The game tells the story of Kurt Hectic, a janitor who reluctantly must attempt to save Earth from an alien invasion of gigantic strip mining city-size vehicles named "Minecrawlers". These Minecrawlers are not only removing all of earth's natural resources, but are also crushing any people and cities that get in their way. Aided by his boss, the (possibly) insane inventor/scientist Dr. Fluke Hawkins, and a genetically engineered robotic two-legged/four-armed dog named Bones (although he prefers Max), Kurt must infiltrate each Minecrawler, and fight his way to the pilot, whom he must then kill before returning to Hawkins' in-orbit space station, the Jim Dandy.


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MDK2
MDK2

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Every time I play this game I like it a little bit more but I still don't think it's a classic. Perhaps it's time for another chance?

I think MDK was the first game I played on PS1 that wasn't a mascot platformer, followed by LAPD. It was one of the few games I had access to so I played it even though I didn't like it that much. Over time I started to enjoy it a bit more, but I dunno if I would have given it as many chances as I did otherwise. I get the appeal, I just wasn't really hooked.

Forgot about reviewing this, but here we go.

I remember this game very well from when I played it back on the PS1 so many years ago. Back when it was new! The gunplay was fun, coupled with the different ammo types, usage of torpedoes to shoot down vents and get the enemy, the odd art style and the very strange direct this game often goes in!

The game was created by the Earthworm Jim creator, Doug TenNapel. The same insanity is in this game where you use nukes for keys to doors, your pilot is a four-armed dog and the villains are all strange and each boss battle is different too. This really hit me with the nostalgia vibe as I streamed it, since I originally played it on the PS1, but I do not thing I ever actually finished it.

You get a short briefing and there's even a potential for speed-running as if you do not defeat the boss in time, the location of a city that the aliens are aiming at gets blown up! No real punishment happens because of this, I find beyond a silly comment with something like "Oops, Weymouth has been destroyed. Oh well, it was only Weymouth" or something like that, but I can't actually remember the name of those towns that were being used tbh. There's some fun gore in it where you can shoot off the alien's heads for a kill shot, but if you hit them in the leg they're known to limp around and cry for help allowing you to be as sadistic as you want in this.

Some maps have Earthworm Jim tokens that you can collect, followed with is trademark "Groovy!" every time you manage to pick one up, often in these skiing sections.

I did have one issue where I couldn't complete a level because from upscaling the video to match a more modern monitor size, I could no longer glide into the hole I needed to get into, to activate a switch. I briefly changed the game to older resolution, completed it and then changed back afterwards. It's not a absolute game breaker, but it was a pain in the ass to deal with!

I named the creator because, as I was informed in my stream, the guy turns out to be a scumbag, being opposed to Same-sex marriage and deliberately misgendering a journalist who reviewed Earthworm Jim.

However, he no longer holds the licence from what I understand so feel free to enjoy the game series guilt-free!

Gameplay/Stream

Absolutely buck-wild. Currently writing a more thorough review, but just know that this is like an alien version of "Mad Max: Fury Road" distilled into DOS.

A fun and short shooter game.
The dark aesthetic is pretty interesting, but it's sometimes a bit all over the place.
The ending cutscene is extremely unexpected, and really makes me whish we could have more games this bold and experimental.

Note: If you have a choice, don't play the Steam version. It's very buggy, has texture problems, and is missing all cutscenes...

Note bis: This game has terrible controls, but thankfully all configurable. Remap them if you want to have a good time.

PC gaming in this era certain was a vibe we just don't really get anymore which certainly made playing it a bit more enjoyable than it might have been back in the day

The level design is basic and the gameplay is repetetive but the game is pretty short so just as you might be starting to get kind of bored you'll probably have finished it. Probably more impressive back then but still worth a go now

Also I noticed that after killing the final boss my game ended very abruptly, this seems to be an issue with the Steam release. I think, when firing up the game, you can play the "Glide version" which I think rectifies a lot of these issues so be warned if you're playing on PC because I'm almost certain there was supposed to be a bit more of a cutscene or at least a credits roll that I didn't get

Extremely strange third-person shooter. The vibes are all conflicting. Worth it for the credits though.