Duke Nukem 3D

"Nobody steals our chicks... and lives!"

Duke Nukem 3D is a game released by 3D Realms in January 29th. 1996 on the PC. The game was very controversial because of its graphic violence, profanity, and multiple sex and nudity content. In fact, the game was so "bad", it's banned in Japan. However, Duke Nukem 3D was better known as one of the best shooters of the time because of it's humor, level design, over the top action, and overall great game play. Just as DOOM, this game joined the PC classics line up. Now after so much waiting, it has finally joined the Xbox Live Arcade.

Story
Most people do not care for Duke Nukem 3D's story, seeing as it's not the most complex, but it's pretty interesting. The game is set somewhere on the early 21st Century. A race of transgenic aliens have attacked the Earth, destroying most of it and killing all humans except for woman used to entertain the extraterrestrials. While all this mayhem was happening, Duke was on a space trip. Upon landing back on Earth, he discovers what has happened. America has become a vague wasteland where pornography and strippers are the only source of entertainment. Duke decided it's time to free the earth from the enemy and retrieve his kidnapped "babes". You make your way through destroyed American cities as well as an alien spaceship and incubator in your quest to save the Earth.

Music
As soon as you hear the main theme, you quickly know this game has a kick ass soundtrack. You'll get pumped from the fast paced melodies and rock and roll feel on the Earth levels. While shooting aliens in space, you will get goose bumps from the creepy, slow music. You'll end up humming the jamming tunes of Duke Nukem 3D just after some playthroughs. Even Megadeth recorded their version of the main theme. It's a great and classic soundtrack that will be remembered as the game's environment-defining point.

Sounds
The guns sound authentic and loud enough. You can easily know which guns the enemy behind you is using. Every gun has a different sound, and they are all proper. The enemies sound like proper aliens, with their grouching and squeals. It feels satisfying after shooting a Battlelord and hear them yell to their death. Opening doors, buttons, and other effects sound well and proper too, you will never get them messed up or not notice you did something.

However, most people remember the sounds of this game from Duke's mighty one liners. As you progress through the game, picking up items and killing enemies, Duke will say something badass and funny. There is a ton of them, just for doing ransom stuff. It adds depth to the game just to try getting Duke to say them all.

Game Play
Ah. where to start? The level design is perfect. Most of the time you will make your way through challenging obstacle and locked doors. You will need to find cards to open the doors, similar to DOOM's skulls. You will backtrack around the level alot, but don't worry, it's enjoyable and well done. Unlike recent games, this key-getting and puzzle-solving can get hard. Sometimes you won't know where to go. Luckily, this version of the game has a "How to" section where they explain all the stuff you can press, switch around, or use in the game. Overall, it's a great system, intelligently done and fun to replay.

You will make your way through over 30 levels divided in 4 chapters. In my opinion, if you've never played this game before, it will take some time to complete, even on the easiest difficulty. A good 10-15 minutes a level will give you a fun, great 7+ hours of kicking ass. And that's without trying it on the hardest difficulty or finding all secrets.

Apart from a challenge, the level design also offers the secret areas. This well hidden bonuses normally give you a few extra items, but some can even go far enough to open new levels for you. The secrets are randomly scattered, you can press the use button on a random wall and it might open up and give you some ammo. Some are more obvious, like cracks that can be blasted away. This secrets add replay value and overall depth.

The enemies Duke blasts and blows up are one of the most original ones. You have your regular Assault Trooper armed with a weenie pistol, the you have the pig cops. They are supposed to represent corrupt policemen. You also battle flying enemies, like the Octabrains and Enforcers, both of which are very good challenges. There also are many. many other enemies, but these are the ones you will normally find. The variety is great, it never gets boring. The enemies' AI is not the best, but it's pretty good. Their aim is great and they can work in teams. The real challenge are the bosses. Unless you have the right weapons and plenty of ammo, they will take a lot of skill to defeat. At the end, the enemies are creative, fun things to shoot at.

Duke Nukem 3D includes the most original weapons I have ever experienced in a game. You start out with a pistol, but you quickly get a chance to use the "real" weapons. Some examples are the Freezer, which lets you freeze your enemies so thew can thaw and the kick them until they shatter, the ripper, a machine gun, the destroyer, a projectile shooting weapon, and my favorite, the shrink ray. With little guy, you can shrink your opponents and then let them taste your 14 size boot! Of course, you also have your regular weapons like the always effective shotgun, an amazing RPG, and pipebombs.

Apart from the fun weapons, you also get an Inventory. This carries very useful items you find, like the signature jet pack, which lets you soar into the air. Other useful items include the portable med kit, steroids, and a air tank so you don't drown underwater. This adds depth to the game and makes it a more complete experience. Of course, there are also useless ones, like the Holoduke. This lets you put a fake Duke so that enemies get confused. Normally enemies will know it's fake, so they just go after you. You use the D-pad to choose them so it's easy to flip through them.

Some new features on the 360 versions include the rewind feature. When you die, you don't go back to a check point or last save. Instead, you have this screen where you can go back to any point in the game. You can choose to start from the start of the level or at the middle, or right before you died. This of course is designed for the harder difficulties, since it makes the game a lot easier. Another feature is the run button. With a press on the right trigger, you can make Duke run. It helps a lot. It is very recommended that you always stay running.

Multi Player
Yeah, that's right, Duke on Xbox Live. You can Dukematch against other people on either one-on-one or a 4 or 8 free-for-all. To be honest, this has to be the best Arcade Xbox Live experience I have ever experienced. The fast pace plus the weapons and maps make every Dukematch a great experience.

You can also do campaign co-op with your friends. This is designed for the higher difficulties of course, since you can do up to 8 players in one co-op run. I have never tried this, but my friends say it's very fun and lag free.

Conclusion
Duke Nukem 3D is a must buy for any FPS fan and Arcade lover. It's just a classic everyone needs to play. It brings back memories to the older gamers and surprises the younger guys with its complex but fun presentation. Long story made short, whether you have played this game before or not, it's a great buy.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/06/08, Updated 10/07/08

Game Release: Duke Nukem 3D (US, 09/24/08)