I only played the PS1 version, so this would be a review for that version. MDK is a third person shooter that surprisingly doesnt have bad controls for being released in 1997. The movement of the character is a bit smooth (for the most time, i would talk about later) and you have varied weapons with its purposes. I also really like the sniper mode (probably the highlight of the game), especially when you have to use to bounce bullets and stuff like that, or shooting at a very long distance to the heads of the enemy and i have to say, is so cool! The three cams of the bullets, and the overall artstyle of the game really helps to give it an identity, i really apreciate this mode in some of the game puzzles, but other than that, this game seems to have a lot of flaws that ruins my experience. First of all the camera. For some reason it tends to move A LOT to the sides when you are moving, and being the character an sprite the game feeling is like OFF. It doesnt feel that you are actually moving, instead is like the scenary itself, and i can proof it: just move the camera when you are close to a wall, and you could clearly see that your character moves a little bit. I wonder why they do that! Maybe because of technical limitations, since this game was almost intact from the PC port for what i read, but is not an excuse. It really makes platforming so frustrating, and the game doesnt feel real in any moment. And on a technical side this game looks very bad. It would probably look acceptable on a 3do or an early PS1 game from 1994, but not on 1997. A lot of the walls had not textures, being black most of the time, the background of the level is clearly an image and the game tends to drop its FPS constantly when there are a lot of enemies on screen. Speaking of enemies, they are okay when fighting, but with just a bit of strafe and you would dodge all of the attacks. Also, i dont know if it just me, but when strafing and shooting in some areas, the camera moves soooo much that i become dizzy, especially in the maps were the floor reflects the sky. The story is also a mess, we dont understand nothing about this world, and the humour a lot of times is so off.... This game never knows when to be serious or humoristic.
Something i really praise however is the soundtrack and the way to progress to the next level, it feels like a sensation of adventure.... at least when the game doesnt feel so off due to the camera and gameplay problems previously mentioned.
Overall, it would be in some part better than other TPS in the time thanks to its better controls and the SO well done sniper mode, but the fact that the game feels so off, thanks to the way the camera and character moves, and how this affects negatively the gameplay, i dont know... i dont feel like my character is moving in the level... (Even when you jump in a moving platform you are still in the same platform). The game also doesnt have too much content really, you just do the campaign and thats it, no multiplayer, no extra levels, nothing, seriously, a coop multiplayer could have save the game. Not matter what this game tries with its adrenalinic action type of gameplay, it just cannot compete with something like Doom and Quake.
