It’s weird to think about it. The decade that many of us grew up in started a little over 30 years ago, the decade where we weren’t quite so screwed up, and the decade where games & entertainment were evolving in incredible ways. On the first of this month, I looked at the classic game that was Wolfenstein 3d. It helped create the force that is the FPS genre, and in general was just a fun & simple time. Now, we turn our gaze towards the very beginning of 1996. First Person Shooters have advanced thanks to the behemoth that was Doom, as well as graphics moving closer & closer to 3d. In January of 96, one FPS game would leave it’s nuked mark on the gaming landscape, and standing on top of the rubble would be the manliest of video game characters. So, grab your pistol, down a bottle of steroids, and get ready for my review of the iconic Duke Nukem 3d. Let’s begin!
Development History
Taken from Wikipedia:
“Duke Nukem 3D was developed on a budget of roughly $300,000. The development team consisted of 8 people for most of the development cycle, increasing to 12 or 13 people near the end. At one point, the game was being programmed to allow the player to switch between first-person view, third-person view, and fixed camera angles. Scott Miller of 3D Realms recalled that "with Duke 3D, unlike every shooter that came before, we wanted to have sort of real life locations like a cinema theatre, you know, strip club, bookstores..."
LameDuke is a beta version of Duke Nukem 3D, which was released by 3D Realms as a "bonus" one year after the release of the official version. It has been released as is, with no support. LameDuke features four episodes: Mr. Caliber, Mission Cockroach, Suck Hole, and Hard Landing. Certain weapons were altered from the original versions and/or removed.
Lee Jackson's theme song "Grabbag" has elicited many covers and remixes over the years by both fans and professional musicians, including an officially sanctioned studio version by thrash metal band Megadeth. Another version of the song was recorded by Chris Kline in August 2005. 3D Realms featured it on the front page of their website and contracted with Kline to use it to promote their Xbox Live release of Duke Nukem 3D.
The original official website was created by Jeffrey D. Erb and Mark Farish of Intersphere Communications Ltd.”
In-Game Story
Taken from MobyGames:
“A Babe, A stogie, and a bottle of jack. That’s what I need right now.
Duke mused of his recent defeat of the Rigelatins, his voice raspy even in his thoughts. After single-handedly saving Earth–again–he was ready for a long period of lying the hell down.
And no more freaking aliens.
Just then, a white-hot plasmatic blast punched through the hull of his cruiser. Klaxons flared, warning lights flashed, and static filled his monitors. He flipped on his comm.
Hey, anybody out there? I got a little probl... Duke started
“Mayday! Mayday!” the radio replied. "Los Angeles is under attack! There are aliens everywhere, and they’ve mutated the LAPD. Is anyone there? We need help!–" The transmission went silent
“Great,” Duke grumbled as his careening ship missed a skyscraper "What’s the problem with all these aliens races attacking Earth anyway? How many alien races have to get their asses kicked?"
Duke slammed his fist into the waiting eject button
I guess one more.”
Like I said in my Wolfenstein 3d review, FPS games (Especially those from the 90s & throwback titles) didn’t have a complex story. Duke Nukem 3d is no exception, but it’s this game where we finally get the character we all know & love. In the original Duke & Duke 2, he was nothing more than a meathead with weird quirks (Apparently, he likes Oprah in the 1st game). It’s this game that established all of the personalities traits we know today: the bravado, the love for women, the embodiment of 80s/90s action movie stars, and a surprising well of pop culture references that have aged remarkably well in the 25+ years since this game came out. Other games would add more things (For better or for worse), but Duke Nukem 3d is perhaps the most recognizable interpretation of the character.
Gameplay
Duke Nukem 3d isn’t that much different than Wolfenstein 3d when it comes to it’s most basic gameplay. You shoot enemies, look for keys to unlock parts of the level, look for secrets, and press a button to end said level. However, what separates Duke from B.J. Blaskowitz is a bevy of advancements. For starters, the roster of aliens that our hero shoves his boot up their ass is quite varied. There are alien grunts, mutated cops (Who are turned into pigs, btw), suicidal drones, and many others. Every enemy has their own set of attacks & traits, and you need to learn them in order to combat them effectively. This is especially true when there’s a variety of enemies in an arena, and there’s so many ways they’re engaging with you.
Next advancement of DN3d is it’s weapon variety. In Wolfenstein 3d, you had a knife, a Luger, an MP40 (I think), and a chaingun. In Duke Nukem 3d, you have your Mighty Boot (A kick attack), a pistol, a shotgun, a 3-barrel chaingun called the Ripper, pipebombs, an RPG launcher, a shrink ray/expansion ray, the Devastator (A rapid-fire micro-missile launcher), laser trip mines, and a freezeray/flamethrower. Like the enemies, all of Duke’s arsenal have their own quirks, as one weapon may be good in one scenario, while it might not be good in another. About the only weapon that I say would be bad would be the trip mines. They do a lot of damage, but you gotta have enemies walk into the laser beam in order for it to work, and enemies sometimes get stuck on a piece of the environment. The worse thing is that you can accidentally hurt yourself with your own mines, and you can’t disarm them. Once they’re stuck onto a surface, you can only get them off with explosives, but they’re destroyed in the process. I almost never use them, and I always wander around with a full set of them (10 mines).
Finally, and perhaps the biggest advancement when compared to Wolfenstein 3d, would be the levels. Whereas the levels in Wolf3d were simplistic in terms of layout (Though the design for some would be surprising for 1992), Duke3d’s levels are made in such a way as you appear & feel realistic. Outside of his trip into space in Episode 2, the illusion of reality is surprisingly strong. There’s strip clubs, a sushi restaurant, a movie studio, a post office on fire, and even a trip to a pot shop in Amsterdam in the World Tour edition. Even outside the various locales, what makes the level so memorable is the surprising level of interactivity. You can turn off/on light switches, look through security cameras, use a toilet to regain a hint of health, blow up certain walls to expose new areas & secrets, and so much more. FPS titles after Duke would have various levels of interactivity (Especially other Build engine games), but Duke Nukem 3d would be the game that did it the best!
Graphics
Let’s get one thing out of the way: contrary to it’s name, Duke Nukem 3d is not true 3d. It’s more accurate to say that it is 2.5d, or 2 & a ½d if you want to be a tiny bit insulting. The Build Engine that powers DN3D is made through the use of stacking multiple two-dimensional layers to create the illusion of 3d graphics. This is most noticeable when you’re on a higher ledge, and you’re looking down on an enemy, and said enemy doesn’t quite sync up with the environment. That being said, things still look impressive! There’s a greater usage of color than what was in Wolfenstein 3d, more realistic environments (Especially in the 1st episode, 3rd episode, most of episode 4, and most of episode 5), usage of actual angles & curves, etc. The remastered World Tour edition from 2016 does refresh the graphics quite a bit, but it still shows it’s age, though not as much.
Others
If you’d like to see this game in action, then click on the link below:
Duke Nukem 3d (Walkthrough)
Overall Impression & Rating
Duke Nukem 3d is a legend of a game. It took a character that barely had any personality, and transformed him into one of the all-time greats. Not only that, but it has aged like some of the finest wines ever taken from a vineyard. Sure, there’s a scratch here & there, but it’s insane at how much it holds up over 25 years since it’s release. Bullshit Justice Warriors might have a brain aneurysm nowadays about some of the content, but Duke is 10 times more progressive than any champion BJWs promote. If you want to see the extreme side of the 90s in video game form, then look no further than the Duke!
Duke Nukem 3d gets a 9 to 9.5 out of 10.
And that was my review for the iconic Duke Nukem 3d, and sadly the end of my look into the 1990s. I hope you had a lot of fun on this nostalgic trip into our childhoods, as well as being the last time there was sanity & common sense in the world. I’m taking a break for the rest of the month, but with that said, September isn’t far away, so I’ll see you then!
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