Overhaul Games brings MDK2 back to the PC in incredible high definition, with enhanced graphics, sound, and gameplay. See the classic action platformer the way it was meant to be seen, heard, and played... on a PC! Kurt Hectic in his snazzy suit with ribbon chute is back to save the universe. This time he is teamed with the genius Dr. Hawkins and the 6-legged gun-toting robotic dog, Max. Together they must out-sneak, out-blast and out-think their enemies as they attempt to reclaim the Earth from a vile alien menace. And this time they're in HD. All three characters - Kurt, Doctor Hawkins and Max are playable, each has his own levels, powers and items and a completely different gameplay focus. Kurt is about stealth and sniping, the Doctor has a few direct attacks but also has the ability to create items and effects out of simple household objects, while Max is a cigar smoking, quad gun toting demolition squad of a dog. Key Features 10 Levels Over 20 Enemies Three different player characters, Max, Dr Hawkins and Kurt Unique levels and items for each character Brand new HD graphics Enhanced audio from the original sources Tweaked gameplay - now Easy really is Easy, while Hard is BONE CRUSHING!
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I won’t even begin to explain the story other than Kurt is sent off to Canada to find a remaining mine crawler and is captured by an evil guy named Schwing Schwang. Yeah, I know, I won’t even bother. The game does have some good dialog and humor wrapped in, but you have to get through the dated gameplay first. Kurt can run at about 50 MPH and he is shooting everything on the site. He has his trusty parachute to glide and his sniper mask/face which has different types of bullets. These range from grenades, bullets, and lock balls which control doors as well as others. That isn’t the issue. The problem is that the entire game feels the same. Running around with floaty physics, lobbing grenades into small holes that are a pain to hit, and killing tons of enemies while scooting around. Gets boring after the first level.
You can play as Max and Dr. Hawkins this time, but Max is even more mundane than Kurt. He has four arms so you get to use four guns, but it isn’t much different. Dr. Hawkins has a complicated weapon making system you can use for him, so maybe his levels are the most interesting. I honestly couldn’t stand more than a few levels of this game. I was really hoping MDK 2 was much different from the past game, but it is nearly the same.
The HD graphics look better such as the new character models. Most of the textures look like they are just stretched out and weren’t redone like the character models. This isn’t the remake I was hoping for because the physics are still really floaty where you feel like you’re skating on ice. The game just really feels 12 years old and it shows in the gameplay. It doesn’t help that there is no native gamepad recognition like most PC games these days have. You have to map the controls yourself which is a serious pain and takes a lot of tweaking. The resolution also sucks because it isn’t in widescreen. This was a lazy port, or it looks like they only went half way and released it.
Is there any reason to play this game? If you like old school shooters and platformers than go ahead, but this game is pretty dull. I really tried to like it, but the only thing going for it is the humor and wacky story. The floaty platforming, poor HD upgrade, and gamepad mapping just made me give up on the game. I hope there is an MDK 3 and everything gets updated, but until then don’t bother unless you love old school.