Duke Nukem 3D

The Good
If you're not into network play, this is a GREAT solitaire action game. Constant attention was paid to details, from bullet holes in the walls to exploding toilets to a functional pool table. Even though it's only 256 colors, it doesn't seem all that limited visually - except, of course, when you look up and down. The greatest thing, of course, is that Duke, unlike equivalent hero of Quake or Unreal, has an attitude, and it's used in so many ways throughout the game's storyline.

The Bad
Cheezy midi music reminds you that Apogee is behind the game. Also, it's clear from the gameplay (looking left/right, and being killed) that the visual area doesn't have to be straight up and down - so why isn't tilting used more often? Oh well, with all the fancy features in the engine, they had enough to contend with.

The Bottom Line
Duke3D bridges the gap (whatever that might be) between Doom and Quake. But, it's definitely not a game for people who just want to shoot at each other over the net - or for people who are politically correct.

The Good
I liked the wit. It's typical Duke Nukem, and it is refreshing to play a game with a down to earth hero. His one-liners always made me chuckle, and it added an air of Hollywood into the game!

Graphics are pretty good for '96, probably just over Dooms '93 level (but remember that was insanely ahead of its time) and the environments are believable, and weapons are very good - futuristic but fun to use, and definitely add to the players interest. The graphics were good enough for me to enjoy those strippers' looks... ;)

I love the gameplay - It is pretty much your typical FPS - but it has less bad features and more good ones than many - For example, you can use items like the jetpack which are executed perfectly, and of course Duke's interactivity with the player sets this game above Quake, and even Doom in that respect.

The music consists of midi tracks, but they are very well done and catchy - Some levels use a form of ambience, and others use a very "on the go" type of tune depending on what sort of level it is; I think the music was done very effectively in this game. The sound is also pretty good - with background sounds in effect, and the same format of enemy sounds as found in Doom ("wakeup" sounds, "active" sounds, etc) which can cause the player to shake in fear! There are a good number of levels to play here - I never got bored playing this game. Sounds great, huh? Well there are some problems ...

The Bad
... yes, you heard me! There are some problems. Mainly, similar to Doom II, there is a poor storyline which is never really followed by the player. Also, obviously it is 2.5D, which means sprites are used for the characters, which can look poor when looking at dead bodies on the rotating security cameras in the game - as they bodies spin with the camera. This is something that has been a problem since Doom, and 3D Realms were very aware of it. Also, I can't say much for the mouselook feature in this game - tends to give one a bit of a headache using it, although that may just be me...

The Bottom Line
This is a good game, and worth getting if you want a complete "old school FPS" collection. As with Doom, it is an adrenalin pumping game with good graphics and admirable gameplay.

The Good
Duke Nukem 3D is the game I regard as Doom's spiritual descendant. It has all of Doom's good elements (atmosphere, design, and of course mindless fun) while adding something that was totally lacking from the original: style! At first glance it appears to be a rather unassuming FPS that is little more than a 3D rendition of the Duke Nukem platform games that preceded it, but as you step on dog crap and hear Duke say "shit happens," or walk into a topless joint filled with women who will happily strip for cash, you realise this game is something unusual.

Duke 3D became (in?)famous in part because of all the mature content it features. But that's not all it has going for it. Step away from the boobs and profanity for a second and you'll find one of the most fun and inventive shooters ever to come down the pike, and one that is still a blast to play today. Lots of games since have tried to recapture the Duke Nukem 3D spirit (i.e. Serious Sam) but none have ever made the splash the original did.

Game design is a pretty simple equation. It comes down to what a developer/publisher is most prepared to dedicate his time and effort to. At the same time id Software was making a technological wonder with generic gameplay, Quake, 3D Realms was making a game that emphasized content over everything else. And believe me, it paid off. Duke 3D is a blast from beginning to end. At no point does it become generic or annoying. This is partly due to great level design, and also how damned original the game feels. I don't mean "original" in that it turns every FPS game play convention upside down, but that it has millions of small touches that makes Duke 3D an almost unique experience.

Notice the pool table in the first level? You can roll balls around. See the Duff Beer Blimp in the background of the last boss fight? Try shooting it with a rocket. Lights can be turned on and off with switches, and can even be destroyed by gunfire. Toilet won't flush? Pipe-bomb the sucker. Small gimmicks and tricks, you might say. But the stuff I listed above is only the tip of the iceberg, the entire game is full of small personal touches that transform it from a generic shooter to an immersive, original experience that contains the first truly interactive environment found in a 3D video game. Just about everything in the game (toilets, mirrors, fences) can be interacted with in some way. This is part of what makes Duke 3D so special, it's one of the most detailed games around.

Obviously, that kind of stuff isn't enough to make a game on its own. But Duke 3D takes the rabid addictiveness of games like Doom and builds upon it with several new gameplay conventions that are still in use today. The game is non-linear, there are often quite a few ways to get to the exit (such as crawling through an air vent to avoid a tough group of enemies, or blowing a hole in a wall) and lots of different paths you can explore to find goodies and secrets. You also have an inventory, and unlike Heretic's it actually doesn't suck. You have a varied arsenal of weapons (including the classic pistol/shotgun/machinegun combo, as well as weirder stuff like a shrink-ray and freezer) that is perfectly balanced and well-rounded, even in the later stages of the game you'll still be falling back on your pistol occasionally. As you'd expect the enemies in Duke 3D are downright insane, I burst out laughing when I saw a pig cop riding a spin-deck.

Add to this a collection of great levels that actually make you want to play them again, a solid multiplayer mode that remained popular years after the game had become obsolete, and enough pop culture references to expand the trivia section threefold if someone went and documented them all, and you have one of the best old-school shooters around.

In short: this game gives weight to John Romero's famous statement "design is law." Contrary to what industry pundits think, we gamers aren't mindless sheep who play whatever game has the prettiest graphics. If a game has what it takes to rise above the pack, and combine new elements with well-grounded traditional ones, we reward it.

(This isn't related to the game itself as such, but I feel the need to commend Ken Silverman for designing the Build engine. It's incredible that a teenager who was just out of high school and was failing half his classes at university was able to produce such a dynamic, powerful and flexible piece of software with practically no outside help. Build also comes with what must be the easiest editor ever made for a 3D game. Finally you didn't have to be a theoretical mathematician or UNIX operator to design your own levels for an FPS. Ken Silverman became the god of virgin geeks everywhere for allowing them to plague the internet with their billions of crappy custom levels and mods. Oh well...)

The Bad
Most of the problems Duke 3D has some with the genre. If you disliked Doom and hate key-hunt puzzles don't expect Duke 3D to be much different. Duke 3D is simply a nice package of old-school FPS action with some extra huevos thrown in. It's got lots of original touches, but it isn't like it's trying to revolutionize the genre.

And of course there are a few small nits and nats (too much ammo, boss fights are boring, puzzles are dependent on trial and error) but let's not focus on what Duke 3D did wrong but on what it didn't do wrong. Face it, with a game like this a million things could have ruined it, and it's a testament to the designers' work that the game is as good as it is.

The Bottom Line
Some excellent games get released during the wrong time and thus are ignored (Grim Fandango won multiple awards but failed to attract gamers because of the FPS phenomenon), and other mediocre games sell quite substantially if there's a multimillion dollar hype campaign backing them...just look at some of the recent Star Wars games. But Duke 3D is neither over-rated nor under-rated. It deserves every gram of success it received. Duke 3D is a classic and one of the greatest FPS games ever released, no buts ifs or maybes allowed.

The Good
Ah, Duke Nukem 3D. What can I say that has not already been said about this classic? I remember discovering it thanks to my older brother playing it on his computer. Back then, I already found the game to be very fun but now that I have reached adulthood, I only now have started to fully appreciate the greatness of this FPS masterpiece. There is a lot I want to talk about, so let's get started.

Gameplay-wise the game could be considered a complete clone of DOOM. You go from point A to B, collect keys and kill everything in sight. Of course, Duke3D won't be as great as it is if the gameplay was that basic. The first thing you will notice about this game is its awesomely detailed and varied levels. Duke3D mostly takes place in real-life locations like city streets, bars, restaurants and even a huge cargo ship. Really, if you can think of any real-life location, it will probably be in the game. Not only that, but every level is huge and filled to the brim with detail. Let's take Duke3D's iconic first level. It takes place in a Hollywood cinema. Outside, you will find a mock up of the Hollywood Walk of Fame and inside you will find the ticket counter, the main room (with a movie playing), the editing room and even a bathroom. In other words, every location feels like a real location and they all have plenty of secret rooms. You will really enjoy exploring the levels and after completing one, you will feel plenty of satisfaction as well as curiosity of what the next level will be.

There is also a ton of interactivity in the levels of Duke3D. Pretty much every object can be either activated or destroyed. See a toilet? Go take a leak (and gain some health) or just flush it if you have already answered nature's call. Faucets can be turned on and drank from in order to slowly restore your health. Cracked walls can be blown up revealing secrets or just a big gaping hole. Clocks, television screens and windows can be broken. Buttons and terminals can be activated to open hidden doors. If you enter a strip club, you can give the chicks a tip and they will show off their boobs in all their sprite glory! Yeah, shake it, baby!

I already talked about the variety in Duke3D's levels but the same can be said about the game's enemies and weapons. For example, you will be facing flying octopuses with huge brains, green slimy facehuggers and of course the pig cops, which have now become a stable in Duke games. And then there are the weapons and my god, are they all awesome to use. You have typical FPS weapons like the shotgun, pistol and rocket launcher but you also get original stuff like the freeze gun, shrink ray and (my favorite) the devastator. Which is basically a double barreled machine gun shooting little rockets for massive damage. Fuck yeah!

And then there's the game's humor. Duke3D is a game that does not take itself too seriously. If you go into a bathroom, chances are you will find a alien there taking a dump. Enter a bar and enemies will be watching TV or playing pool because yeah, aliens like to take a break from things as well. And finally, there is the true star of the game, Duke Nukem himself!

If you don't know Duke Nukem (you must be born after 1996, I believe), he is basically a huge tribute to the 80s action heroes portrayed by actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Jean-Claude Van Damme. He is a wise-cracking, ultra-violent and larger than life beefcake who either shoots things or makes comments on whatever he encounters or does in the game. Blow aliens up and he will shout "blow it out your ass." Get a new weapon and he says "Groovy." By far my favorite Duke quote is when he encounters a Duke Nukem II arcade machine and says "hmm, don't have time to play with myself," closing followed by jamming a fucking pipe bomb into the alien queen's vagina and saying "time to abort your whole freaking species" before blowing her the fuck up. He is also pretty well-aware of being in a video game. Do not control him for thirty seconds or so and he will tell you things like "what are you waiting for, Christmas?" or he will start whistling his famous theme song while cracking his knuckles.

The Bad
Music wise, the game doesn't have many memorable songs. There is of course Duke Nukem's awesome signature theme song Grabbag and the great level complete music track, but those are pretty much the only noteworthy tracks in the game. The music consists mostly of techno or rock like tracks that do not really stand out compared to the great in-game action and light-hearted atmosphere.

I also find it a bit of a shame that you cannot save the women you find entangled in alien vines or pods. You can only kill them, much to the dislike of Duke himself. I wish that you could save them and that they would give you something like ammo or health. Now, they are just there, begging you to kill them. And if you do kill them, aliens will spawn to your location as payback, even if you kill them by accident.

And as you may expect by now, Duke3D has little story whatsoever. It basically consists of Duke Nukem saving the world from yet another alien threat by hunting the invaders down on Earth, in space and on the moon. Save the world, get the girls, and that's it.

The Bottom Line
What can I say? Go get this game, now! Especially if you are like me, who prefer games that are meant to be fun and entertaining. Games that play and feel like games rather than attempting or pretending to be Hollywood movies (I am looking at you, Call of Duty). Duke3D is an over the top roller-coaster ride that feels extremely satisfying from start to finish and just begs for a few more playthroughs just to relieve the joyride all over again. And in case you do get tired of the main game maps, then go online and download many of the hundreds of mods and map packs freely available. So stop reading this review and come get some!

The Good
Ah... Duke3D.... What a game it was! Released just as 2.5 graphics were about to become obsolete, this game managed to outlast every other shooter in the wake of the 3D revolution. Why?? FUN. Duke3D added millions of creative touches to the already stagnant fps formula, and ended up with a product that was a truly innovative piece of software, a veritable breath of fresh air loaded with guns, girls and gore!

Duke takes the comedy approach to the fps genre, but unlike previous attempts like The Fortress of Dr. Radiaki, Duke focuses on lampooning recognized pop-culture icons, and even the fps genre and itself as a game while keeping the action and not dropping to gags. Think all fps are about a steroid-ladden hero that singlehandedly saves the world?? Well Duke is EXACTLY that, only it takes that and rubs it in your face instead of trying to hide like a coward! Duke is da man, he is the pure representation the male ego gone wild, complete with full beefcake-ness and the best collection of one-liners ever assembled for a game. Duke walks around like he owns the world, and guess what? He does! It's his show baby, and there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, the game may be about stopping an alien invasion or something like that, but it's really all about the Duke and his world. The designers made the right choice by focusing the level design on recognizable urbane locations, so that gives the ego factor a major boost. Ever wish you could just waltz in on the hottest strip-club in town, shoot some bad dudes, and walk away with the hottest chicks??? Well, with Duke you can!! Heck, even throw money at them and they'll show you some of their goods!! :)) And if you think that's politically incorrect, well that's just the tip of the iceberg. Through the course of the game Duke takes potshots at just about every recognizable pop-culture icon you can think about, including video games! Also among the enemies you have LAPD cops, and not just cops, but PIG cops! How cool is that? But want the icing on the cake?? Duke says to a boss he'll blow his head off and shit down his throat... and guess what does he do when you beat him?? :)))) It's gross, it's immature, it's juvenile, and it's The Greatest videogame moment EVER!

Of course, that alone wouldn't sell the game to anyone but the most stupidly immature of gamers (me!me!!;D) but the gameplay also gets a lot of major yet subtle innovations to add to the usual brain-melting fps action. Remember the duct-crawling you thought was so cool on games like Half-Life or Deus Ex? This is were it started. Ditto that now forgotten "shoot the crack in the wall" trick to reveal new areas. Duke also delivered the first truly good underwater action for an fps, and included an inventory with such items as a jetpack or a holo-duke. Duke also was a first on the good use of decals, which allowed you to leave bullet marks everywhere and even leave bloody footprints when you stepped on dead foes, Hehehe...Furthermore, Duke was the first game which made it's entire levels complete interactive locations. Did you see how in Max Payne you could pick up phones and hear a tone, or use vending machines, or stuff like that?? Well, it all started here also! You could burn down trees, stick your fingers on electrical outlets, use the toilets (and gain health doing so :), turn on tvs, flirt with hookers, open pretty much everything that could be opened (like cash registers) and even play pool!! Even non-obvious things like mirrors would yield their quota of fun when used as Duke would comment on them. (Duke 3D was the prime reason why I so missed the "use" key on Quake).

Further praise must also be made for Duke's arsenal, which stands out as one of the most imaginative ones ever. You get the usual shotgun-pistol-rocket-machinegun combo, and on top of that you get an assortment of wacky and great weapons like a shrinking ray, a freezing ray, micro-missiles, trip mines, and the allmighty pipe bombs. These weapons really came alive during multiplayer duke- match, few things match the joy of shrinking down a friend and then actually stepping over them :))

The Bad
The second episode takes place in a stupid space station. Who wants to be on a dull space station when you can be at a porn-house, or a sushi parlor with funky geishas?? :) Seriously, the second episode is standard fps action, and Duke3D is WAY above that.

The Bottom Line
Duke is the man. Still is, and always will.

Seriously, tough. Duke3D proved that creative genius, style, and execution are the real cornerstones of every good game. Not the flashy graphics or crap like that. (Tough Duke still remains a visually-digestible game to this day, which says a lot of it's 2.5D engine). Don't even think about it, Get Duke 3D or Get Nuked!

The Good
The history of FPS games is marked by 3 major milestones...Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake. Each of these games completely revolutionized FPS gaming with their release...Wolf3D introduced slick graphics and layed out the basics, Doom took the graphics to a the next level and introduced changes in elevation to level design, and Quake of course brought FPS gaming into the all important third dimension.

So where does Duke3D fit in?

Duke (and the excellent Build engine with which it's based) bridged the gap between Doom and Quake, bringing us such now-important gaming elements as mouse-look, jumping, crouching (which Quake didn't even let us do), flying, hi-res graphics, and one-liners. You could zip around in jet packs, shrink enemies and then stomp on them, tip strippers, remote detonate pipe bombs...all in all, Duke3D was a blast and an instant classic. Even the fairly good Build engine games that came after it (namely Blood, Shadow Warrior, and Redneck Rampage) didn't have the same coolness or fun factor as this game. Gameplay was miles ahead of Doom, or even Quake (which was released almost at the same time). Enemies were still just 2D sprites, but now they were rendered in excellent SVGA graphics. Level design was clever enough to hide the fact that the Build engine could not put a room over another room (but it sure fooled most of us!). While most of the weapons were rather generic (the standard pistol, shottie, multi-barreled chain gun, and the melee weapon i.e. Das Boot), some were down right ingenious and loads of fun to use (the pipe bombs, the freeze gun and the shrinker...I think the gaming world let out a collective "sweeeeet" when they first fired the shrinker at the mirror and shrunk themselves!) It was a very polished and feature packed slaughter fest.

And the "Award for Coolest Ironic Video Game Baddie" goes to....the PigCops!

The Bad
So if it's such a great game, why didn't I list this game with the 3 major FPS milestones? Am I just kissing Id's ass? The reason in a one word....technology. I consider Duke a "mini" revolution because technically Duke3D was a little behind the times. It unfortunately got released the same year as Quake introduced us to the future of FPS with its revolutionary full 3D engine. And while its true that Duke and its Build engine brethren where much more fun to play then Quake and the various early clones of that game, it was clear that the future of gaming was changing, and by the time Quake II hit the shelves, 2.5D engines had faded of the scopes. While the Build engine allowed for some great new gameplay innovations, it was little more than a tweaked and enhanced Doom engine. While Quake itself wasn't all that great a game, the engine was much more versatile than the Build engine allowing modders to twist and contort the engine to create completely different games - and in some cases different genres (Air Quake, Quake Rally, and Basketball Quake come to mind). The controls were half-assed between Doom and Quake...mouse look was just starting to be implemented and didn't quite feel right somehow. This wasn't a problem at the time because we weren't saturated with full 3d games, but play the game now and you'll know what I mean. Some of the levels were a little dull. Every now and again I would get the "been there done that" feeling that inevitably creeps up in every FPS.

The Bottom Line
All in all an excellent game. The Duke will forever be immortalized as one of the all-time great video game personalites along side Commander Keen, Mario, and Laura Croft. While not as advanced as Quake, it's still light-years better than Doom, and a hell of a lot of fun. It's a real shame that nothing ever became of it's sequel, although it was in the works for years. I lost track of it after the switched from the Quake II engine to the Half-life engine (or was it the Unreal engine?). If anyone knows if the Duke3D sequel is still in the works or has been canned please, email me and let me know.

Final word: If you are interested in classic gaming, and want to sample the glory days of 2.5d gaming, or just want to have loads of FPS fun, this game is a must!

The Good
I loved this game when it first arrived. The graphics were cool, the sounds were fun, and the speech (Duke) and music were outstanding. It even had some appeal as a single player game, but where it really shone was when networked.

As either an every-man-for-himself or a team-mode gaming session, this was the game that got me hooked on networked games. Also, this game was a little more fun than some of its competitors. It was lighter (rather than the dull green/brown of Quake) and the near future setting gave us a familiar environment to go crazy in.

There was a level editor which I never got round to getting to grips with, but some of the add-on levels created by other people were simply stunning.

The Bad
At the time, I thought it was great. But more recently I've gone off this type of game completely. I guess it's a matter of personal taste. The fact that this game uses sprites rather than full 3-D puts some people off, put personally I don't mind that too much. When this game came out, decent quality polygon enemies were just not possible.

The Bottom Line
A great first person shooter (if you like that sort of thing), but not everyones taste. Personally I like the style, but I know I'm in a minority these days.

The Good
id released DOOM II in October, 1994, and for about a year and a half that was the most popular first-person shooter on the fledgling market. Then in early 1996 came Duke Nukem 3D. This game took the basic run-and-gun philosophy of the DOOM games, added a liberal dose of humour and cultural references, added some innovative new weapons, some fairly interesting new enemies, and a very effective new scripting system. This last feature is the most unique and valuable contribution of Duke Nukem to the early FPS genre. It allowed subway cars to loop around a track, making designated stops. It allowed walls to be blown apart by explosions, making new routes and uncovering secret rooms. It allowed earthquakes to send skyscrapers crashing to the ground. And it allowed all sorts of cool explosive sequences to be scripted into the game. Not only that, but the Build editor included with the game made it easy to use these advanced features.

Multiplayer is an area where Duke really stands out. There are useable items that create all sorts of strategic possibilities. The jetpack allows you to reach excellent vantage points. There are video monitors throughout some levels that allow players to safely observe the whereabouts of their opponents. The Holoduke creates a decoy illusion. Steroids allow you to run faster and kill adversaries with a single kick. Laser Tripmines and manually-triggered Pipe Bombs allow a clever player to triumph over one with quicker reflexes. And when a player emerges from the water, they leave wet footprints behind. A very nice, thoughtful touch. Duke Nukem deathmatches have the potential to be far more interesting and cerebral then DOOM's, and quite frankly, most games since.

The Bad
Ultimately, though, single-player Duke is not as compelling to play through as DOOM or DOOM II. Yes, the monsters are quite good, but they do not compare to id's iconic demons. Some of the maps are excellent but some are forgettable. The weapons are innovative, but the Shrink Ray and Freeze Gun feel somewhat gimmicky. Episodes Two and Three feel a little tacked-on. It's a strong game but ultimately plays second fiddle to DOOM in the history of the first-person shooter.

The Bottom Line
Duke Nukem 3D is one of several games to follow id into the market with a solid, memorable FPS. Out of Blood, Dark Forces, Heretic, and Rise of the Triad, Duke stands out in my mind as the most interesting, innovative, and memorable. It also has extremely high replay value: download the demo, which includes all of Episode One, and see for yourself.

The Good
Hmm...where to start?

I'm a huge fan of the previous two side-scrolling Duke games, but seriously, even after all these years...Duke Nukem 3d is, in my humble opinion, THE BEST game of all time. The fun in it is unbeatable, all the way from the opening moment, where you know those aliens ARE going to pay, to the climax in the football stadium against the giant alien cycloid emperor. Duke Nukem 3d is seedy and dark, but is very much a hilarious b-movie come to life. The weapons in an FPS have never been more fun, as it is hard to beat the feeling of squishing an enemy under your boot. The enemies are original and they kick ass, in a very B-movie sort of way (Pig-cops! Octabrains!). The level design is terrific. But the key that makes this game rock...is the character of Duke Nukem himself! With hilarious but at the same time badass one liners coming out, such as the truly great "It's time to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all outta gum" or "Shake it, baby!", Duke truly takes over the game and makes it his own. The game could truly not be called by any other name.

The Bad
Well, uh...hmm. Hold on...I guess the graphics are a little out of date, but they don't really matter.

The Bottom Line
GREAT game. Duke Nukem rocks.

The Good
The total game. The graphics, ambiance, music, sounds, puzzles, humor, sharp one-liners, weapons, secret places and maps. You could shoot almost everything. The footsteps in blood which stayed on the ground. Duke standing for the mirror and saying "Damn, i am looking good!".The bullet holes which stayed on forever. The dead body's all over the place and not disappearing. The connection with "reality". The sign "Innocent?" which pointed to the OJ Simpson process. The (OJ's Simpson's) white Bronco being chased on the television in the bar etc etc.

The Bad
Nothing. The game is totally o.k. and best ever. Still to today.

The Bottom Line
Best game ever. Lots of humor, great maps, sharp one-liners. Lots of fun, never seen such a game again. Classic game, best ever! A must play!

The Good
Normally, I make it a habit not to contribute a review for a game that more than 3 other MobyGames members have already reviewed. At the time of this writing, there are 17 previous reviews for Duke Nukem 3D (DN3D). Still, in this case, I must make an exception.

First-person shooters for the PC had already been been done to death when DN3D was released, and there have since been many more FPS games that have been technically superior. They look better, they sound better, they have better multi-player support, they feature in-game cut-scenes and scripted events. But none of them holds a candle to DN3D from a pure gameplay point of view, in my humble opinion.

How many games since DN3D have gone beyond the tired old "bigger, badder gun" weapons formula and come up with anything as innovative as a freeze gun, that freezes your opponents solid so that you can shatter them with a single bullet, or even a kick or a bare-knuckled punch? Or a shrink gun that shrinks your enemies to the size of a mouse so that you can squish them under your heels? Or counter-measures like the HoloDuke; a decoy that lures your enemies out of hiding in order to attack a mere holographic projection of yourself?

The environments are almost totally interactive. See a light switch? Turn it on or off. A movie projector? Same deal. Use that closed circuit monitor to see where the bad guys are hiding. Pee in that urinal. Blow up that fire hydrant and drink from the water fountain gushing from its remains. Doing this even increases your health by a point! Walk over a recently-dispatched foe and track bloody footprints across the floor. See a pool table? Knock the balls around! A pinball machine? Play with that.

The level design is also excellent. Levels are interesting and believable. The adult movie theatre has an arcade, bathrooms, a ticket booth, a projection room and a concession counter. Levels aren't just a bunch of haphazardly thrown-together rooms. There's a logic behind their design.

Levels are also nicely varied. Some levels are indoor "corridor crawls". Others cover wide open expanses with mountains and ridges. Others have deep pools of water that must be explored.

There's a non-linearity to the level design. There are always lots of areas to explore and lots of secret areas to find. You're not corralled into following a single, linear path as is the case with many more recent shooters.

There are all kinds of tongue-in-cheek pop-culture references; an area featuring what looks like the corpse of Indiana Jones, an area containing the monolith from "2001: A Space Odyssey" (complete with the choir as you approach the monolith), a level that's layed out like the interior of a starship from Star Trek and more.

DN3D had no compunctions against poking fun at its rivals of the day. One hidden area features a dead Space Marine from the original "Doom" and you can even blow up Id Software's headquarters.

The game is unashamedly politically-incorrect. Levels are rife with adult movie theatres, pornographic peep-shows, strip clubs, stag shops and half-naked women in bondage. Cops are portrayed as wild pigs with "L.A.R.D." stenciled on the backs of their flak jackets (an obvious satire on the L.A.P.D.) Duke struts around, grunting challenges like "Come get some!" and "Suck it down!" This is a game for adult males to work off some of that extra testosterone. Women and children need not apply.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a proponent of games or any other media that objectifies or stereotypes women. But DN3D flaunts its political incorrectness. "Let us guys have our guilty pleasures!" it veritably cries, "We don't hassle you about Oprah, do we?"

I for one prefer DN3D's unabashed honesty to more recent games that feature overly-endowed, scantily-clad female "heroines" running around waving broadswords.

DN3D does give ample warning of its baser sensibilities. It says "Warning: Adult Content" right there on the title screen before the game even begins. You don't like it? Play something else. There is also a parental lock feature, for parents who don't mind little Johnny blowing up aliens, but want to shield him from the nasty stuff.

Most of all, DN3D is FUN! It is hands-down the single most fun FPS that I have ever played, and it's right up there in my top five list of most fun games ever, of any genre.

The Bad
By today's standards (2006), the graphics certainly look dated, especially the 2D character sprites. However, they were good enough given the technology of the time.

Sound is also a little weak; especially the music which sounds very FM synthesized, in spite of MIDI cards being supported. It's not that it's bad; it's just underwhelming.

Although the environments are generally very interactive, there are still boarded-up or locked doors that you can't take out, even with a rocket launcher. In fact, there are some doors that you can't destroy with your rocket launcher, but which open to a gentle push! Huh??? This is a common level-design flaw which completely shatters the suspension of disbelief and jarringly reminds you that you are, after all, just playing a game.

While it's cool that you can gain health by drinking from a fountain or a fire hydrant, you can actually restore yourself to full health by doing this. It actually becomes a form of cheat! The game designers should have limited how much health you can accumulate in this way. Better yet, after drinking a certain amount of water, they should have caused the health to start gradually dropping until you could find a toilet or urinal to use!

The Bottom Line
Duke Nukem 3D stands as a shining example of how to incorporate good gameplay and plain, old-fashioned fun into a first-person shooter design. I can only hope that Duke Nukem Forever's seemingly indefinite delay is owing to 3D Realms taking the time to get it right once again. If they can bring the game up to today's technical standards and maintain the gameplay and the fun factor, they'll have a juggernaut on their hands.

The Good
Released concurrently with 'Quake', this game polarised opinion like nothing since Marmite. On the one hand, it had the off-hand, campy fun of Doom (something Quake lacked), a varied set of levels, and lots of really neat touches, but on the other hand the technology looked old-fashioned in comparison, especially when you consider that the engine is very similar to that which powered 'Dark Forces', released a year of so beforehand.

It's still great fun, though - you fight through a varied series of post-apocalyptic level designs, with destructible scenery, shattering landscapes and some finely-detailed environments. The 'pipe bombs' were the only decent use of a mine in a game of this type ever, and it ran quickly on 486es.

The Bad
Eventually the gameplay become quite dull - it's a straight action game, and it's unfairly hard at times (although not unfairly). Worst of all, the end-of-episode bad guys were much too tough. Over-familiarity blunts it, too - the same engine powered a host of very similar follow-ups, including 'Blood', 'Shadow Warrior' and 'Nam'.

The Bottom Line
Fondly-remembered, self-parodic action shoot-em-up, like John Carpenter's 'They Live' brought to your PC.

The Good
I don't know where to begin, because it's really just about everything to do with the game. The levels are all well designed and, despite sticking to the game's theme, provide enough variance to keep oneself interested from start to finish. I didn't find one of the game's 29 (40 in the Atomic edition) levels to be boring, poorly made, or unwelcome. Often one level will continue roughly where the last level left off - this is a definitive improvement over Doom which just starts every level at a random point unrelated to the level before. There are also quite a lot of secret levels - and, at least for the most part, they successfully distinguish themselves from the main levels. Not to mention, in addition to the main game, there's a whole and still rather active user community that has pumped out plenty of good custom material for the game over the years.

The game looks better, and has more detail, than any FPS released prior. I even might say it looks better than Quake because it is way more colorful. The music is not only good and fits on virtually every level, but EVERY one of the game's levels has a unique track.The controls are easy to configure from setup and take no time in getting used to. Difficulty is quite high on the highest difficulty setting but fairly casual on the lowest, giving a choice for all levels of experience. There are ten weapons and each of them are unique and good for different purposes. This is not a game where you'll just be blowing your way through with one "weapon of choice" throughout. In fact on the higher difficulties you virtually have to make good use of all the weapons the game has on offer.

There is a diverse selection of powerups and, like the weapons, you will be making use of them. Given the right weapons and/or powerups, can freely jump, fly, look around, destruct numerous things, etc. - everything you could possibly want or ask for in the 2.5D universe. There is not an enormous selection of enemy types but there are enough, and not only do they take different strategies themselves, but even the same enemy may demand different strategies based on what surroundings it's in.

And who could not discuss the game's attitude? There are numerous classic one-liners and jokes/pieces of humor, and while they are often quite mature and may not be to the taste of EVERYONE, this is an element Duke Nukem 3D always did, and still does, implement best. Some of the one-liners occur naturally and others occur by interacting with features in the game. And there is a "parental lock" to cut some of the most mature humor out of the game.

But let me reiterate, of all the game's positive points, the most important, by far, is how much FUN the game is. Sure all the positives contribute to the fun factor, but without a good base to use them one, the fun would never have been as well done. And that really is the most important factor to ANY game. It you're not enjoying yourself, you simply will not be eager to come back, no matter how good any other part of the game is. So likewise, all this game's positives would have meant a lot less if it wasn't fun - but thankfully it is not only fun to play, but exceeds in that aspect with flying colors.

The Bad
Okay, I can't, and won't, say there is absolutely NOTHING to put in this category. But, I'm not even sure I could say that for Doom!, so don't read much into it. Anyways to the few points, other games like Doom occasionally had a slightly better, or more consistent and varied, atmosphere. That's still not saying Duke lacks in this department, however. Some of the enemies are very "sneaky" or hard to avoid taking damage from, but on the other hand the game's not too tough or unbalanced - and it's always fair if you play it well - so you could debate if that even counts. Finally, the selection of addon levels/mods for the game, despite being quite plentiful, still doesn't come up to the same level as Doom. And some of them are a little harder to get running, but the EDuke source port and/or a well-configured DosBox that comes with the version of the game distributed on GOG.com helps alleviate much of this. It might, however, be for the reason of custom content that I'm not willing to officially call the game better than Doom. But it could also be for the fact that it wasn't such an incredible leap in technology, which in and of itself is not really a positive or a negative in my view.

But let me end by saying this - once you're into the game and are having a blast - you will, more likely than not, pretty much forget anything I brought up in the last paragraph.

The Bottom Line
Well, a long review, but a timeless classic to this level deserves no less. I don't hesitate to give it the top rating, because a game doesn't have to be literally PERFECT to get top marks, it just has to be really, really good, and Duke Nukem 3D satisfies that requirement and then some. Unless you can't handle Mature games, you absolutely owe it to yourself to play Duke Nukem 3D if you are even remotely into shooter games, or for that matter into games at all. And there aren't many games I can say that for. */5

The Good
Duke Nukem 3D was full of original ideas - besides the descent graphics with a great new game engine, great sound effects and music, the gameplay was definitely a perfect 5. At first, the Duke voice. Before Duke Nukem we never saw games, where the main character would talk to himself and the player, especially in such a cool way Duke did. When playing this game, you always felt like your playing this not by yourself, but in a gang of friends. Another thing - the humour. The weapons were all very cool and original, but some monsters, like the Pig Cop for example, are very humorous some times. According to the games plot, these are mutated police officers, which leads us to a skeptic reference to what the developers think of cops (funny ain't it?). Besides those, there are the Assault Commanders, which fly shooting rockets at you and say Dukes quotes like "Suck it down.", and there are Assault Enforcers - reptilian-like aliens with cool costumes, an awesome chaingun for a right hand, and a nose ring, and these guys can even crap on you! Its hilarious! Some interest is also gained when doing stuff you mostly can't do in other FPS games - between battles, Duke can do stuff which is a good way to make a man feel better or make him relax - such as going to the toilet and saying in the same time "Ahh, much better!", playing billiard, or even going to the strip club, handing money to strippers and in the same time saying "Shake it baby!" while they shake their melons. Besides kick-ass weapons like The Chaingun Cannon, Duke Shotgun, Shrinker, Freezer and others we also have plenty of cool items to use, such as a Jetpack, Nightwision goggles, Steroids to make us run like lizards, and some else... In any means - this game is a perfect in any aspect of it.

The Bad
It actually should be a shame to write something bad about this game for a gamer, and that's why i have nothing bad to say about it. Only thing which could be a slight problem here are repetitive level designs, but this happens very rarely.

The Bottom Line
Duke Nukem 3D is the first game which i personally could call a Doom-killer, because it just is one! Its a true mans game, with so many fun in it, that you can't take all the humour in the game by yourself, and you just gotta show it to your fellow gamers after you discovered it. This is a game where anyone would find its place. At least every male player would, because its a true mans game!

The Good
Duke 3d is for many THE Doom beater. I cant deny that it has quite a bit more variety in environments and is richer in all kinds of cool things to discover. Great graphics for their time.

The Bad
Too foolish to provide an atmosphere, certainly not as tense as Doom. And in the end its combat, the first principle of an FPS, is inferior to the classic it rivals. Duke's weapons don't have the impact of Doom's, and enemy shots are many times too fast, creating battles of constitution instead of Doom's skillful dodging moves.

The Bottom Line
After a while you'll just want to see the next level, without going through the tedium of the battles.

The Good
Duke Nukem's third outing may have been the king of first-person shooters, and it is the one that had many people become interested in the franchise. But for me, it started way back around the early Nineties when they were simple platformers, and they were not made by 3D Realms. I liked playing the Duke games, so when 3D Realms took control of the franchise and turned it into a first-person shooter, I didn't give a shit. All I cared about is that it had Duke in it.

Duke Nukem 3D can be considered a stand-alone game as it doesn't follow on where the sequel left off. However, the setting remains the same. While Duke is out cruising his ship, someone blows it up but Duke manages to propel down just before it crashes into a skyscraper somewhere in Los Angeles. Later, he finds out that the same aliens responsible are abducting women and using them for their evil intentions.

There are thirty levels in the game, spanning three episodes. Duke goes around each level blasting many types of enemies, and unlocking doors with three different keycards, in order to get to the exit. The enemies include Pig Cops, Enforcers, Sentry Drones, Protozoid Slimers, and Octabrains. In my opinion, the Octabrains are the most disturbing one I have seen. Not only do they look hideous, but they make disturbing noises as they try to seek your out or you put a bullet through them.

Duke3D introduces a number of firsts, as far as the FPS genre is concerned. You can use security monitors to either spy on enemies or find out what's ahead of you, crawl through vents to access hidden areas, interact with the environment, and use jet-packs to get to hard-to-reach areas. You will also see women attached to pods in most levels, and they will all say “Kill Me” when you try to interact with them. I found it very amusing that since they are crucial to the alien's plot, putting them out of their misery will result in enemies appearing out of nowhere. The game also has cut-scenes that normally appear at the end of each episode. Most of them are excellent, but are rather gory to look at. That, and the nature of the game itself, caused Duke3D to be rated 18+ in most countries.

Each level represents a real-life location. In the first episode, for instance, you start out in a movie theater and then goes on to a gun shop, a prison, and the location of San Andreas fault. In the third, you get to explore a Japanese restaurant, a L.A. transit system, a radio station, hotel, and a stadium. I'm sure that there are other locations that you can visit, but I'm not listing every one of them. It was fun for me to explore the many locations in the game, to see what I could do and see.

In Duke3D, as well as future Duke games, Duke is voiced by Jon St. John which also did a number of characters in other games. He is perfectly suited for the role, and has thousands of lines that are worth listening to. I found that the only way to keep him talking was to use my RPG or Devastator, so that he can say things like “I am going to put the smack dab on your ass” and “You guys suck”. The highlight is jet-pack all the way to the top of the map and switch it off so Duke falls such a great distance, and hearing him make a falling sound then make another one has if he has been kicked in the groin.

There are many more items to get besides the jet-pack, including first-aid kits and steroids; and one of my favorites is the HoloDuke. I know that this item is used in multiplayer games as decoys (I remember using it in a MP game myself, but it didn't work.), but I used the cheat to give me all items, and see how many HoloDukes I could have at once. I had about ten of them, and it is quite funny to see them (try to) follow your every move. Watching enemies put a bullet in these decoys instead of you is also entertaining.

Although this game has “3D” in the title, there are no 3D graphics in it. It is just a fad that companies used in the Nineties in an attempt to sell first-person shooters. Like Wolfenstein 3-D four years earlier, all the graphics are in 2.5D, including the enemies and backgrounds. Almost everything is chunky, and the only way you can get real 3D in the game is to download the High Resolution Pack and play the game in Polymer mode. With the HRP, the earth and moon in episode two never looked so good.

Duke Nukem 3D is set sometime in the future, so you will hear laser gun sounds when most of the enemies fire at you. The sound effects are great. The one I like is the Pig Cop squealing after you killed him. The background sounds provide some atmosphere to the game. In the street levels, for instance, as you explore the surroundings you hear the sound of a helicopter flying past, while in episode two, the normal “door opening” sounds are modified to sound space-like.

The Bad
As soon as you each the final level of episode three, you come face to face with the Cycloid Emperor in the stadium. Considering that you have to go through an entire level to meet the boss in the previous episodes, I think the developers were too lazy to design this last level in such a way that Duke has to walk a long distance to reach the stadium. Also, it's ironic since Duke3D is an adult-only game, we don't get to see him have sex after he defeats this last boss. (Though the sound effects suggest that he does.)

The Bottom Line
So, Duke Nukem 3D is a brilliant first-person shooter that introduces new gameplay mechanics. These include looking at security monitors, crawling through vents, and blowing up objects in the game's many levels. Each level's soundtrack is excellent, as well as the numerous sound effects. Sure, there were a couple of platform games before the game's release. However, Duke3D isn't a continuation of the story from the second game. Anyone who loves first-person shooters should get this game, but it would be a bonus if they find the Atomic Edition.

The Good
What's not to like? The Build engine completely blew DOOM's out of the water with great, for the time, graphics and flexibility. The realistic settings had buildings which actually looked like buildings, tons of destructable items and sectors, and lots of interactivity like the movie theater. The weapons went beyond the tired old shotgun-machinegun-rocketlauncher formula, though the "old faithfuls" were still there. Best of all, the game was FUN, both single and multi-player!

The Bad
Well, most of the second episode seemed uninspired and too DOOM-like. Also, its very annoying to be squished by an opening door. Monsters are very pixelated close up, even at high resolution settings.

The Bottom Line
If you don't mind dated graphics, and if you do you shouldn't be on this site, Duke 3d is the BEST of the old fashioned 2.5D shooters.

The Good
I never really touched on the Duke 3D, i found the graphics a poor relation to the pc and n64 counterparts, but was happy to see it make the saturn intact with all tongue in cheek parts there. On the other hand, this is one of the greatest games ever, just save a game of quake onto your memory pack and load up duke nukem, da dah, you now have the option to play death tanks. The greatest multiplayer game i have ever played. 7 player real time worms is the best discription, utterly addictive and it keeps your best scores so you can tally them up. If you haven't played this you must, i bought duke just to play this.

The Bad
Duke and its lack of multiplayer, terrible graphics and control system (PAL version)

The Bottom Line
Get this now, just for death tanks, oh and remember the multi tap