From beginning to end this game is wonderful. It's funny, fun, and hard as hell.

The graphics are absolutely top notch.Definately some of the Dreamcast's best. Every detail is accounted for down to the spray of spent bullet shells bouncing around after you plug a room full (I mean FULL) of baddies. Levels are huge and you can see for what seems like miles. Scenery is unbelievable and characters interact with it seamlessly. Explosions and lighting effects are perfectwith an exellent particle system and real-time psychics. This game is onegraphical amazement after another, your eyes will not be dissapointed.

What really makes this game outshine others in this category is the implementation of 3 very distinct and innovative styles of gameplay. There are 3 main characters in the game: Max, Dr. Fluke Hawkins and Kurt, hence the title MDK (it's not murder, death, kill guys...). Each stage is set up as a different issue of an ongoing comic book where you take the role of the main character in the issue wether it be Max, the Doc, or Kurt. Kurt is the original main character from the first MDK. He still has his trusty sniper scope weapons but this time around you can move around while in siper mode in order to dodge enemy fire. This means you are no onger totaly defenseless while trying to take out an enemy that is a mile away. Kurtalso still sports his coil suit which has a built in parachute for gliding great distances. Max is the Doc's cigar smoking, robotic dog with 4 arms. He is strictly an action oriented character. He uses an array of heavy artilleryto plow his way from point A to point B. Also, 4 arms means you can equip any combination of 4 weapons at a time. You might say he is... heavily armed..! OK, that wasn't funny. Sorry.

Dr. Fluke Hawkins is the brains of the operation. He is originally unarmed when you start using him. You must search around and pick up different objects for the doc to combine into crude weapons of mass destruction (i.e. the ATOMIC TOASTER). You will also have to combine different things in order to solve complicated puzzles. The doc is definately the most difficult character to fight with and maneuver. The enemy AI is incredible. Sometimes it felt like the game was playing me. There are many, many enemies on the screen at times and it canget a little hectic, which is, by the way Kurts last name. Some of the most comical dialouge in the game comes from the boss characters. You will be pleasantly surprised with the way they are done (any Shaft fans?... Damn right..!) BTW... the bosses are VERY complicated and hard in comparison to most games. You will have to learn each bosses strategies in order to beat them.

The sound in MDK2 is also top notch. Everything sounds exactly how it should and the music isgood. There is also plenty of hilarious dialouge between characters and plenty of flatulence... yes there is a lot of farting in MDK2, lots of it.

Heres a quick rundown of whats wrong with MDK2. First and foremost I'll say that I was happy with the docs style of gameplay and it was pulled off flawlessy. The only hinge is that they didn't focus enough on puzzle solving. There was too much weapon based combat (with the doc it is impossible to aim) and precision jumping from platform to platform (the precision jumping parts suck). Another thing that got on my nerves is that some enemies take WAY too long to kill. Some times 2 enemies in a room would hold me up for like 5 minutes, no joke, and these aren't boss characters, just normal bad guys. Thats about it on the flaws, nothing too serious and nothing that will make the game less enjoyable.

The bottom line here is that this game rocks the house. There's a little something for everyone here with plenty of stunning graphics and more variety than you can shake a stick at. This is a definate buyer. 9.5 out of 10. -JS