MDK2: Armageddon
The third and final version of BioWare's awesome sneaker/shooter/thinker has hit the PS2, but does it offer something that the PC and Dreamcast versions can't?
Published: April 26, 2001
I'll admit, this wasn't a hard review to write. With 2 versions of MDK2 already out, it was only a matter of time before I picked up a controller or keyboard and dove in. Well, I did and loved the results, so it was with just a wee bit of excitement that I tore the plastic wrap off of the PS2 port and tossed it into the disc tray of my PS2. There were quite a few questions bouncing around in my mind. Would the PS2 version be able to hold up against the PC and Dreamcast versions? What kind of enhancements would we see? Is this a worthy purchase for someone who already owns one of the other versions? When will Laetitia Casta ring my doorbell wearing nothing but a saran wrap dress and a smile? I mean, it has to happen soon, right? Luckily, most of my questions were answered after just a few short hours of playing. I'm still waiting on Ms. Casta, but at least I was a little less inquisitive about MDK2.
The first MDK introduced us to Kurt Hectic, his fab (and oh-so-fashionable) coil suit, and the now-familiar sniper helmet. See, when Kurt pops into sniper mode, he can pick off an enemy from over a mile away. Handy, no? The problem is, as cool as the sniper helmet is, the novelty wears off, and certainly would do so with a sequel. Luckily, BioWare (yes, the same BioWare that's been developing the insanely popular Baldur's Gate games for years) understood this, and rather than recycle the same character and place him in a new setting, they opted to thicken up the stable of protagonists. Joining Kurt are Doctor Hawkins and the Doc's faithful 6-armed gritty canine Max. Not only do the characters provide ample comic relief (especially from Doc Hawkins), but they actually offer three completely different styles of gameplay. Kurt's sneak-and-snipe approach carries over from the first game, so you'll mainly find yourself trying to get the drop on enemies rather than charging right into the fray. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is Max, who's brash, kill-em-all style of gunplay all but ensures you're going to be firing at something at any given moment. Then there's the quirky, hilarious Doc, who wouldn't be able to hit the broad side of a barn with a pistol, but give him some bread and a radioactive toaster, and he'll kick out an endless stream of atomic toast (no, really, I'm not kidding about this) with eagle eye precision. It's the juxtaposition of these three different styles of play that keep everything fresh and unique, and when coupled with BioWare's knack for preserving that incredibly odd sense of humor that Shiny Entertainment gave us with the first game, you're all but guaranteed to have a good time.
Now as I'd mentioned earlier, there were some changes made to the PS2 iteration. First off, MDK2 is hard. Really hard. Break your controller in half and then throw it out the window hard. Luckily, in the gap that BioWare had between the Dreamcast and PS2 versions, they were able to get a little feedback. The result? An adjustable difficulty level that should turned my level of cursing from a line of four-letter explicatives that would make a drunken sailor blush to something that would merely warrant a stern stare from a nun. The level designs also got a bit of an overhaul, so while most of the levels proper may not have changed, small parts have been tweaked for a little more minty freshness. Likewise, the graphics got a touch-up, not so much in texture work or models, but in lighting. The game overall is much brighter, something that Dreamcast owners will no doubt be praising. One of the best changes from the Dreamcast to PS2 is actually in the controls. Not in the way the players move (which is exactly as they did on the DC: fast, fluid, and damn near perfectly), but with the controller itself. I've often said that the DualShock 2 is the best controller ever made, and after a few hours of ripping around corners with guns blazing or pinpointing that perfect sniper spot, your fingers will thank you.
Graphically, you're not really going to find anything here that you didn't in the Dreamcast version. The textures and lighting are almost pixel for pixel the exact same, but then again, this is the same core technology at work. I did notice that everything seems a bit more muted on the PS2, but that may have been the result of brightening everything up overall. What's great about this is that the same thing can be said for all versions of MDK2: it's damn pretty. There's a really cool, almost organic feel to the level designs and each character's unique abilities are culled multiple times throughout the levels without it becoming blatantly obvious. Thanks to generous amounts of lighting, everything is bathed in a particular glow, whether is a dark purpleish-blue or blood red, stark green or cheery orange, everything has a real feel to it. Likewise, the textures serve both aesthetic and functional purposes, highlighting where you need to go while keeping everything running with that organic feel. If there's one complaint, it's that everything is still a little bit on the dark side. There are moments of vibrant color, but typically, everything feels very dark, even gloomy. This makes sense, since you're going to be spending a lot of time in the bowels of a ship, but it can get a little tiresome on the eyes nonetheless. The framerate could have been locked in at a steady 30, but instead it tends to yo-yo, from a silky 60fps when in enclosed areas to a chunky sub-20 when in wide-open venues with lots of enemies. This was a problem that plagued the Dreamcast version too, but it would have been nice to have something a little more constant throughout.
Armageddon's sound is fantastic, with plenty of high production value in the music, effects and voice acting. Each of the characters voices perfectly embodies their personalities, especially (and I know I've said this before) Doc Hawkins. Kurt is a janitor, and responds as such with a little bit of whine punching through the normally semi-courageous speech. Doc Hawkins has a the pipes of an old man who's still ticking, but sometimes the light upstairs may be flickering, and Max is gruff, short, and to the point. Always. What's more, the various grunts, groans, muzzle blasts, beeps and squeaks that accompany all of the characters' actions are perfect; never too much, but not really lacking any punch either. Most of MDK2's music starts out with a full orchestral fanfare, but dies down to simple beats that keep things moving. This is fantastic, since most of the time you're hell-bent on taking out an enemy, and not really paying any mind to whether or not there's a raging industrial track in the background. There are moments where there's no music, only ambient hums and drones, but it's never so annoying that you're diving for the mute button. The only real complaint I can muster about the music is that there's a small pause while the audio track on the CD is restarted. It's a minor quibble and really doesn't detract at all from the game.
So is MDK2: Armageddon a must-have? If you don't own one of the other versions, absolutely. BioWare has crafted a fantastic game that belongs in any gamer's library. Incredibly solid, full of humor, and packed with enough variety in gameplay to keep you coming back for a long while, it made it worth sitting through 50 games mired in crappy control or graphics. The problem is, despite a subtitle tacked onto the end, this isn't really all that different from the PC or DC versions, so if you've already coughed up the cash for either of those games, you're better off renting this and finding out exactly what's changed.
The first MDK introduced us to Kurt Hectic, his fab (and oh-so-fashionable) coil suit, and the now-familiar sniper helmet. See, when Kurt pops into sniper mode, he can pick off an enemy from over a mile away. Handy, no? The problem is, as cool as the sniper helmet is, the novelty wears off, and certainly would do so with a sequel. Luckily, BioWare (yes, the same BioWare that's been developing the insanely popular Baldur's Gate games for years) understood this, and rather than recycle the same character and place him in a new setting, they opted to thicken up the stable of protagonists. Joining Kurt are Doctor Hawkins and the Doc's faithful 6-armed gritty canine Max. Not only do the characters provide ample comic relief (especially from Doc Hawkins), but they actually offer three completely different styles of gameplay. Kurt's sneak-and-snipe approach carries over from the first game, so you'll mainly find yourself trying to get the drop on enemies rather than charging right into the fray. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is Max, who's brash, kill-em-all style of gunplay all but ensures you're going to be firing at something at any given moment. Then there's the quirky, hilarious Doc, who wouldn't be able to hit the broad side of a barn with a pistol, but give him some bread and a radioactive toaster, and he'll kick out an endless stream of atomic toast (no, really, I'm not kidding about this) with eagle eye precision. It's the juxtaposition of these three different styles of play that keep everything fresh and unique, and when coupled with BioWare's knack for preserving that incredibly odd sense of humor that Shiny Entertainment gave us with the first game, you're all but guaranteed to have a good time.
Now as I'd mentioned earlier, there were some changes made to the PS2 iteration. First off, MDK2 is hard. Really hard. Break your controller in half and then throw it out the window hard. Luckily, in the gap that BioWare had between the Dreamcast and PS2 versions, they were able to get a little feedback. The result? An adjustable difficulty level that should turned my level of cursing from a line of four-letter explicatives that would make a drunken sailor blush to something that would merely warrant a stern stare from a nun. The level designs also got a bit of an overhaul, so while most of the levels proper may not have changed, small parts have been tweaked for a little more minty freshness. Likewise, the graphics got a touch-up, not so much in texture work or models, but in lighting. The game overall is much brighter, something that Dreamcast owners will no doubt be praising. One of the best changes from the Dreamcast to PS2 is actually in the controls. Not in the way the players move (which is exactly as they did on the DC: fast, fluid, and damn near perfectly), but with the controller itself. I've often said that the DualShock 2 is the best controller ever made, and after a few hours of ripping around corners with guns blazing or pinpointing that perfect sniper spot, your fingers will thank you.
Graphically, you're not really going to find anything here that you didn't in the Dreamcast version. The textures and lighting are almost pixel for pixel the exact same, but then again, this is the same core technology at work. I did notice that everything seems a bit more muted on the PS2, but that may have been the result of brightening everything up overall. What's great about this is that the same thing can be said for all versions of MDK2: it's damn pretty. There's a really cool, almost organic feel to the level designs and each character's unique abilities are culled multiple times throughout the levels without it becoming blatantly obvious. Thanks to generous amounts of lighting, everything is bathed in a particular glow, whether is a dark purpleish-blue or blood red, stark green or cheery orange, everything has a real feel to it. Likewise, the textures serve both aesthetic and functional purposes, highlighting where you need to go while keeping everything running with that organic feel. If there's one complaint, it's that everything is still a little bit on the dark side. There are moments of vibrant color, but typically, everything feels very dark, even gloomy. This makes sense, since you're going to be spending a lot of time in the bowels of a ship, but it can get a little tiresome on the eyes nonetheless. The framerate could have been locked in at a steady 30, but instead it tends to yo-yo, from a silky 60fps when in enclosed areas to a chunky sub-20 when in wide-open venues with lots of enemies. This was a problem that plagued the Dreamcast version too, but it would have been nice to have something a little more constant throughout.
Armageddon's sound is fantastic, with plenty of high production value in the music, effects and voice acting. Each of the characters voices perfectly embodies their personalities, especially (and I know I've said this before) Doc Hawkins. Kurt is a janitor, and responds as such with a little bit of whine punching through the normally semi-courageous speech. Doc Hawkins has a the pipes of an old man who's still ticking, but sometimes the light upstairs may be flickering, and Max is gruff, short, and to the point. Always. What's more, the various grunts, groans, muzzle blasts, beeps and squeaks that accompany all of the characters' actions are perfect; never too much, but not really lacking any punch either. Most of MDK2's music starts out with a full orchestral fanfare, but dies down to simple beats that keep things moving. This is fantastic, since most of the time you're hell-bent on taking out an enemy, and not really paying any mind to whether or not there's a raging industrial track in the background. There are moments where there's no music, only ambient hums and drones, but it's never so annoying that you're diving for the mute button. The only real complaint I can muster about the music is that there's a small pause while the audio track on the CD is restarted. It's a minor quibble and really doesn't detract at all from the game.
So is MDK2: Armageddon a must-have? If you don't own one of the other versions, absolutely. BioWare has crafted a fantastic game that belongs in any gamer's library. Incredibly solid, full of humor, and packed with enough variety in gameplay to keep you coming back for a long while, it made it worth sitting through 50 games mired in crappy control or graphics. The problem is, despite a subtitle tacked onto the end, this isn't really all that different from the PC or DC versions, so if you've already coughed up the cash for either of those games, you're better off renting this and finding out exactly what's changed.
