07-08-2003, 04:11 PM
I'll add two to the list. I've recently had the pleasure of playing Thief II and MDK 2.
Thief II is great. The graphic engine is old (naturally), so I wasn't used to the blocky characters, but the gameplay is top-notch. You play a thief (duh ;) ) so while you're sneaky and stealthy and have lots of gadgets (including some very weird arrows -- water arrows? Moss arrows? heh) you can't take on an armed and armored guard in a fair fight. It's truly engrossing trying to duck from shadow to shadow, timing your movements so that the guards are facing away from you, and ransacking things for cash. It's not really a game I can sit down and play in marathon sessions, though, simply because of the pace of the stealth-type gameplay.
MDK 2 is just... Boggling. It's a third-person FPS (I know, it sounds strange; but it makes sense once you've played) about a truly wacky doctor, his four-armed, cigar-smoking android dog sidekick, and his power-suited janitor. It comes across as a very strange comic, complete with over-the-top dialogue and campy between-levels loading screens (which have comic-book splash pages similar to Freedom Force). Possibly the most unique thing about this game though is that you get to play as each character, and they all play differently: The janitor can snipe, glide, and use various miscellaneous gadgets (cloak, decoys, etc), Max the dog can equip four different guns at once, blow through obstacles, and (in the one level I've played him in so far) pick up a jetpack for flying puzzles, and the doctor plays like MacGyver -- he can pick up random crap and make other stuff with it (hand dryer + pipes = leaf blower, bay-bee). I don't know why this game wasn't a hit, because it's awesome.
- WL
Thief II is great. The graphic engine is old (naturally), so I wasn't used to the blocky characters, but the gameplay is top-notch. You play a thief (duh ;) ) so while you're sneaky and stealthy and have lots of gadgets (including some very weird arrows -- water arrows? Moss arrows? heh) you can't take on an armed and armored guard in a fair fight. It's truly engrossing trying to duck from shadow to shadow, timing your movements so that the guards are facing away from you, and ransacking things for cash. It's not really a game I can sit down and play in marathon sessions, though, simply because of the pace of the stealth-type gameplay.
MDK 2 is just... Boggling. It's a third-person FPS (I know, it sounds strange; but it makes sense once you've played) about a truly wacky doctor, his four-armed, cigar-smoking android dog sidekick, and his power-suited janitor. It comes across as a very strange comic, complete with over-the-top dialogue and campy between-levels loading screens (which have comic-book splash pages similar to Freedom Force). Possibly the most unique thing about this game though is that you get to play as each character, and they all play differently: The janitor can snipe, glide, and use various miscellaneous gadgets (cloak, decoys, etc), Max the dog can equip four different guns at once, blow through obstacles, and (in the one level I've played him in so far) pick up a jetpack for flying puzzles, and the doctor plays like MacGyver -- he can pick up random crap and make other stuff with it (hand dryer + pipes = leaf blower, bay-bee). I don't know why this game wasn't a hit, because it's awesome.
- WL