Beat the playstation Total Meltdown version on my PSP on the hardest difficulty. There were several critical problems with this port. Two of the control schemes were unplayable with only the Doomed scheme being good. It made the game play like Doom with generous vertical auto aim, though looking up and down was too awkward to bother with. I had to look up online how to use items; stupid hold the analog stick while pressing another button to cycle and a different button to use. It made using items mid combat very awkward, and switching them a death sentence. Right on the stick switched weapons forward but there was no way to cycle backwards. I had to already have the appropriate weapon equipped before getting into combat, which led to a lot of unnecessary damage and save scumming. Especially if I had the rpg out and got a face hugger on me, so I had to slowly switch up to 3 times to get to a non explosive weapon (if I had no shrink or freeze ammo). Or having the shrink ray out when getting rushed by suicide drones. This would not have been so bad if weapons and items could have been switched while paused. Another annoying problem was that quick saves did not persist after exiting the game for some reason, so I lost my entire first play session. I used the manual saves and it could take up to 2 god damn minutes to save the game. What the hell, Duke doesn't want to wait that long between ass kicking. And with all the flaws in this port that make the game more difficult, I swear I spent just as much time saving as I did actually playing. Another of those problems was the framerate. The game felt like it was too fast, which left very little reaction time to deal with enemies. Sometimes the framerate stuttered to the point of being nearly unplayable, especially in the 4th campaign, where I had to save after every couple of kills.
I played LA Meltdown first and it was always my favorite. I remember the first level like the back of my hand. I got my ass kicked though as I got used to the controls, lack of looking up and sheer speed of the game. I remember on PC there was a separate kick button and I could equip the kick to kick with both legs at the same time for impressive damage. It was a great way to deal with lone enemies in close quarters, even if it was ridiculous. But in this port I could not kick at all unless I was completely out of ammo. So I struggled to find enough ammo to kill everything. The framerate and need to shoot buttons made some of the platforming more difficult than necessary, and there was no noclipping cheat to help. The battlelord boss was incredibly difficult and I died many times. The framerate was acting up so it felt too fast and choppy to use any kind of proper tactics, and the way the look auto changed when on an incline made it difficult to peak over the raised bit in the center. I eventually got him by unloading rpgs and pipe bombs while taking cover behind the raised bit as needed. Up until this point the challenge was very good and it was only during the final level that I maxed out on ammo. The lunar campaign was always my least favorite, likely because of the prevalence of the annoying suicide drones, enforcers and facehuggers, and possibly because the levels were less grounded. It was still very enjoyable with a good level of challenge. I dropped the final boss in seconds using the devastator and he never even got an attack off. Complete opposite of the Battlelord. Campaign 3 was even more challenging and I almost never had full ammo for any weapon until the end. The final boss went down in seconds again without me taking any damage. I circle strafed around him unloading the devastator, then finished him off with a few shotgun blasts. Campaign 4 was where the challenge went through the roof. It was excellent in terms of ammo scarcity but health was a big problem. So much so that I had to save scum and make frequent use of toilets for that free healing. Some of those levels could have used an infinite health fountain. I had to check a walkthrough for the first level and the hotel to figure out where to go because some of the main path was hidden like a secret. The Duke Royale level was the worst of all for framerate, to the point of being almost unplayable. This was the level that required the most save scumming and bathroom trips. Then I missed a lot of the second last level to go into the Faces of Death secret level. It took several tries to kill all the battle lords without taking too much damage but I ended the level in much better condition than I started. The final boss was incredibly difficult because it was a reskinned battlelord with that damn hitscanning chaingun and I only had 40% health. Choppy framerate was not helping either. I ended up hiding behind a pillar until the tunnel exploded open, then ran in there and destroyed the weak wall to gain access to the hidden bonus area behind the boss. Surviving the boss and suicide drones to get out there took a lot of save scumming. Had to kill what drones I could with the devastator, then get the commanders with the shrink ray. After that there was plenty of health and ammo, and the boss was easy to defeat.
I used the pistol for the basic aliens, facehuggers, suicide drones and turrets. It was also good for long range sniping and shattering frozen enemies. I really liked how it had its own ammo and unique effectiveness, unlike the Doom pistol. The shotgun was one of the best in history with high damage and impressive range. I found the time delay for pumping between shots to be perfect for popping around corners to avoid enemy fire. It was great for enforcers to avoid their chaingun fire. The chaingun was best against pigs and octobrains because it stunned them. I did not like using it on enforcers because it was very difficult to not take damage from trading hits. I did not like the sound effect because it sounded like a silencer. A machine gun should sound like a beast. The rpg was my least used weapon. It was a great one shot kill on enforcers, and good for drones, commanders and battlelords. Kind of a waste on weaker enemies unless they were grouped. Had to be careful not to kill myself though. Pipe bombs were the best new weapon concept because they could be used around corners and against lower elevations to avoid taking direct enemy fire. I used most of them on battlelords any time I could get a safe area that was too small for them to get me. The shrink ray was a great one shot kill for enforcers and commanders, though it was a risk to run up and squish them. It was also a huge risk to have it equipped because it did nothing to suicide drones. The devastator was the best weapon, great for bosses and mowing down groups of enemies. The freezer was one of the least effective weapons and I really only used it to save ammo for other guns. It functioned like the Doom plasma rifle only frozen enemies had to be killed with another weapon and the bounce more often than not hit me. I just took more damage using it than if I had used a better weapon. It worked well against suicide drones though. The laser trip bombs were difficult to use without knowing beforehand where the enemies would come from. So for the first playthrough all I could really do was try to lure enemies into them or guess. I did not use many of the activated items, other than the jetpack. Nightvision was not really necessary. At best it would help avoid a bit of damage. The speed from steroids made the game even harder to control, though I did use them at the race track level to make the jump to the end without extending the track. The holoduke was the most useless item because it almost never worked for me. They always shot at me rather than it. I am sure there are creative ways to use it for an advantage that do not really mesh with my run and gun playstyle. I wish it at least set off suicide drones. The passive items were great though I wish all pick ups left behind the unused amount rather than just disappearing when I did not need the full content.
Duke Nukem 3D is one of the best games of all time because it is an evolution of Doom. The best aspect is the level design, with intricate realistic levels that are a joy to explore. I love the sense of the levels being real places with believable secrets and machinery. And of course the destruction. The second best aspect is the combat; face paced and tactical with more of a vertical element than Doom. The enemies and weapons are similar to Doom with enhancements to make combat more engaging. Little things like aliens jetpacking or going invisible, pigs going prone and enforcers jumping put some variation in battles. Bullet holes, blood spatter, foot prints and the choking of the basic aliens are brutally satisfying, though I wish other enemies had alternate fatalities. And I do wish there were more enemy types. It was never the one liners, crass humor, sexy girls or character of Duke that made the game such a legendary masterpiece. They certainly don't hurt though. The playstation port is a poor version of the game even though I did like being able to play it portable. I do not recommend it over the PC.
