MDK

I had more fun with this game than with many modern games in similar-ish genre. The world of MDK is ridiculous: mad scientist, six-armed robot dog, aliens that wave target signs on you, suit that has ribbon parachute, nuclear healing items and the world most interesting bombs. There is very little exposure and no infodumps (most of back story is in manual) but those little bits that can be seen here and there in the game add to enjoyment of fast-paced 3P arena shooter. Running around under upbeat music with a speed of motobike and shooting baddies with infinite ammo across quite colourful environments tuned to be much more fun than I've ever expected once I figured out how to configure mouse to look around freely. For a such old games there are certainly some quibbles but I love this game even more than the sequel.

The game is pretty cool. It has a very cartoon superhero feel to it. Diverse opponents will engage you in various ways with a good variety of attack styles and are often over the top. Some of the more sophisticated opponents will require you to find their weak spots and aren't simply "shoot it to death" affairs. Your character looks pretty slick in his costume and has good moving and shooting animation. He also has a very very cool parachute feature that allows him to glide. Both the animation and the feel of it are very good and by the end of the game, I still wasn't tired of it. Mouse-using shooter purists might be disappointed at the lack of precise aiming (your gun works like a machine gun and there is no vertical aiming... the vertical axis is auto-aim), but that setup works well with the action as you'll be moving and jumping all the time to dodge various attacks and also to access different parts of the levels while fighting. Also, there is an sniper feature that works like you'd expect a sniper riffle to (except that you can shoot explosive rounds when you find some!) and for some parts of the game, you have to use it so purists won't feel like they are completely left out. The puzzles are pretty ingenuous without being frustrating (you'll have to stop and think, but if you look around, you should get it) and while the environment isn't destructive per say, there are many scripted environment changes that are pretty cool and dramatic. Part platformer, the game makes good use of the vertical axis to navigate across the levels and will make sure you need to use that cool gliding feature on various parts of the levels to move on (or to avoid hurting yourself when you fall from great heights). Also, the gliding feature makes it more user-friendly as a platformer, because you'll be able to use the glide to correct your fall. The graphics are somewhat dated, but they do an adequate job at portraying the alien vessel-asteroids (a lot of earthly-metallic colors) and the architecture the levels will look refreshingly weird and alien. Level design in this game is top notch and never plain or boring. With all this praise, I should mention the few bad parts of the game. The game is fairly short. I did not play with a chronometer, but I'd say I finished the game in 8 to 12 hours. Also, while you can save between levels, you can't save during the levels. However, this isn't as bad as you'd think as the levels are fairly short and you should complete them in 1 to 3 attempts unless you are new to shooters or platformers. Furthermore, I found the initial key setup unintuitive (in particular, the ability of the mouse to move you forward or backward instead of just sideways) and if you are anything like me, you'll have to adjust it to make the game enjoyable. Given the number of games I played lately that got the initial key setup right, this issue stuck up for me. And finally, there is a music video at the end of the game that is just weird. Its in French and frankly, you are better off if you don't understand it, because the lyrics are nothing to write home about. Overall, the complaints are minor and the greatness of the game greatly overshadows its weaknesses, hence the 5 stars.

Really fun run'n'gun game with very creative visual design and levels that are filled with absurd humor that I love. Pretty inventive for its time with the sniping mechanics and rendering techniques. Even though the running time is short, it's the kind of short where each minute of the game's running time will be filled with creative ideas and lots of explosive action. Each level offers its own unique theme and gimmicks and it helps to make the experience feel consistently fresh and entertaining. Like it says in the title, though, the game is pretty short. No more than 3-4 hours of gameplay if you're good enough and don't get stuck anywhere for too long. Normally I do actually prefer short games that are packed with quality content over the ones that go on for too long and spread themselves too thin. However, in this case, I wouldn't mind if MDK had an extra level or two to leave me completely satiated with the experience. Technically speaking, it does require a bit of messing around to get the game running properly in full HD but luckily, the patches and instructions on how to adjust the resolution and graphics settings are easily accessible. As long as you have a modicum of computer knowledge, you shouldn't have any trouble tweaking the game. What I also appreciated is that the game recognized my Xbox controller without requiring any extra patches, and with just a few minutes of mapping the buttons, I was able to comfortably play this game on my TV.

6 massive levels of CARNAGE! MDK has a lot of charm for such a violent game, because there's just tons of zaniness going like. From the Dog Bone Airstrikes to the World Smallest Nuclear Explosion, there's surely something here to make you chuckle. MDK does what others games usually do not, it gets the balance of action, platforming and puzzle work just right. As when you're not fighting for your life, you're trying to not fall off something or trying to figure out just what the hell to do next. It's fantasticly simple and fiendishly addictive, the only downside to MDK, is that it ends. 6 levels just simply isn't enough. And I'm not saying that because I don't think the game is value for money, because it truly is, I'm saying it because if this game hooks you like it hooked so many gamers back in the day, you'll want more :)

I remember when I was young, at the time when PC's were just some huge greys machines on your desk, with a big awful screen, my father had MDK on his computer. And when I played it, I was completeley terrified. The robot's screams were so......so.......they gave me so much thrills !!!! I never finished the first level >< An some years later, I played again, and I just finished this god dam first level with these god dam robots (which show their asses ^^) in 5 minutes and I discovered......that it was not the game but just a demo..........I was so disapointed. That was about 10 years ago. And now, thanks to GOG.com, I re-discovered this amazing action game !!! Really, I didn't realise that but MDK was sooooo funny !! And so cool !!! Don't hesitate and buy the pack, it's really worth it !!