A true innovation to the shooter genre, this game blasted onto the scene in the late 90's amidst much publicity due to the extreme (for the time) violence. Everything about this game was revolutionary - the innovative sniper rifle, the sharp, shiny graphics, the smooth gameplay (no loading within each HUGE level) but really, the greatest thing about this game was its sense of humor. Shiny Entertainment was already notorious for their humor, having released the console classic Earthworm Jim a few years earlier.
I first played this game a couple months after it came out; I had been reading about it in PC game magazines for a few months so I was pretty excited about it. My first reaction was, in a nutshell, WOW. The graphics were like nothing I had ever seen. The gameplay was perfect. It was smart and it was funny. The atmosphere felt as dark as a David Fincher movie.
This game was so good, in fact, that it even transferred well to the PlayStation. PS1 ports were notorious for their sub-par graphics and sound (think "Diablo"), but MDK managed to break that mold due to its still-incredible gameplay.
One of the best things about this game is that it manages to make the shooter genre fresh
again. There are still 'open the door' puzzles, but they're made much more intelligent in this one. Rather than search some cramped halls looking for a blue square-shaped sprite, you must use your wits, equipment, and a little bit of logic to get past the more puzzling moments of the game. It also forgoes the 1st person view for a 3rd, allowing for the creation of huge, sprawling arenas to do battle; the few cramped tunnels are just there to act as a bridge between arenas and areas, and also to allow the game to 'catch up,' which prevents the use of inter-level loading. While there are still load times between levels, they are so short that it's hard to notice, and give you a chance to crack your tired knuckles.
The humor is on the dry side, such as one of your buddies in the above ship being a robotic dog with 4 arms that always smokes cigars and loves to blow stuff up. The gore is totally unrealistic so you don't feel too bad laughing at the funny anguished cries the baddies emit when you pop a cap through someone's eye with the sniper rifle.
In a nutshell, this game is a high point in video game history. The sequel, the aptly named MDK 2, is just as good but is mostly aimed at fans of the first due to the strange settings and jokes.
Do yourself a favor and download this one.
