Duke Nukem 3D (1996)

This Duke Nukem title is a celebratory remaster of the iconic 1996 shooter, aiming to modernize the experience while staying faithful to its roots. It introduces true-3D rendering via the Build engine, dynamic lighting, enhanced visual effects, and improved sound quality, alongside re-recorded voice lines by Jon St. John. I have limited experience with the original title, which I played back in the day on PlayStation, and never got past the first few levels, but I have played other Build engine games and I can safely say this is a very high quality product of it. Although it doesn't have a ton of options such as more recent Build titles, it has a good amount of them, while at the same time, it has excellent defaults, especially when it comes to controller support. So much so that I've played this game completely using a controller, which is something that I never do since these titles are best suited for keyboard and mouse.

The standout addition is a completely new episode, Alien World Order, which expands the campaign with several large, original levels designed by some of the game’s original creators. And by far this additional content is the hardest levels of the bunch, being the most chaotic and unpredictable, displaying the creators' evolution in level-design. At its core, the game preserves the fast and old-school gameplay that made it famous. Combat is immediate and aggressive, levels are dense with secrets and interactive elements, and the game’s irreverent humor and pop-culture satire remain front and center. And even though it can start to become annoying like on Shadow Warrior, Duke is way less frequent with his comments. The level design, while sometimes maze-like, still rewards exploration and experimentation, offering a refreshing contrast to more linear modern shooters.

The new episode generally fits well with the classic content, even if its level pacing can feel uneven at times. The presentation upgrades are subtle rather than transformative. You can really notice a big difference compared to other similar titles when it comes to the level-design. This game tries to use the most out of the tech available at the time, to try and mimic real-world objects and structures. I'm particular fond to levels that tries to replicate cities and more detailed environments, rather than alien-like or otherworldly scenarios, and this title is packed with those. Improved lighting and rendering give environments more depth, and the cleaned-up audio enhances weapon feedback and atmosphere. Control adjustments, including mouse input and camera behavior, have also been criticized for feeling less precise than expected on PC.

Content-wise, this game is somewhat incomplete as a “definitive” release. While it adds new material, it omits some classic expansions found in earlier editions, making it less comprehensive than alternatives available to PC players. Overall, this title is a strong nostalgic package that succeeds in preserving the spirit of a landmark shooter while offering just enough new content to justify its existence. It is best enjoyed by fans of retro FPS games or those with fond memories of Duke’s best days, but newcomers may find its dated mechanics and uneven polish a barrier compared to more modern reinterpretations of the genre. I highly recommend this game if you like old FPS to any extent, especially because it is easily available for modern platforms, there is no reason to play the original inferior versions, it'll absolutely be a good time.

I played a version that added all the expansions, but they were slightly glitchy; still playable, just with some glitches.

Duke Nukem 3D is pretty much Doom but if it was aliens and if it was made by Carolco or Canon Group. Instead of a silent protagonist, we get one that chit-chats a lot, instead of action-horror, we get a mix between action-comedy with some horror based off the Alien films, also girls.

The nuke

• The game's graphics are hella impressive for its time. Doom looks basic compared to Duke Nukem 3D's ambience and envoirements; Doom could only render hellish landscapes and bases and make it somewhat convincing, Duke Nukem 3D could render full blown human structures and they actually look like actual places, especially in the expansions where the developers go crazy.

• The depth of interaction with the levels are still impressive. You can blow up certain walls to find secret paths, parts of the level can be destroyed and permanently change after interacting with something, "Damn, I'm looking good" and "Shake it baby". Can't forget the levels where you have to shrink down to get to certain areas.

• Duke's humor is dated, but it can still make you at least smile due to how silly it can get. He was a product of its time, and he's so dated that it shows. Who knew Big the cat, had sass?

• The weapons are still as great as they were when they came out. The pistol is somewhat useful, the shotgun is still the best main weapon, the chaingun is still awesome to shoot, the shrinking ray is still hilariously broken; etc.

• The enemy variety is nice. You have aliens that shoot projectiles, the shotgun hogs that shoot hitscan pellets, the hitscan lizards, the Kamikaze drones, the rocket launching hovering guys, and the bosses are basic but their fights are still memorable. This gets better with the exansions, where you have new enemies with different weapons. I love how some enemies are resistant to some of your weapons, forcing you to switch them; the kamikaze drone is not dying to your pistol, but will die to explosives easily for example.

The suck

• I can't remember most of the music. I can only remember the main menu's theme, the first level's music, the theme of the first level of Duke in the caribbean and nothing else. They kinda fell flat in this regard compared to Doom, I can remember most of Doom's songs but I can only remember three songs in all of Duke Nukem.

• The levels can get confusing, causing you to get lost easily or forcing you to look up a guide because you either soft-locked yourself by running out of ammo, you didn't notice a hidden detail in the background, or worse, something spawned incorrectly. This mostly happened in the expansions. For example, in the Plug 'N' Pray expansion that was ported by fans the final boss never spawned, in Life's a Beach the killzone of a puzzle can activate where it shouldn't causing you to die instantly for no reason.

Overall

Duke Nukem 3D is still worth playing in this day and age, it's not that dated, it's still impressive. I recommend the version with all the expansions if you can get it, so you get to see the full nuke.

I would like to give this game 3.5 stars, but I guess 4 is good!

Duke Nukem 3D was one of the first games I ever played, and what a game to start with. As a kid, I was not skilled enough to finish this epic game, but as an adult, I finally finished the game in 2017. It did not disappoint and it was a ride full of joy and nostalgia.

Duke Nukem 3D is a simple game with a simple story. Aliens invade the earth and are abducting all the woman, or “babes”. Duke is on vacation after the events of Duke Nukem I and II, but is called to earth via a distress signal.

You start in L.A. and see the devastation that has ravaged the city. You fight your way through the alien horde, desperately seeking and rescuing the women that have been abducted. Throughout the four episodes, you fight an Alien Battle lord, infiltrate an alien mothership to discover that the women are being “incubated” by the aliens. But then, you discover they were just a distraction to lure Duke away from earth, while the aliens launch a full invasion of the earth. This is a great example of the simple mind of a man. Lure him away with beer and/or titties and he will follow like a dog.

Anyway, you return to earth, fight the Cycloid Emperor and save the day, or so you think. However, in the next episode, you learn that one of the incubated women from the mother ship is used to “give birth” to the Alien Queen. You get your gun and go to work once again. You venture through “Babe Land”, a parody of Disneyland, Duke Burger, and even Area 51. You kill the Alien Queen but learn that there is another invasion that takes place all around the world. In the last episode, you liberate world capitols like Amsterdam, Paris, London, the pyramids of Giza, Rome and end your ass kicking back in Los Angles. You defeat the Cycloid Incinerator and stop the alien threat once and for all.

In terms of graphics, I still think Duke Nukem 3D looks great. Many items, furniture and walls are destructible, giving this game a realistic look, even back then. The many different areas, regions, unique buildings and settings makes this game stand out in comparison to Doom and Wolfenstein in my opinion.

Sound wise, Duke Nukem 3D is on par with Doom. Gunfire, enemy grunts and explosions all sound great. But of course, the best part of Duke Nukem, is its rocking soundtrack.

You can collect many different items in Duke Nukem 3D. New weapons, portable health kits, speed boosting steroids, holograms and many more. The inclusion of those items give this game an RPG feeling. Most of them are hidden away so exploring the levels thoroughly is a rewarding experience.

The humour and references to pop culture are hilarious. Many of them, I could not understand as a kid, but when growing up, many of these jokes and parodies are still as dark or funny as they were back then. When I found the corpse of the Doom Guy in one of the many secrets in the game, I could do nothing more than love the game even more.

The best part of Duke Nukem 3D, is the controversy that it spawned when it came out, something I did not understand as a kid, but which is somewhat hilarious in hindsight. The fact that you dope yourself up with steroids for extra boosts, the fact that Duke is actually a horny playboy/pimp that does not give a crap about people, except hot babes, and the foul jokes that I could finally understand when I grew up learned the English language.

Definitely recommend this gem.

Duke Nukem 3D is a 1996 first-person shooter game.The game's producer, 3D Realms, and the game's distributor, FormGen, have done a great job.The story of the game is as follows.Aliens begin to invade the Earth.A man named Duke Nukem starts to stop the aliens and save the world.The gameplay is as follows.in this game, which consists of 4 chapters and 39 maps, you are trying to kill the aliens and cross the chapter.The music of the game is beautiful.The graphics of the game are not bad.My rating for the game: 10/10 (y) Good games to everyone 🙂

Surrounded by drama when it released in '96, what made it controversial surely also made it popular. I'll never forget playing for the first time, left to my own devices on that rooftop with only a handgun, a strong kick and a lust for violence and destruction. There was some unforgettable moments just running around exploring, flicking light switches, seeing bullet holes and blood splatter on walls and other environmental details - like interacting with the toilets, breaking TVs, playing pool etc etc etc.

There's however a good, fun game beneath all that macho toughness exterior. Weapons, enemies and surroundings are all varied and levels are littered with secret areas and easter eggs to discover. I was eight years old in 1996, so I vividly remember coming across the half naked 'dancers' in the game and not knowing what to think. Not sure how fun it is to play today, but Duke Nukem 3D was very awesome back then, and is undoubtedly a legendary piece of pop culture.

-(3,5/5)-

Even if you've never played it before, chances are you've heard about the King and his most famous game from the mid 90s.

From fantastic level design, a large arsenal of guns to kill all alien scum, cheesy one-liners from old action movies and rescuing babes. Duke Nukem 3D is a cornerstone of PC FPS games. The 22 year old graphics might be outdated but it's still so much fun to play as the testosterone pumped, armed to the teeth Duke.

I played the Megaton Edition which is no longer available for purchase but there are so many ways to get your hands on this game and its expansions on any platform you have no excuse not to give it a try. If you enjoy single player FPS then you should definitely give it a go.

If you are an SJW or don't like crude humour then you should stay away! If you want to have a laugh and enjoy an old school 90s shooter then:

"What are ya waiting for, Christmas!?"

Note: This is for the Atomic Edition, which includes The Birth chapter.

Whoo, boy. There's humor that feels like it should stay in the past, then there's something so painfully bad that I'd be facepalming back in 1996. This is that kind of game. Chock filled with one-liners, incredibly grotesque "sexy" women stuffed in there, most of them for you to shoot, enemies that feel like Doom ripoffs more than something that stands out, and jokes and parodies that just make you shake your head instead of laugh. It's bad enough to notch this down from the 3/5 mechanics would have given it.

As for mechanics, it feels like a pretty standard Doom clone. Sure, there's a space bar interaction that would be assumed quirky, but is mainly used for more lame jokes, using key cards, and guessing button combinations to unlock doors. There's a variety of weapons that range from freezing weapons to shrinking weapons to things not unlike Doom. The design is a bit more vertical, allowing jetpack usage to fly through plenty of it. Other than that, imagine playing Doom but with a painfully douche-y guy with lame one-liners and you got Duke Nukem 3D. It's got similarly stiff difficulty that doesn't lead to many interesting moments past the first couple of episodes, so it gets boring by the time you reach the Atomic-only content.

Other than that...yeah. There wasn't anything cool about Duke then and there sure isn't anything worth going back to. If you want to play Doom-like games, put this one at the bottom of your list.