Duke Nukem 3D

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.