MDK2: HD Review

I couldn’t find any cosplay of MDK2: HD, but I did find the above fan art by Antonio Minuto of Kurt mid-transition!

When I think of MDK I taste Minties. It’s probably just synaesthesia or perhaps the more interesting prospect of association—what could possibly lead to Minties being associated with MDK to the point that I can taste the minty fresh bastards whenever I hear MDK? A Minties plus MDK binge so powerful that I forgot completely about it?

Whatever the reason I was rather obsessed with my mission of delivering kindness (or murdering death kills?) for some time, and though I didn’t really get very far it remains to this day one of my favourite games. MDK2 on the other hand was something of a disappointment: the upgraded graphics were, as far as I was concerned, a slight downgrade.

The beefier polygons did away with some of the extremely pixelated (and incredibly cutting edge for the time!) style of the first game. It was less dark, easier to see, and as a result a far smoother experience to play. In fact smooth is a great way to describe it: if you’re idle and not running smoothly around in a battle you’re dead. The combat (no matter who you’re playing as, even though each character plays very differently, but we’ll solve that contradiction later) is all about circle strafing and jumping out of the way of homing Sci-Fi bullets, and while it’s very simple it’s beautiful behold, and quite satisfying on the harder difficulties when you’re up against multiple enemies.

For those of you who died a little on the inside every time you died in the original (which was probably a lot, so by now you’re almost soulless, right?) you have the chance to redeem yourself on medium and lower difficulty settings (and still might make it to heaven yet).  Sweet mercy.

Of course it’s not just circle strafing. You’ve got to juggle atomic toasters, mortar launching sniper rifles, scarecrows that attract the enemies’ attention, and a whole arsenal of helpful items and weapons that give the combat a fair bit of strategy on the harder difficulty settings.

The graphics have been left largely untouched which contrary to my original thoughts on the game is a great thing. The textures have been given a new hi-res lick of paint, but the smooth animation of combat, and the anything but smooth animation of the comical cutscenes has remained unchanged.

This works so well because MDK2 has such rich art and presentation. The characters move with seizure-like jerks during the cutscenes which fits the comical script and voice acting perfectly, and yet they move gracefully during the actual gameplay (well, Kurt does, but you can’t really expect graceful movement from a six legged dog and an elderly mad professor can you?) gliding about the alien landscapes that feel both cold and beautiful, and the enemies are depicted with the same sense of humour that the main characters are.

It’s complimented perfectly by the soundtrack which is once again blessed with only minor improvements: the music and the voice acting sounds far less compressed than in the original game. The soundtrack itself is excellent: the voice actors deliver the comic dialogue gleefully, and the music is a brilliant mix of hardcore techno and eerie ambience. The hardcore techno will have your head nodding as you circle strafe your way to victory, and the ambience keeps things nice and creepy whenever there needs to be a slight break in the breakneck pace of proceedings.

The combat itself is broken up by puzzles. The bulk of the puzzles consist of jumping (don’t cringe just yet!), and sniping—not to mention switch puzzles! Sniping...? Sniping puzzles? That’s what I said! Pay attention please. During said sniping puzzles you will find yourself shooting lockballs while also dealing with alien ball-turrets shooting at you, or enemies on the ground. Sniping a lockball is usually not a simple matter. Sometimes they’re moving, or can only be taken out by certain weapons.

The jumping puzzles fair better than in other games because they feel like an integral part of the gameplay structure rather than an annoying diversion simply there to break up combat (I’m looking at you early 2000 FPSers!) and can be quite devilish indeed. Sometimes the jumping puzzles are skippable if you’re clever: you see MDK2 is full of secret areas that offer an arsenal of weapons and health, or perhaps a shortcut. It encourages exploring, especially on subsequent playthroughs.

While not technically jumping puzzles—when playing as Max (the 6-legged dog, not the rabbit)—there are some wonderful puzzles and sections involving a jetpack. As you use the jetpack it runs out of fuel so you have to fly carefully from petrol pump to petrol pump or later on, when you get a regenerating jetpack, fly strategically knowing when to conserve your fuel and when to go all out.

The switch puzzles are simply that: figuring out the correct order or timing in a series of switches then standing on them in that order, or at the right time. And of course making sure you don’t get your face shot off while doing so.

It might sound very simple, and very gamey but those are exactly the reasons it works: the truth is none of the elements of the gameplay taken individually are truly exceptional, but there is so much variety that all these little moments that are always done at the very least well come together to form one exceptional experience.

The basic structure of the game reflects the variety as over the 10 levels Max, Kurt and Dr. Hawkins share almost equal time, and all play completely differently to each other. As you’ve probably already gathered Kurt (Hawkins’ janitor) moves smoothly and has a reasonable arsenal. He’s also blessed with the sniper which comes in just as handy in combat as it does in puzzles.

Max (Hawkins’ dog) is a cigar smoking monster who wields four guns at once. He’s a tank, and is as much about fire power as Kurt is about smooth movement and strategy. Finally there’s Dr. Hawkins who is quite useless compared to his pet and his janitor. He doesn’t move fast, he’s weak, and instead of using a handy shotgun he combines items in a simple, scientific manner to create weapons.

For example: find a bottle of liquor and a towel? You’ve got yourself a Molotov cocktail, well so long as you also have a lighter. And never underestimate the power of a toaster dipped in plutonium. Contrary to popular belief bread doesn’t sustain life: it takes it. (Well, of course it does if it’s poisoned with plutonium!)

The boss battles themselves are just as diverse. There are a few that are simply a case of shoot it until it dies, but most of them require you to be working on puzzles at the same time while also learning the pattern of the giant alien trying to kill you.

This can range in complexity from merely sniping an environmental hazard at the right time to having to flip a series of switches in the right order and at the right time to the complexity of the final boss which I really won’t say much about except that it is possibly the most graphic, disgusting, gory and absolutely hilarious boss battle in video game history. It’s certainly one of the most fun.

The final boss epitomises everything great about MDK2 HD: it’s visually stunning (in this case disgusting), it sounds beautiful (in this case horrific), it’s eclectic (in terms of anatomy), and is just plain funny.

From a historical perspective the minor improvements are a great thing, but from a consumers perspective perhaps they are a tad disappointing given that they are rife with performance issues on more powerful hardware and the original, untouched, version is available for online purchase, but junkies (maybe this explains the Minties? They rhyme!) MDK2 is a great game and even if you have the original version it’s more than worth another play through with a little make-up on, just don’t be expecting any plastic surgery. But why on earth would you want there to be any?