MDK2

All you want to know about MDK2

"MDK2" redirects here. For the video game Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2, see Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis.
MDK2
MDK2 box cover
Developer(s) BioWare
Publisher(s) Interplay
Platform(s) Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2
Release date(s) March 31, 2000 (DC)
May 25, 2000 (WIN)
March 26, 2001 (PS2)
Genre(s) Third-person shooter
Mode(s) Single player
Rating(s) ESRB: Teen (T)
USK: 12+
ELSPA: 11+
Media 1 GD-ROM (DC)
1 CD-ROM (WIN)
1 CD-ROM (PS2)
System requirements 200 MHz CPU, 16 MB RAM, 250 MB available hard disk space, OpenGL-capable graphics card with 4 MB RAM, DirectX-compatible sound card (WIN)

MDK2 is a video game and sequel to the third-person shooter, MDK. The original MDK was developed by Shiny Entertainment and released in 1997 by Interplay. For the sequel, established RPG developer BioWare Corp. of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada took the reins, delivering a highly rated gaming experience that followed on closely from the first game.

MDK2 was originally released for the Dreamcast and PC in 2000. It was later revised and released for the PlayStation 2 as MDK2: Armageddon. The main difference between the Dreamcast and the other two versions is the ability to select the difficulty level.

Contents

Protagonists and gameplay

Like the original, MDK2 features three protagonists: Kurt, an ordinary janitor and reluctant hero, Max, a mechanical six-legged dog, and Doctor Fluke Hawkins, Max's creator and all-round eccentric scientist. Unlike in the first game, the player is put in control of all three characters, with each delivering significantly different gameplay and puzzle experiences.

Kurt Hectic

Kurt, the main hero of MDK, is a janitor for Dr. Fluke Hawkins. He would rather live peacefully, but the doc forces him to fight both alien invasions. Kurt's not one to abandon his friends, but at the same time he'd much rather be sitting back or mopping a floor.

Kurt's levels emphasize the use of his coil suit and Ribbon parachute which allows him to take lifts off updrafts and glide gently from platform to platform. They also focus heavily on his built-in Sniper Scope which allows him to launch projectiles at foes, both directly and indirectly, using the various sniper mortar and rifle options. Kurt's puzzles often involve complex sniper shots with different munitions to strike "lock-balls", which often control doors or barriers. The levels he features include some of the larger, more baffling maps. Kurt's boss fights typically are not straight-forward, and require the player to often snipe or shoot certain locations on the boss itself to damage it.

Max

Max is a robotic six-legged dog with a major attraction to firepower and a sharp wit. He stands on his two back legs and can equip and shoot up to 4 guns at once. Furthermore, in many segments, Max is outfitted with a jet pack, which allows several mid-air refueling challenges. Max's levels are often the most brutal, often involving massive gunfights. Having double the health of the other characters, Max is very susceptible to being attacked from all directions, but has a large amount of weapons scattered throughout his stages. Unlike the other two, Max doesn't have to look for any little objects, items, or odd out-of-the-ordinary things that the others must deal with. Max's bosses tend to be the same as his stages, very straight-forward.

Dr Fluke Hawkins

Dr. Hawkins is a very eccentric scientist, who has voluntarily exiled himself from earth and into his dog-shaped spaceship, the Jim Dandy. In the epilogue, he is revealed to be a fully-fledged archetypal mad scientist. A frail old man, he usually sends Kurt and Max into dangerous situations, but is repeatedly forced to go to their rescue himself.

Dr. Hawkins's levels are the most unusual and comical, focusing as they do on finding combinations of items rather than fire-power. Objects found are added into two separate inventories, and the player can experiment in pairing them, producing either new objects or confused comments from the character. The doctor does get involved in fights however, either using an atomic toaster (which propels radioactive toast) or occasionally ingesting plutonium, which causes him to transform into a Mr Hyde/Hulk style creature, capable of dishing out and taking much greater levels of violence. There are also more puzzles to solve. All of the Doctor's stages include some form of old-style platform action, as many times he'll be forced to jump around on platforms raised in the air with a considerable drop or a bottomless pit below.

Due to his weak strength, the Doc has a much harder time bypassing enemies than Kurt and Max, but he encounters considerably less powerful bosses and enemies. He is the only character with 3 bosses instead of 4 (if you count stage 10). Stage 9 has no boss, instead a mini-boss inside of a telephone booth.

Plot

As the three protagonists of the game, Kurt, Max, and Doctor Hawkins, celebrate their victory from the previous game, they discover that there is one remaining minecrawler in Canada. Kurt is sent to destroy it. After its destruction, Kurt is captured by an alien figure named Shwang Shwing. Shwang then captures Max as he boards the alien’s ship, prompting Doctor Hawkins to come to Max’s aid.

After a series of rescue missions in which one protagonist saves another only to be caught himself, all three find themselves on Shwang Shwing’s home world, Swizzle Firma. Kurt discovers that it is the ruler of Swizzle Firma, Emperor Zizzy Ballooba, who is behind the attacks on Earth in the previous game. Max discovers that the Emperor plans to launch a doomsday device at the Earth. All three, when reunited, invade the Emperor’s castle. Inside his throne room, Emperor Zizzy Ballooba admits to the heroes that he’s only trying to destroy the Earth for his own amusement. A battle then ensues between the three heroes and the Emperor; in the end, the Emperor is killed.

Kurt resumes his duties as janitor of Doctor Hawkins’ space station, as he is perturbed by the idea of being a celebrity. Max takes the throne of Swizzle Firma and forms an alliance with Earth. Doctor Hawkins is welcomed back to Earth, no longer shunned by his peers.

Soundtrack

Unlike Tommy Tallarico's symphonic, movie-like soundtrack for the original MDK, the MDK2 soundtrack is considerably more modern. It was composed by Jesper Kyd, Albert Olson, and Raymond Watts of the band Pig. Most of the music falls under the category of electronica, specifically bigbeat, breakbeat, and drum and bass.

The Dreamcast edition allows the user to access all the music tracks from the game including the sound effect background tracks using the Dreamcast CD player function.

Sequel

On November 13, 2007, GameSpot reported that Interplay Entertainment has announced that it will restart its in-house development studio and has plans to develop a MDK sequel among other classic Interplay IPs if Interplay can secure financing.[1] GameSpot stated that:

“ Among the projects Interplay has said it wants to develop are sequels to Earthworm Jim, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Descent, and MDK, provided it can find the financing. ”

Also, Interplay has confirmed a two-pronged growth strategy which will see the company leveraging its portfolio of gaming properties to create sequels. Among those mentioned was the MDK sequel.[2]

Trivia

 Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (March 2008)
  • The name "Zizzy Balooba" appears to come from an alien named "Zyzzybalubah" that appeared in an episode of Pee-wee's Playhouse.
  • The mine crawler at the start of the game is actually heading towards the BioWare Corp. headquarters in Edmonton, identified as "Sector 8675309" (as a reference to the Tommy Tutone song), much like the first mine crawler in MDK was heading towards the Shiny Entertainment headquarters.
  • There is a folder of concept art on the Dreamcast version available when read by a PC.

References

  1. ^ Sinclair, Brendan (2007-11-13). "Interplay restarting dev studio - Company says it will make new installments of Earthworm Jim, Descent, MDK, Dark Alliance if it can get the money.", Gamespot.com. Retrieved on 17 November 2007. 
  2. ^ Interplay confirms plans for MDK and Descent sequels

External links

v • d • e
Video games developed by BioWare
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDK2"

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