Beamer
Dec 13 2004, 04:39 AM
Game: Kennys 2
Creator: Joe Dixon
Genre: Puzzler
Description: A sequel to Polygon's popular South Park-styled Lemmings game, complete with many new features including a custom level maker!

Rating: 90%

Review: In mid-1999, Polygon blessed us with a game that would soon become a classic – Kennys, a parody of the well-known Lemmings series that has appeared on various different consoles over the years. This game received high amounts of praise throughout the South Park Gaming community, mainly for the fact that it was rather close to the real Lemmings engine, which was a very difficult task, given the limits of Click & Create (the program Kennys was made in). Much later that year, Polygon released the highly anticipated sequel – Kennys 2, which became one of the most popular South Park games of all time.

If you’re unfamiliar with this type of game, let me explain. Basically, there’s a giant side-view maze, filled with gaps, water, walls and numerous other obstacles. Several sprites of Kenny fall from an entrance, and will walk left and right, completely defenseless and oblivious to everything. It’s up to you to assign them jobs at appropriate times to get them through the levels. For example, if a Kenny were about to walk through a wall, you’d click on the Punch icon at the bottom of the screen, and then click on that Kenny. If you time it right, then hopefully the Kenny you just clicked on will punch his way through that wall. The aim to getting your Kennys through the levels is to be very observant, and to time everything perfectly. Get the required amount of Kennys into the exit and advance to the next level.

In Kennys 2, there are 5 different types of levels. The grassy area, the lava-flooded castles, the sandy mazes, the icy caves and the pink… thingies. Although the levels themselves really just consist of graphics placed over a black background, they all vary in some way. Every level has slightly different obstacles, and a combination of Kennys. For example, in the sand levels – rather than have the punch job, Kennys are instead given a rocket launcher to blast their way through walls to safety. Also, in most levels with water, Kennys have the ability to build bridges. However, in some levels, rather than bridges, they get jetpacks, which you can steer by guiding the mouse in the direction you want your Kenny to fly. Some of the jobs you can assign Kennys are rather difficult to control, and many can be very useless at times. Still, it’s nice to see some variation as you make your way through the main game. Granted, the main game itself is very similar to the original Kennys game, and the only real differences are the few extra jobs, obstacles and levels. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that it is an incredibly fun (and occasionally challenging) play.

However, with such a similar main game – what sets Kennys 2 apart from the original? Ask anybody from the South Park Gaming community back then, and I’m sure you’ll get the same answer from each of them - the custom level editor, which was a first for SPG when the game was released. There are 4 steps to building a custom level: First of all, you give it a name, a filename and then you enter your name. Then you go on to configure the level’s basic properties, such as the setting, and background music. The music consists of several classic songs, such as The Can-Can, She’ll be Comin’ Round the Mountain and London Bridge is Falling Down. They’re hardly original, but they suit the game well. After that, you will go on to design your level. You can change the size of the grid, move the entrance and exit, and place the level’s items (water, bricks, walls, etc.) anywhere you want. The only problem is that once an item has been placed, it cannot be moved, so planning ahead is crucial to this section. Once that is done, you set the number of Kennys, the required amount to pass and the time limit, and then you wait approximately 15 seconds for the level to be created! Once a custom level is made, you can play it as often as you want, and even put it on the Internet for other people to download! I remember the first few months this game was released – everyone in SPGaming went wild swapping levels online. In fact, there was even a website dedicated simply to Kennys 2 custom levels, which shows just how big an impact this game has had on the community.

Unfortunately, Kennys 2 is not without bugs. The actual size of the Kennys themselves is very small, and can be occasionally hard to click on. Timing everything perfectly can be a real bother too, especially when you’re trying to punch through a wall – you have to click on your Kenny the exact moment he walks up to the wall, which is a damn pain. Sometimes when a Kenny punches through a wall, he’ll miss the first pixel, which will cause other Kennys to still walk into the wall until you punch through it again. There are a few similar bugs like this in the engine, many of which can really eat up lives, jobs and time. Still, considering how advanced the engine is, problems like this are forgivable, as they don’t really put much of a damper on the game. It’s more of an inconvenience than anything, and the game itself is still very enjoyable.

Quite simply put, the real redeeming feature of Kennys 2 is the custom level feature. If it wasn’t for that, I would have given this game a 7/10 at best, although then again – it may have actually gotten a perfect score if not for the bugs, which were only caused by such a complicated engine. However, it’s things like this that made Polygon such a great game creator. He was always pushing the barrier of his own click gaming skills, and did whatever was possible to advance the progress of South Park Gaming. Kennys 2 will go down in history as Polygon’s best game for now, and will also go down in history as one of the best South Park games ever made. As I said, this game’s not perfect, although the redeeming features are just so good that you’re probably not going to care about the small bugs. Kennys 2 is a true masterpiece of a South Park game, and is well worth the small download, too (under 1mb zipped!). I highly recommend it to anyone who’s even remotely into South Park Gaming.