System Requirements: Power Macintosh, CD-ROM drive, Mac OS 7.5 or later, 12 MB free RAM (25 MB recommended), 5-50 MB hard disk space. QuickTime 2.0 or later for cutscene movies and background music. NetSprocket 1.1.1 and OpenTransport 1.1.1 required for net gaming.
 
The Fate of Mankind Rests in Your Hands…
Forget the Y2K crisis…this one is much worse. The Jihaz, 
a fanatic religious organization, has been working for years
towards the purification of mankind. Their method
involves experimenting with humans to accelerate the
evolutionary process. Their end goal: to take over the
world. You come into the scene 10 years after the
experiments began, in February 2005 (2k5), and right as the
real battle begins. The Jihaz and their mutant military force
wage battles against the united forces of mankind. Pick your
side to determine the fate of the world.
2K5 is the latest fighting game from DoomHammer Software at http://www.doomhammer.com/ and features scrolling fighting action. If you're familiar with the Mortal Kombat series (for the consoles), you'll understand fairly well what 2K5 is about and how it's played. If you side with the forces of good, you can save mankind from extinction… side with evil and you can take over the planet. Pretty standard good vs. evil stuff here.
 
Gameplay
 
At the game's outset, players are offered several options for
game play: single player, two-player network, computer vs.
computer, practice, or replay. If you choose any of the fighting
options, you will get to choose your character (or both players
in computer vs. computer mode) from the eight provided, or
you may elect to build your own custom character.
Once a match has begun, you will fight until the death (duh!).
A somewhat anatomically correct diagram in the upper right
and left corners of the screen show how damaged each character is and how much ammo remains. What happens after the initial match is dependent upon the options you chose in the original menu. If you're a single player and you win, you move on to play your next opponent at a new venue. It's a pretty simple game to understand, and a detailed description of each option is available on the CD in HTML format.
 
Controls
Character controls are a snap. The number pad is used for movement, spacebar defends, and shift, control, option, and command are used for the various attack moves. Each character has different weapons and skills. Each player also have special combination moves which make each match unique. Just be sure to look up the player info on the CD manual for these combo moves.
The controls, though comfortable, are not easy to modify. Only the movement and defense keys can be changed, in fact. The attack keys are fixed, so you've gotta stick with 'em. The upside? If you've got a gamepad with a programmable aspect, you can configure it to work with the game. I always suggest avid gamers own a gamepad anyway, so here's yet another excuse.
 
Graphics and Sound
  The overall feel of the game is good, for lack of a better
word. The character animation is fluid, but limited.
Each character has a certain number of moves, and
that's it. For those that are used to the latest 3D fighting
games where the same move can look different
according to how it's performed, this can be frustrating.
Overall, though, the fluid character movement is a
plus and the limited movement allows you to easily
create your own characters (if you've got a knack for
drawing and understand resource files).
I also liked the background, particularly their clarity and animation. The general background moves as a solid block as your character moves about the room, but each room seems to have something that stands out. For example, some rooms feature a TV with active animation. Screenshots are available at http://applewizards.net/2k5/ .
2K5 also features music and sound effects as you play (what game doesn't?). The synthesized music kinda gets you in a funky Nintendo fighting mood (you'll know what I mean when you play it), while the sound effects themselves are pretty cool and rather realistic. All sounds are stereo, which adds yet another nice effect.
 
Miscellaneous
2K5 offers a variety of options, including graphic resolution and the ability to avoid QuickTime movies and background sounds (for better performance). DoomHammer Software included an in-depth manual (mentioned earlier) which shows character moves and contains background information. One of the most interesting things is that the source code for the game is included. This allows you to learn how the game is written. You can then use DoomHammer's engine to create custom characters and battle arenas. Very cool!
 
 
Final Thoughts
2K5 is a pretty cool game, and its requirements aren't outrageous by any means. For those of us who haven't played a good ol' fighting game in a while, this one is worth picking up. For $25, the game, source code, and instructions are a cheap buy for a budding game programmer.
If you're not sure whether 2K5 is right for you just yet, grab the demo at http://members.aol.com/doomhmr1/2K5HTML/2K5Download.html . You can't really lose (I'm a big fan of demos). For the interesting characters, fluid gameplay, relatively low requirements, and the extra goodies, 2K5 earns four out of a possible five stars.
Well, I'm off to take over the world in my post-holiday sugar-induced rampage. Until next month…
