Roupen, HotMagma
webmaster, has reviewed KKND2: Krossfire, the Melbourne House's sequel to KKND.
KKND2: Krossfire is setup as the war between three military groups.
During the first nuclear 'slamfest', the remaining survivors in the world parted their
seperate ways. Some fled into the undergrounds where they were kept away from the nuclear
radiation. Others decided to rough it and live on the surface. These became hideously
deformed humans, however they defined this new existance as a higher form of living. These
became known as the Evolved Ones. 40 years ago, they engaged in a massive war once again,
however the cowards again fled back to their own realms. Since then they have been growing
in numbers and developing new and more destructive weapons. After these 40 years, they
once again surfaced for control of the world. However there's a new twist to the conflict.
. . there was once nine series of robots created for basic purposes of humanity such as
agriculture and city maitenance. During the war, many of these robots died. However one of
the larger groups to survive, the Series 9, found their way of living destroyed. Angered,
they sought to get revenge from those who had taken away all they had ever known. Now
these three forces collide in a war which only you can determine the victor. . .
Ok, now that I've hyped you up with the great story let's move on with the
parts of the game I'm sure you're really wondering about. First off, the part I love to
talk about the most, is the graphics. From the beginning with the intro movie you can
really see the excellent graphics that were put into this game. In the game, graphics are
certainly not a disappointment. Obviously it can be seen that a lot of detail has been
taken in on graphics, especially the explosions which are very nice. In playability, KKND
2 also offers a lot of conveniences which make the game a bit more pleasable. Such
examples are the 'smart-drag' option which will only select military units from a group of
men. There's also not a limit to the amount of units you can have in one group. This
combined with assigning numbers to certain groups makes attacks go smoother.
Detail can also be seen in the basic gameplay of the game. In KKND 2, there
is a unique combination of 'my army is bigger than yours' fighting and 'my brain is bigger
than yours' fighting as well. Sure, you could go into soloplay and boost up your cash to
500,000 units and have nonstop "blow-stuff-up-in-the-middle" fighting, or if you
feel more like using your head, you could play a level with lots of mountains and bombard
your enemies from above. One of the great parts of KKND 2 is that it provides a challenge
this way. There are certain levels where you use brute force and certain levels where good
tactics will win no matter how big the enemy's army is. For instance, I was faced with an
army that was twice the size of mine however I saw them coming so I quickly built defenses
on the top of the nearby hills that were in their direction, by the time they made it to
my base they were so damaged that my smaller army was able to wipe them out with ease. In
KKND 2, it is up to you to decide which way you want to handle each level for the best
outcome.
Single
Player in the game was very fun. The artificial intelligence in the game was difficult
even at limp (easiest setting). Not to get me wrong, it's not hard enough to discourage
you but it does make you have to use your abilities a bit. The game promises to provide
many hours of fun to master the most difficult settings. Multiplayer I felt was a lacking
force in the game because I could not find many ways to play multiplayer though it does
seem to have good promise as a multiplayer game (perhaps if a specific server had been set
up to arrange multiplayer games it would have been easier to get one going). However the
'soloplay' option does help get a feel for multiplayer in skirmishes with the computer.
Overall,
I felt that KKND 2 takes a lot of the features of excellent strategy games and adds a few
new, enjoyable twists to it. I highly recommend this game to strategy fans that are
looking for quantity as well as quality. With over 20 standard units as well as the
ability to construct your own custom units, every time you enter the game is a new
experience! The game promises hundreds of hours of fun in merely completing the plot
levels given and thousands of more hours of fun making custom levels and playing them with
your friends!
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