Introduction:
 The world has been decimated by a nuclear holocaust. Civilization as
we know it is gone, and hundreds of years later, the radiation is finally falling to a
bearable level. Humanity has become two separate races. There are the Evolved who survived
an irradiated world, adapting to their surroundings by taming the mutated surface
wildlife. On the other hand there are the Survivors, who waited out the nuclear holocaust
in underground shelters. Now
that the radiation is bearable, the Survivors have finally come out from hiding to find
mutated humans worshipping strange gods. So what do they do? They shoot the mutants,
triggering a war between the Survivors and the Evolved.
Review:
KKND Xtreme is one of the newest of a number of real time combat games. My first
impression from the box was "... another Command and Conquer remake." Well, that
statement was almost true. KKND Xtreme is exactly like C&C (Command and Conquer), with
a number of small changes.
 Each scenario
consists mainly of gathering resources (oil), building a base, and building troops to
fight your battles. This tried and true method has worked for a number games and it’s
no different here. Harvest your resources, build your big tanks, send them after the
enemy, and hope you win.
So if KKND is just like C&C, why buy it? I was
asking myself that when I first played it, until I completed a mission or two. The cut
scenes between missions are the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time! I found
myself reminded of old Monty Python movies and skits when I saw these video clips. While
this doesn’t make the game seem really serious, it really makes it stand out from all
the other real time games I’ve played. This along with the humorous voices and sound
effects in the game make it a riot to play.
Aside from the humor, KKND does boast a smarter AI
(units retreat, and coordinate attacks) overlapping terrain features (bridges), turreted
units (can move and fire at the same time), a unit queue (you can specify a number of
units to be produced). Another little addition is the "Technology Bunkers" that
appear in various levels. These bunkers are from before the nuclear war, and they may
contain anything from extra resource points to a big bad robot. And since these robots are
from before the war, they are the toughest things around.
 While all these
effects do add to the game, they don’t add much compared to a baseline of C&C Red
Alert, or even Warcraft II. The new AI isn’t really that smart, and the special
terrain features and turreted units don’t really make the game that much different.
Overall, KKND can be described as C&C with laughs.
As for the KKND Xtreme pack, it comes with the
normal KKND missions along with a bunch of Xtreme missions. From what I saw, these Xtreme
missions were TOUGH! The ones I tried were fun, and definitely not an easy walk in the
park. While normal KKND missions were hard, these were extra difficult, strategy intensive
levels. Definitely made for the serious KKND player.
Plus Side: More advanced AI
Good Terrain Features
The HUMOR
Produce multiple units together
Minus Side:Tough missions
Not Different Enough
So if you need a new C&C game, have some time to
kill, or are just looking for laughs, try out KKND Xtreme.
--David Korus |
