A nice console experience on the PC, that falls... short in a few areas.
The strongest point of MDK2 is its unique style and distinct personality. Smart humor, funny moments, clever story that make this a joy to play (as long as it lasts). The cutscenes ( a combination of comic book storyboards and videos that use the game's graphics engine ) are hilarious to watch and give a stylistic presentation to the title. The design and the animation of the three heroes ( Kurt, the protagonist of the first MDK, Max, the four-armed robotic dog and Dr. Hawkins, the crazy scientist ) and their enemies follow this humorous trend. The same goes for the bosses that are huge in size and have extraordinary and bizarre looks, that fit perfectly to the sci-fi and funny atmosphere of the game. The environments look gorgeous at times, with flawless -even breath taking- draw distance, enough variety to keep things interesting and very crisp textures... in addition to that the dark colours support the sci-fi feeling of the MDK series excellently. The problem is that MDK2 gets a bit repetitive at times ( too dark, too many tight corridors that aren't as impressive as the open environments, not that many different enemies) and since it has a short lifespan that's a bit disappointing.
The music really helps in the creation of the futuristic atmosphere in the title... it sounds cool ( or funny depending on the circumstances) and the same goes for the voice acting that's fantastic and brings the characters to life. The sound effects are mostly average though.
The good news is that you have three playable characters this time, with different abilities that add variety to the game play. The bad news is that the best of them is Kurt so the above fact remains a bit debatable ( it would be better the whole game to be based on this character). Kurt can either strafe around his enemies and exterminate them using his grenades and chaingun ( this weapon is upgradable) or stand still and shoot at them with his sniper rifle ( it can get different kinds of ammo-> keep in mind that Kurt is vulnerable while in sniping mode). He can also use his parachute during the hard jumping sequences or follow a more stealthy approach with the help of pick-ups like the Cloak device. This character is my favourite and his missions are a blast to play.
Max is mostly about shooting since he can hold 4 different weapons at once. He can choose between magnums, shotguns, different types of machine guns and missile launchers so there is enough variety in his arsenal to blow up everything that stands in his way. You can even have the same weapon on each hand so imagine what happens with 4 machine guns firing at once... total mayhem. Then there is the rechargeable jump-pack that he can use in order to access higher areas and get through difficult and tedious jumping sequences, reminding a bit of Rare's Jet Force Gemini. Too bad that these are some of the most difficult, frustrating and boring moments of the whole game.
The last character is Dr Hawkins who is different than the rest of the cast since he can't use any weapons and he has to use his/your brains... simply put he has to combine different items in order to create new ones that will help him to solve a few simple puzzles. Less shooting and more adventuring with this one. It adds variety to the game play but I prefer the action sequences of Kurt and Max. Another drawback is that there are also jumping puzzles even in Dr Hawkins levels... .
There are 10 different missions ( 3 for each character and you can beat the final boss / level with anyone of them -there are three different endings, don't expect major differences though), each mission won't take more than 2 hours in order to finish and there is always a cool boss fight at the end of each stage. The good thing is that the PC version has a quick save option, so each time that you will miss a jump you won't have to replay the level from the beginning. The bad thing with this feature is that the title becomes much easier and you will finish it in around 15 hours. The game just isn't as challenging as it should be and the quick save button ( that doesn't exist in the console version) really ruins this one ( it's like cheating all the time). At least there is the option of the 4 different difficulty settings to balance somehow this problem.
MDK is a solid action/adventure/platform hybrid that is worth your time thanks to its atmosphere, style and humour. The problem is that this is a very short experience and won't last for more than 2-3 days. What's more the unbalanced game play of the three characters makes the title at times less fun and more tedious than it should be. So keep these things in mind before buying it.