KKND 2: Krossfire (PC)

The computer game industry has much in common with the horror film industry. Both produce a continual stream of unwanted sequels. Both can sometimes surprise the consumer with a sequel that is better than the original. Beam's Krush, Kill, and Destroy 2: Krossfire is a perfect example of the above. The first game, which received a lukewarm reception, was not a game that demanded a sequel. Yet a sequel we have, and though it's still lukewarm, it's actually better than the original.

If you missed out on the first KKND, it was your standard resource-gathering real-time strategy game, released at a time when everyone was trying to emulate Red Alert. Set after a nuclear war, it featured normal humans versus rabid mutants with the only claim to originality a better AI than most real-time strategy games. Well, Red Alert is a thing of the past, and Starcraft is the current buzz, so this time it's a standard resource-gathering RTS game trying to emulate Starcraft. No, don't get excited, that doesn't mean you get a well-executed plot and interesting units. All it means is that this time instead of two races, you get three.

Carrying over from the first game are the Survivors and the Evolved. The Survivors are survivalist humans. Their troops all look like Elvis or members of the Village People, but their buildings and equipment are fairly standard looking. If you've ever wondered what happens to a Sierra Club member when exposed to a 40-megaton nuke, KKND2 answers that question. They become satanic mutants who ride around on giant hippos. At one with nature, the Evolved use giant animals for weapons of war and construct buildings of wood and stone. Finally, there's the Series 9 robots, farming robots more akin to HAL 9000 than C3PO. Their side looks like a mix of Star Wars, Robotech, and Ronco. While there should have been ample room for creativity, all three sides are simply cookie cutter in nature. There are some minor differences between the sides, but mostly the differences are confined to altered graphics.

Once a side is chosen, you're shown an overhead map where you get to pick a mission, usually from two choices, sometimes more. Once that mission is completed you pick again, with the missions getting harder as you ultimately progress to a final showdown with your race's opponents. It's a nice change from the completely linear, but not enough to carry the game. Remarkably, the game suffers from too many nice touches. There's plenty to be found, but these touches never manage to elevate KKND2 beyond "been there, done that, got the T-shirt."