rare successful creation of Dr. Hawkins.

The game is set on the everyday, run of the mill, alien-takeover-damn-I-must-go-save-the-world-how-come-no-one-else-seems-to-be-around-when-this-kind-of-thing-happens premise. While a bit cheesy, the game still manages to pull it off gracefully, thanks in large part to the subtle, dark humor and light-heartedness with which it was done, in essence making fun of itself.