I hope you’re enjoying this fine Fourth of July. I feel a bit more of the patriotic spirit this time around as opposed to last year, but whether you’re sipping on a glass of iced tea, munching on a burger or hot dog, or enjoying a fireworks show, I hope your day is going well. However, for those who are staying indoors, whether it’s because of bad weather in your area, sickness, or you just want a more quiets kind of day, I figured you deserve a little treat. So, for your pleasure, here’s a murican & surprise review of Duke It Out In D.C.!
Story
As with all the other Duke games, this one is no different in terms of a silly story. Aliens have invaded Washington D.C., and kidnap (then) President Bill Clinton in the process. It’s up to Duke Nukem to traverse the city, mow down alien scumbags, and rescue the president.
Like all the Duke Nukem stories so far, it’s simple, I can get behind this.
Settings
As the name of this expansion pack states, the game takes place in Washington D.C. To name all of the sights, Duke journeys through the White House, Washington Monument/Lincoln Memorial, FBI Headquarters, Smithsonian Institution (More on this level in a bit), Capital Building, D.C. Metro, a warehouse filled with conspiracy theory stuff (Secret Level), the D.C. Sewer System, a submarine dock, and finally Norad. Though there aren’t portrayed even remotely accurately to the real thing, the spirit of those places infuse their video game counterparts. All of these locales aren’t even remotely portrayed like their real-life counterparts (Save for the warehouse), they are perhaps the most realistic levels ever made for Duke Nukem. There’s a hint of believability to them when you compared them to most of the “realistic” places in the base Duke Nukem 3d, and despite one weird level quirk with all of them (More on that below), they are interesting to traverse. If I had one complaint in this regard, it’s that I don’t find them to have as much of a personality impact when compared to DN3D & the other 2 Duke expansions to come out much later in 1997. If you’ve played Duke Caribbean or even Nuclear Winter, you’ll know what I mean.
Characters
There’s Duke. Nuff said!
Gameplay
Just like the base Duke Nukem game, Duke It Out In D.C. follows the step-by-step plan of finding weapons, kill aliens, solve small puzzles, find keys to unlock doors, etc. Having said that, there are some minor changes.
For starters, there’s no new enemies to fight. Despite being finished around the time of the Atomic Edition of Duke Nukem 3d, the Pig Cop Tanks and the Queen Protectors are nowhere to be found, despite them being available to put in. Instead, we’ve got the same crew of enemies from DN3d, but without any new skins. It would have been cool to see the Pig Cops look like Secret Service agents, but I guess some things just weren’t meant to be.
Secondly, despite the overall more realistic approach to the level design, there are some that can be confusing to traverse. Nowhere is this more evident than in the fourth level of the pack, Smithsonian Terror. When I first played Duke It Out In D.C. back in 2009 and got to this level, it took me almost 40 minutes to beat, simply because of it’s design (It was based off a portion of the actual museum if I’m correct), and just how large it was! I eventually found my way out of the place, but man did it take me a while!
Finally, we come to a more minor complaint about this pack. If don’t know if it’s me, but I swear to god every level has air vents to crawl through. Sometimes it’s only a portion or two, but other levels seem to have a spider web of air vents. Does anybody else have the same opinion as me!?
Graphics & Sounds
One thing that’s different from Duke It Out In D.C. when compared to the original DN3D is the textures. The individual that made this pack created some original textures, just to use in this game. Custom signs, custom pictures, and custom floor & wall textures can be found in many of the levels. Other than that, it’s still the Build engine underneath everything. The sounds are the same as well, with Jon St. John coming back to voice the starring lead. Like Duke: Nuclear Winter, he has no new lines at all, save for one in the last level. As you make your way down an elevator, and into a control room, there’s one lone alien. After you bump him off, Duke promptly says “What, there’s only one of you!?”. It’s great to hear at least one new line, but a couple more would have been appreciated.
One other thing. The soundtrack for Duke It Out In D.C. uses the music from the 3rd episode of the original game. It’s disappointing that there’s no new music, but at the same time episode 3's music was pretty damn good.
Overall & Rating
If Duke: Nuclear Winter was the worst of the three Duke packs from 1997, and Duke Caribbean is the best of the 3, then Duke It Out In D.C. is the middle one (Despite the praise it got back then). It’s got it’s problems, but at the same time there’s plenty of fun to be had. Despite being designed weird, the levels are pretty damn good to move through & explore. It’s only weaknesses are a lack of new enemies and weapons, no new one-liners, and a rehash of game music. A lot better than Duke: Nuclear Winter, but still not fully up to snuff.......especially with what would come by the end of 97.
Duke It Out In D.C. gets a 7 out of 10.
Hope your Fourth of July is nice. Until the next time I see you, stay Otaku!
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For more info on Duke It Out In D.C., click on the link below:
http://dukenukem.wikia.com/wiki/Duke_It_Out_In_D.C.
If you’d also like to see a walkthrough of the pack, click on the link below:
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