MDK 2

MDK 2 tried to up the variety of gameplay by making three playable characters instead of just the ribbon parachuting, chaingun wielding, sniper helmeted Kurt. Great in concept but in reality it just sucked the lucid nature of the level and gameplay design from the original away leaving only drab single concepts to play with at any one time. Add in some horrible writing (especially in regards to Dr Hawkins) and some unforgiving jumping puzzles and you have one of the more half baked sequels in gaming history.

After playing through the first one I immediately bought this one, and all I can say is what a disappointment this game was; especially considering the source material and the track record of Bioware as a first class developer. The frantic run and gun moments are completely hindered by inane and annoying "puzzles" that sometimes bring the action to a complete halt. The levels where you play as Dr. Hawkins are almost unplayable; you combine materials to make weapons the serve little purpose than allowing him to run away from the action. The only redeeming factor for playing as Dr. Hawkins is that the dialogue is somewhat amusing, but that's it. Playing as Kurt and Max are fun, but as I said earlier the action comes to a complete halt when you have to perform horrible platforming puzzles. This is a small complaint, but Kurt's voice and dialogue are annoying throughout the game; he should have been left as a silent protagonist. Overall, this game is insulting to the first MDK, which is an amazing, albeit short, game. If you loved the first one, there is no guarantee that you will like this one, in fact just buy one of Shiny's other games, such as Earthworm Jim.

Modern games tend to take themselves too seriously. This is good silly fun - even in 2012.

A third person shooter. Help a mad scientist, his janitor, and his dog fight off an alien invasion. The presentation could bring to mind silver age comic book era works, the dialogue and writing is passable and the humour can be hit or miss really. The characters are decent but there isn't really much to them. The bizarre visuals of the aliens and the locations fascinating and the soundtrack is pure awesome. It tends to switch suddenly between areas, jarring but you get used to it. The gameplay is okay. The 3 characters have different mechanics. Kurt has a parachute that lets him glide and soar in updrafts, a machine gun for close to mid range encounters, some items he can pick up and use, and his famous head mounted sniper rifle for taking out targets at long distances or with high need precision. Max lacks Kurt's ability to snipe or glide, but he can have a jetpack, and just boasts insane amounts of firepower instead. Gunning stuff down is okay, aiming is near automatic so most of your work with both in most battles will be trying not to get hit, which is enjoyable enough. The doctor's levels involve some item hunting and platforming, made annnoying by how he's the least agile of all 3 characters. His primary weapon isn't that fun to use compared to the other 2 either. His levels were tolerated in my case. It's unfortunate they make up 3-4 of the 10 possible levels. Every character's levels involve puzzles in some form, and some can be difficult to figure out unassisted. It can be decent fun and is somewhat unique, but you aren't likely to miss out much if you don't play it.

MDK 2 is the best. It outperforms MDK 1 in evey aspect.