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	This just in: MDK 2 to be the first action shooter with a story!

All right, I may be pushing that exaggeration a teeny bit… but trust me, it's not much. MDK 2 is going to be story oriented, and this is accentuated by the fact BioWare is focusing solely on single player. Although no multiplayer will be planned, who cares? It may be the 'wave of the future' to some, but in truth, it's still only a growing fad that has yet to surpass the quality of a great single player game.

There will be 10 levels total, with three for each of the playable characters and a final level that can be played with your choice of character. Which character you use up to that final level is based on the story. If Kurt Hectic (the original MDK star) gets into trouble, Max (the six-legged robotic dog… more on him later) can jump in to help him out. Eventually, even Dr. Fluke Hawkins (more on him later too) is to be thrown into the mix. Curious as to how long each level would take… I asked. Greg Zeschuk informs us, "We think each level will take at least a couple of hours to finish. We've been doing some testing in-house that verifies this."

The protagonist in MDK was Kurt Hectic, an average janitor who saved the world once in his snazzy (and infamous) Coil Suit ™. As before, he will be able to use a sniper rifle to attack from afar. This can double as a chaingun, however, when the going gets rough and the enemies start closing in. While we were really looking forward to setting Kurt and our very own Challenge Chick out on a blind date, BioWare seemed hesitant and believed Kurt might be a little on the bashful side. When asked to comment, the Challenge Chick only said, "His loss. Hmph."

Max, the aforementioned six-legged robotic dog, was first introduced in MDK. Seeing as his help might be needed in combat this time around, he downloaded some programs to help with that. As a result, Max is now the conventional up close and personal "bad guy killer" now. He has the toughest weapons and is the most combat oriented, plus he's a robotic dog with six legs. How cool is that?

The last character is the professor from MDK who greatly helped Kurt in his Earth saving duties, Dr. Hawkins. Zeschuk let us know Dr. Hawkins has the "nuttiest combat modes in MDK2", and he went on to say, "My favorite battle so far takes place with the good doctor using his atomic leaf blower to bounce a number of enemies around his treed lounge." He went on to say you can blow the enemies around, but also redirect their weapons so they hurt each other.

Well. I think that pretty much settles it. Any game with the following is one I have to buy: a wacky doctor who is armed to the teeth with weapons like atomic leaf blowers, a six-legged robotic dog, and, yes, even the feared Conehead (also known as the evil Asparagus) with powerful flatulent telepathic attacks.

On top of all this, MDK 2 is going to be home to plenty of humorous Easter Eggs. The most important of which, is the subject of a rumor that has been around for some time. Even though Zeschuk claims, "I'm not sure where you heard this from - it is patently untrue!", we know the truth. There will be an evil monkey with 3DGN spray painted on its side in MDK 2. You shall see. BioWare is only trying to cover it up. About other easter eggs, once again… Zeschuk puts it best, "We're going to put in as many as we can. One of the things we're grappling with is the desire to make sure that people find all the really cool stuff in the game and not having all the best stuff hidden. We don't want to hide big surprises so well that no one sees it."