Second Look - Duke Nukem Forever + The Doctor Who Cloned Me

If there’s one game that’s managed to remain a running joke for its constant delays throughout half the industry’s life cycle at the time, that would be Duke Nukem Forever. Originally announced in 1997, Duke Nukem Forever was meant to act as the sequel to the ever-popular Duke Nukem 3D, with the intent that it would be out the door shortly. However, the release date kept getting pushed back until it eventually became the infamous and oft-mocked “When It’s Done,” making one lose hope in the game ever being made a reality. The extensive development history of this particular title has been well-documented, especially in regards to the various changes in content and even graphics engine; the game took so long to develop that there’s an entire website dedicated to documenting major things that happened while Duke Nukem Forever was still in development, and several outlets such as the Penny Arcade webcomic have made a number of jokes about it on par with the “When Hell freezes over” or “When pigs fly” metaphors.

The famous pre-order receipt from a "patient, patient man."

In 2010, things seemed to have finally come to a halt when 3D Realms finally had to abandon development of Duke Nukem Forever, having been forced into bankruptcy by their own game. However, all was not lost as Borderlands developer Gearbox picked up the Duke Nukem IP in order to finish off development of Duke Nukem Forever, resulting in its long-awaited release in 2011, 14 years after the original announcement. Owners of Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition also got a code granting membership to the Duke Nukem Forever First Access Club, which included special content exclusive to Club members, as well as a free copy of the Hail to the Icons Parody Pack DLC.

And if, like me, you bought the Balls of Steel Edition of the game,
you also got a bunch of extra cool stuff.

Five years later, I finally decided to get around to actually playing the game, which I had been meaning to do for the sake of its historical significance (although I wasn't actually among those waiting for the game during its entire 15-year development cycle). While it initially released to no shortage of controversy for a number of reasons (chief among them being some long-time Duke Nukem fans over-hyping the game for themselves), enough time has passed for the dust to have settled and to finally look at this title more objectively. While normally this would be a Second Opinion due to having had a Duke Nukem Forever review already, there’s been so much of a time gap since the original review that this will be labeled a Second Look to determine how well this game has held up after five years since its initial release.

Taking place 12 years after Duke Nukem 3D, the world has been at peace. Duke Nukem has become a celebrity, having an appearance scheduled on a talk show when the aliens invade once again for seemingly personal reasons. Duke seems to not think much of this, though things become personal for him once the aliens kidnap two of his babes, twins, and vows to take the aliens down. Despite Duke’s eagerness however, the President orders him not to go after the aliens; Duke does anyway.

The game starts off with a rematch against the Cycloid Emperor from
the end of Duke Nukem 3D.

This story serves as merely an excuse for the plot to get rolling, which is actually rather typical for a Duke Nukem game. Rather, the gameplay takes center stage while whatever story there is becomes more or less relegated to the background. The core gameplay is similar to Duke Nukem 3D in that it’s a fairly linear first-person shooter with a variety of weaponry and gadgets. However, there is some variety in that there are some elements of platforming and puzzle-solving, as well as a good number of driving sections. The driving sections are a good way to break up gameplay that can otherwise become monotonous, with fairly decent controls and physics to allow traversal across a vast area to reach the next destination.

There’s also the ability to interact with a number of objects within the world, most of which are there to provide a humorous distraction from the main game during a quiet moment. Their main purpose, however, is to provide a boost to Duke’s Ego, the health system introduced in the spin-off game Land of the Babes and improved upon in Manhattan Project, the first time they are interacted with. Such activities include, among others, throwing a paper airplane, admiring yourself, and getting a high score in pinball (though the pinball physics themselves leave something to be desired). Ego regenerates over time when you are not taking damage, though performing an execution on an enemy will fill it back up completely.

You can even sign a copy of Duke's book, Why I'm So Great,
from Duke Nukem II.

Likely a byproduct of the game’s rather lengthy development time, the graphics are a little sub-par, as though mildly unfinished, not helped by the presence of texture loading that usually takes a couple seconds. The loading times themselves between each level can also take a couple minutes, so it can take a while to get back into the action if you die at any time before reaching a checkpoint. There’s also the fact that you can only carry two weapons at a time (unless you play the PC port, which I did not), although I was able to get by with only two by playing on Easy/Piece of Cake (you also earn a Trophy/Achievement for carrying the starting golden pistol with you the whole time).

The game contains a plethora of pop culture and internet references, many of which are evident of the game’s development cycle. Pop culture references include jabs at the games Dead Space, Halo and Half-Life among others, as well as references to movies such as Robocop, while an example of nodding to internet culture would be to memes such as Leroy Jenkins and one that stemmed from a misquote of South Park. References of the sort are not new to Duke Nukem, though at least unlike Duke Nukem 3D these are not required knowledge to advance the game; on that note, Keycards are no longer necessary to get to the next area, which helps everything go more smoothly.

While the game can be easy to get through if you know what you’re doing, the Boss fights at the end of some stages are actually rather difficult, particularly if it is a multi-stage fight; dying once means you have to start the entire battle over again, and multi-stage fights are no exception. The most difficult of them is the Octaking, especially since it can spawn Octabrains to attack you, forcing you to have to either multi-task or try to take the Boss down as quickly as possible before being overrun by Octabrains. Though the Bosses can be difficult, the Ego boost you get for defeating one is worth it in the end.

A positive about the game is the music, consisting mostly of the main theme “Grabbag” and numerous remixes, since it worked well with whatever was going on, though there are moments where it worked not to have ambient music. Some bits I particularly liked were the music that played during puzzle sections, as well as the sound that plays when an enemy encounter is over. The voice acting is pretty decent all around, but the best performance comes from Jon St. John as Duke Nukem himself, his experience voicing the character shining through as his delivery helps pull off the one-liners and pop culture references Duke spouts.

A few months after the release of Duke Nukem Forever, a new bit of single-player DLC was released expanding on the game’s story, called The Doctor Who Cloned Me. This DLC brings back Dr. Proton, the villain of the original Duke Nukem game, who plans to use an army of Duke Nukem clones to try and defeat the alien menace on the moon. Notably, The Doctor Who Cloned Me feels more story-driven than the base game, though what probably helps is that it didn’t take 15 years to make, thus feeling generally more focused.

The music in this add-on content is still good, though I noticed that some of whatever was in the main game had either been cut or altered; for example, the puzzle music is absent in what seemed like a puzzle section and the sound that plays during an Ego boost is a little different. I can only speculate that it may have had to do with original DNF developer 3D Realms in some way, but I can’t say anything for certain. The voice acting is still great, with Jon St. John still providing an excellent performance for Duke Nukem. This is also the first time I’ve heard Dr. Proton speak (I gather he was also voiced in Duke Nukem: Critical Mass for the Nintendo DS), though unfortunately it’s impossible for me to find out who exactly voiced him in this game.

Behold, the return of Dr. Proton.

The graphics quality is similar to that of Duke Nukem Forever, though that’s likely a result of recycling the same engine; there’s even the same issue with loading screens and texture loading, though at least the loading screens contain new messages. The add-on also introduces some new enemies and Ego boosts, plus there’s now a mechanic where you can just let the aliens and Dr. Proton’s forces fight each other, provided you don’t get caught in the crossfire.

I was going to make a quip here about how much longer we’d have to wait before getting another Duke Nukem game, but coincidentally enough a new one was formally announced within the span of my Duke Nukem Forever playthrough, Duke Nukem 3D 20^th Anniversary World Tour, an HD remake of Duke Nukem 3D. The remake is set to include new music from the original composer, a brand new level designed by the original level designers and new voice recordings and one-liners for Duke Nukem by none other than Jon St. John. This seems like a great way to celebrate the legacy of the franchise, though it appears we’ll still have to wait a bit longer for a proper Duke Nukem 5 (that hopefully won’t take 15 years to develop).

Let's just hope this is good until then.

As a whole, Duke Nukem Forever is an okay game. When you know that it took 15 years to develop, it kind of shows in the end product, though on its own the game is actually pretty enjoyable to varying degrees. It doesn’t really stand apart that much from other games in its genre, but the charisma of the Duke Nukem character and the historical significance of the game are enough to give it a shot.

As for The Doctor Who Cloned Me, it takes many of the better aspects of Duke Nukem Forever and concentrates them into an enjoyable extra campaign that is arguably better than the game itself. I would still recommend playing Duke Nukem Forever first, mainly for historical and story purposes, but generally fans of the original Duke Nukem will find great entertainment in seeing a classic villain return to take center stage in this DLC.

Remember, always bet on Duke.

[OLD] Duke Nukem Forever - Always Bet On Duke

This game has been re-reviewed. Read it here: https://trophyunlocked.blogspot.com/2016/09/second-look-duke-nukem-forever-doctor.html

 

Finally, after 15 years worth of development and delays, Duke Nukem has returned to us in the modern gaming world with Duke Nukem Forever. A lot has happened in that time to make Duke seem like a lost cause, but developer Gearbox Software has managed to resurrect a classic icon and make him relevant again. While it's great to meet Duke once more, his greetings need a little improvement.

The story of the game is mostly razor-thin, but it is at least coherent and easy to follow. With Duke Nukem inactive for twelve years, aliens have come to Earth to invade it. However, the President of the United States believes he can negotiate peace and tells Duke to back off. Unsurprisingly, he attacks anyway, starting a chain reaction of events that only he can undo. However, the story is not the important thing here, as Duke himself is used to thin stories. What is important is just about everything else.

When you look at the graphics of Duke Nukem 3D, released originally for PC in 1996, and then look at Duke Nukem Forever, it's truly amazing how far technology has come. The game is visually stunning and there is hardly a thing not worth looking at. The detail is especially impressive on the enemies, who have their own defining features that are really shown off by this game's engine. So much in fact, that you may end up examining their corpses just to see what you missed while killing them. It also showed off how exhilarating an explosion can be when it hits the intended target, making the virtual destruction all the more beautiful.

As for how the environments are built, they are more linear than Duke Nukem 3D which sometimes had multiple ways the players could proceed to the end. This wasn't much of a problem for me, but leads to some questionable level design in some areas. When levels don't provide a thrilling challenge, they could get downright frustrating, as with a particular underwater level the game may have done without. Encounter design is done rather well, but could sometimes seem a bit overwhelming, like the rooftop of the Duke Burger or the first time the player gets to handle a Freeze Ray. Nevertheless, I enjoyed tearing aliens a new one with the variety of weapons available for use.

On that subject, the weapons that Duke can use include the standard FPS weapons, such as a pistol, a combat shotgun, and a rocket launcher. Even with these standards in place, it is also possible to use a Shrink Ray to make your enemies go to miniature size and them simply kill them with a single stomp, which is quite hilarious no matter how many times it's done. As the weapons are also lifted directly from Duke Nukem 3D, it helps them stand out better from the competition, but at the same time they don't handle as well. While the guns work solidly, it can sometimes be difficult to aim at times due to the aiming required for each gun being a little different from guns of the norm. Despite this, it was fun finding the right weapon to use in the appropriate scenario and watching the results come to fruition.

The gameplay of Duke Nukem Forever take cues from modern FPS games, such as regenerating health and the two weapon system, but also has some returning elements from previous Duke Nukem games. The Ego mechanic returns from Land of the Babes and Manhattan Project, but Duke no longer gains health from defeated enemies. Rather, it takes the form of the aforementioned regenerating health with the performance of manly actions, which range from using the toilet to killing bosses or playing pinball, increasing the maximum ego Duke has. The two weapon system is unexpected yet easy to get used to, but it is also possible for Duke to have an inventory of items accessed with the directional buttons. If Duke needs extra strength, he can pop some steroids for more strength or drink a beer for less damage, complete with beer goggles as a result. He can also use night vision to see the unknown, which thankfully has unlimited use, or even bring out a Holoduke in the heat of battle to distract his enemies from the real threat. These items are well implemented into the game and their assistance is needed in certain situations.

As with Duke Nukem 3D, Forever is an FPS but with a platforming element as well. It takes some getting used to, but after a couple of tries the environmental puzzles that use this to its advantage become easier and some stages, such as being shrunk in the Duke Burger, seem more creative, although some are more uninspired. Overall though, the gameplay is well-built for a game that has been rebooted several times during development and more often than not works for the game's advantage.

However, the most important thing about a Duke Nukem game is always the man himself. He keeps his iconic look from previous games and his personality is perfectly intact. Jon St. John continues to provide the perfect voice for the perfectly executed one-liners that Duke manages to churn out through the game, a lot of which are pop culture references. While some are more current, like taking a crack at Master Chief from Halo, the majority are to various 80's and 90's games and movies such as Donkey Kong and Army of Darkness. The game even takes cracks at its own development time and even previous games in the franchise. There is also a lot of variety in what Duke says when he kills an enemy, and it's always funny to hear what he'll say. His actions are also accompanied by a great soundtrack that matches the mood and never really gets old.

Now one thing this game brings back is multiplayer, and it doesn't feel tacked-on at the last minute. In fact, there is a surprisingly deep level system with plenty of ways to kill other Dukes and earn XP. When Duke levels up, it unlocks new items to fill his pad, ranging from paintings and statues to a full working air hockey table. The maps are also small and provide some pretty frantic gameplay no matter what mode you choose. However, any flaws in the gunplay carry over to here which can make the hit detection appear off for some of the weapons. The other deal breaker is the long load times this game has. Every time Duke dies in the main campaign or moves to a new level, the player has to wait about 10 seconds for the game to finish loading, sometimes even longer. In multiplayer, the loading times carry over to loading a match, changing Duke's look, and even going to his pad. It is very unlikely I will touch this mode again anytime soon, although I'd love to see all the rewards unlocked.

And just in case you haven't been keeping score at home the whole time, like me, completing the campaign will enable the player to view the entire development history of the game. This includes an interactive timeline as well as gameplay and E3 videos from previous builds, which is very helpful in seeing how the hype grew in the first place.

Duke Nukem Forever is a hard game to judge. It doesn't do anything significantly different from the heavy hitters in the genre, and the 14-year wait will disappoint those with unrealistically high expectations. Is this a great game? No, but it's not a terrible game either. This game is actually a lot of fun, if a little rough around the edges, and I would recommend it to anyone (17 and above) no matter what they have heard about the game's reception. It's definitely worth a look and is essentially an artifact of gaming itself, as nearly half of the industry's life cycle was spent giving it life. Now let's just hope we don't have to wait another 15 years for his next game (teased after the credits).

[OLD] Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project

Even after the release of Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes, Duke Nukem Forever continued its infamous development time. In the meantime, another game was developed by Sunstorm Interactive for PC in 2002 called Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project. After seeing how the last 3 games turned out, I was hoping this entry would at least be an improvement. After playing it however, I must say I was actually blown away by this title.

As with the first game, this installment has a rather simple plot. Duke's new nemesis, Mech Morphix, has created a substance called GLOPP (Gluon Liquid Omega Phased Plasma) that mutates living creatures on contact. Morphix plans to use this substance to take over the world, and it's up to Duke Nukem to stop him. Along the way, he must also rescue babes from detonators while giving his enemies his usual style of ass-kicking.

The game is comprised of 8 episodes split up into 3 parts, for a total of 24 levels. In each one, you must rescue a babe and use a colored Keycard before you can advance. The game itself returns to the roots of the first two games in that it plays like a side-scroller complete with a similar control scheme. However, this game puts a spin on it in that it's more three-dimensional, with some areas even having multiple layers, stretching the definition of 2.5D to its limit. As such, there are times where you can go between the different layers at designated points in order to perform certain tasks to help advance the level.

This game also sees the return of the Ego system from Land of the Babes, except this time it's treated more like Health. You get Ego boosts by killing enemies and grabbing what resemble Health boxes, small ones giving you 25 Ego and large ones 100. You can also gain Ego from vending machines, albeit with limited usage, and Ego is lost from contact with hazards such as lasers, enemy attacks, and uncontained GLOPP. When you exceed your maximum Ego, it will slowly drain until it hits the cap, but thankfully you can still use the extra amount like a shield. Another collectible is Nukes, and there are 10 in each level. If you manage to get all 10, your maximum Ego, GLOPP, and Ammo count will go up.

Speaking of Ammo, this game has a range of weaponry you can use, but unlike Time To Kill or Land of the Babes, there isn't an overabundance of them. Rather, you have a choice between a select few weapons that you pick up along the way, including your starting Golden Eagle Pistol and Pipebombs among others. You also have a GLOPP Ray and a Pulse Cannon, which both use GLOPP to restore mutated enemies to their original, unmutated forms and fire charged lightning respectively. In some sections you are also allowed to use a Jetpack, albeit for a limited amount of time. Other temporary power-ups include Double Damage and Forcefield, which both do as they say until they expire.

The graphics are a great improvement over Land of the Babes, with the character models looking smoother and more realistic. While movement is still somewhat limited, actions are still presented in a very fluid manner and the great AI helps to create a better immersion. The level design is very well laid out and reminded me of my experience with the first game in that you can easily memorize where you need to go and what you have to do to get through each stage. The Save system also improves over the last 3 games in that like in Duke Nukem II and 3D, your progress is saved at well-placed checkpoints and you can save whenever you want to, so that when you die you come back at the last point you saved.

The voice acting here is casted very well, with Jon St. John playing Duke Nukem as sharp as ever. Duke's one-liners are handled better than in Land of the Babes and I would go so far as to say they're a bit funnier. While he does still make pig jokes when facing Pig Cops, a lot of the dialogue is self-referential to it being a game. For instance, when you try to open the exit without having a Keycard, he will make a stab at how frustrating it can be to look for Keycards and how they're required to move on.

While this game was really fun, I must say the bosses were a little easy. Though they can take a few tries to figure out how to beat them, some you can just endlessly shoot if you have enough Ego to spare. Despite this they still provided a good challenge, a few having multiple parts that you need to go through in a single sitting.

Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project is an excellent game that any Duke Nukem fan will enjoy. Though it doesn't have a big legacy like Duke Nukem 3D, it's an excellent throwback to the original games that also flawlessly utilizes the best elements of the franchise. Even on the lowest difficulty it provides a great challange that will make you think harder about how to defeat enemies in a dire situation. If you're a Duke fan or haven't played any of the games yet, I highly suggest you check this one out.

Playing the Duke Nukem games like this has been like seeing the evolution of gaming itself. From the roots of 2D side-scrolling to the transition into 3D, these games have evolved over time and will continue to do so, even with some drawbacks. After 15 years, Duke Nukem Forever will finally be released from development hell into the hands of patient players. To quote the end of Manhattan Project's credits, "Look for Duke next in Duke Nukem Forever."

[OLD] Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes - Land of Mediocrity

Continuing the string of side games in the Duke Nukem franchise made for satiating fans, n-Space was handed the reins once again for the release of Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes in the year 2000. I wasn't enthusiastic to play this game due to how dull Time to Kill was, but I gave it a try anyway. After playing, however, it seems that n-Space still couldn't get the formula right to create an enjoyable game.

According to the manual, the story goes as follows: In Earth's future, aliens have taken over the planet and have killed off every male, afterwards enslaving all of the females. The reason for this is so they can breed with them to create a hybrid race that would be more worthy to rule. However, some of the enslaved women have escaped, froming an alliance known as the Unified Babe Resistance (UBR). Soon, the UBR is strong enough to resist the aliens and gain access to the Earth Defense Force Base, where they discover the one thing that will give them hope: an old time machine. They plan to use the machine to gain the assistance of the only man known to have defeated several aliens invasions. However, an alien named Silverback has managed to figure out what the UBR is doing and has one mission: to wipe them out. Enter Duke Nukem, who is minding his own business at the Bootylicious, until he is rudely interrupted.

The opening cutscene more or less shows what was just described, but actually does a slightly better job of setting the ball in motion, accompanied very well with Push It by indsutrial metal group Static-X. While this is the fourth Duke Nukem game to involve time travel (with Duke Nukem, Time to Kill, and Zero Hour), there does seem to be more of a plot this time around than with Time to Kill. I could get into the story to a degree, but I couldn't shake the feeling that the time travel formula wasn't really original for the series anymore. It seemed more like a game built around the fact that Duke is a ladies man and nothing else.

The control scheme is lifted directly from Time to Kill, complete with all of its weaknesses. Jumping is still akward and the tank controls continue to bog down the gameplay. However, there is one new addition in the form of Auto-Aim. By holding down L1, Duke will automatically target an enemy's head, allowing for easier aim. While aiming is easier, there is nothing the enemies do to compensate for this. You could literally stand there and kill an enemy with ease, especially if you have the sniper rifle. It just seems a little more hollow than just fixing the slow aiming from before.

Duke's arsenal is also lifted straight from Time to Kill, with some minor tweaks in design. Without the unique weaponry from n-Space's previous game, it does offer a better selection of guns. However, you may find yourself running out of ammo pretty quickly, even when using the Auto-Aim function. While this does make you use more guns, it feels wrong to have to depend on that happening, and it happens frequently.

The graphics are near identical to Time to Kill, mainly because the game appears to use the same engine. This includes all of the somewhat blocky textures and see-through graphics. All of the cutscenes rendered with these graphics are a little odd to look at, but I was able to tolerate them. I can note that Duke Nukem actually looks more like Duke Nukem in this game, which was very welcome compared to his feminine model before. The enemies also look better than before and have more variety, but the AI hasn't changed very much from Time to Kill. I would say that the level design is good, but it's actually more confusing. Not just with exploration, although you get used to it, but also with the size of some of the rooms. Enemies can sometimes be too tightly packed in one spot, but they can be thinned out easily provided you're not still in the hallway or have to climb up a ladder.

Duke's dialogue, thankfully, has a bigger pool than in Time to Kill to draw from. This helped make his one-liners more humorous, as he doesn't repeat the same grating lines as often. There is also a bigger voice cast here, a lot of it casted fairly well. But there are some moments that are just annoying, like when you talk to Jane through comlink and her dialogue has a lot of uneccessary static added to it. Silverback's voice was also tolerable, but it could have helped for him to have a voice that was less obviously evil.

Once again, the game utilizes an arcade-style continue system. While I was initially annoyed by this, it didn't really get in the way, mainly because I could get through a level a little easier. But the checkpoints are still placed far apart, which can be frustrating if you die just once. I had less trouble losing continues, but there seems to be a maximum of four, which is pretty flexible if you're careful.

It is also worth noting that this game is the first in the Duke Nukem series to use a new health system known as Ego. Getting hit causes Duke to lose Ego, but it can be regained by killing enemies and collecting Ego-boosting items. This system made it easier to navigate through the levels, making the game overall less painful than Time to Kill if only because you can heal your wounds easier.

After playing a couple of rounds of the Dukematch multiplayer with my brother, we agree that it wasn't implemented very well. It is possible to have a "Diagonal" screen cut, but it's very clumsy to work with. Even when you pick the right screen cut you want, the guns are very imbalanced and the spawn points are easy to camp at since the levels are too small. I wouldn't recommend trying this mode at all, as there are much better offerings out there for local multiplayer.

Land of the Babes takes a couple steps forward, but also a couple steps back. New ways of utilizing Duke fall flat due to the overall poor design of the game. I can only recommend this game to people who are really into Duke Nukem or have had experience with an n-Space game before. There are much better TPS offerings out there, so I would suggest others to look harder.

[OLD] Duke Nukem: Zero Hour - Zero Patience

As Duke Nukem Forever continued to reside in development hell, 3D Realms released another Duke Nukem game in order to satiate fans. This time working with developer Eurocom, they created Duke Nukem: Zero Hour (written as Zer:0 H:0ur) for the Nintendo 64 (N64). Released in 1999, it is a game said by many to be a great addition to the series. Continuing the third-person shooter (TPS) formula of Time to Kill, Zero Hour makes many improvements to create a better experience. Unfortunately, one thing is required in order to play: Patience, and lots of it.

The game begins with an unskippable cutscene explaining the plot: A Duke Nukem from the past contacts the present one, revealing he is stuck there because aliens destroyed his time machine. It is then up to Duke to travel back in time in order to save the future and prevent the aliens from screwing it up. As I do not own the manual for this game, this is all I have to go by. While it's not original for time travel to be in a Duke Nukem game (Duke Nukem 1 and Time to Kill), I would say that Duke seems to have a better incentive to time travel than in the last game.

The controls are solid and respond perfectly, but can get awkward at times, if only due to the layout of the N64 controller. By itself, however, you must move Duke using the C D-Pad while controlling the camera with the Analog Stick in the center which takes some getting used to. Also, you use the Right Shoulder Button to jump, which is fine, except that the animation to jump is a little slow, making the timing off for jumping out of water. Otherwise, the aiming is much improved over the previous Duke game, since the red icon in the center will always stay where you point it.

Like the previous game, there is plenty of variety in the weaponry, and ammo is dropped with every enemy you kill. Your weaponry changes depending on the time period, which makes plenty of sense for a time-travel game, but you will find a favorite to use in no time. You can also use a variety of items such as Medkits and Gas Masks, the latter of which is especially needed when facing certain Pig Cops. The graphics are actually nice for an N64 game at the time, a notable aspect being that the Pig Cops are this time much less portly than in the last game. Everything is rendered with clear detail, with Duke looking more noticeably masculine than in Time to Kill. When you get a view of the background scenery, the buildings contain a lot of humor alone. The sound quality is also nicely put together, with a great score and Duke seeming to have less-annoying one-liners this time around (again, compared to Time to Kill).

However, there is one big flaw I should mention with this game, so big that it can just as easily cripple the experience as the game can make it: There's no Save feature. Rather, there is one, but it's like in the first game where it can only Save after every level, meaning that you have to start over again after you die. This would be more accepting if the levels were smaller, but they are actually quite large, so you must re-do everything you ever did every single time. What makes this worse is that the game is very scripted, so you'll more often than not die after seeing something unexpected and have to re-do at least 20-30 minutes of progress at a time. Unless you have an ungodly amount of patience and willpower, you are likely to give up rather quickly.

I apologize for this, but this flaw actually caused me to give up after a few hours, without even beating the first level! Without the motivation to keep playing, I looked up the ending on YouTube to see what it was like. I will say that it's better than the last game, but I honestly don't think getting frustrated over replaying a level several times in a row is worth the effort.

Duke Nukem: Zero Hour is fun at first, but that can all change in an instant once you start dying a few times. Because I succumbed to the game's major flaw, I can't exactly say whether or not it's overall good, but I can say this: If you're a big Duke Nukem fan and/or have patience for this kind of Save system, you might get some enjoyment out of this game. However, if you are the type that gets easily frustrated with that kind of system, this probably isn't a game for you.

[OLD] Duke Nukem: Time to Kill - You'd Better Have Plenty of It

After the release and success of Duke Nukem 3D in 1996, 3D Realms announced the long-delayed Duke Nukem Forever. Once development hell began for DNF, 3D Realms and n-Space developed the first of many side games for the franchise called Duke Nukem: Time to Kill for the PlayStation (PS1). Released in 1998, this was not only the first game created specifically to satiate fans until the release of DNF, but it was also the first third-person shooter (TPS) in this line of games. While this game should be able to keep one entertained for as long as it should, I can say that I am definitely not a fan.

The first thing to mention, as always, is the story of the game. It is actually important that you don't skip the cutscene that plays when you pop the game in for the first time, which I must say was put together rather excellently with great accompanyment by "The Thing I Hate" by Stabbing Westward, as the game picks up exactly where it leaves off. We see in the video that aliens, including the familiar Pig Cops, have come to take over the Earth, again, and it is up to Duke to stop them. The manual elaborates by telling us that the aliens are called the Draks and they have the goal of altering Earth's past in an attempt to erase Duke from history. While time travel isn't completely original for the series, Duke Nukem I had this for Episodes 2 and 3, it seems like an interesting concept in theory, especially since the entire game is built around this. Unfortunately, it only goes downhill from here.

When the game actually starts, there is a pretty steep learning curve for controlling Duke. It doesn't help that the game utilizes "tank controls", where moving and turning the camera are assigned to the same stick. While you would think the rest of the controls would probably make up for this, they seem to only work when they feel like it, especially Duke's movement speed and jumping. This is a real pain during later platforming segments where your control has to be very precise or you end up dying or halting your progress, which led me to using a jetpack to bypass even the smallest jumps over lava. The control is further crippled by the ratio of the speed of Duke's actions to the speed of his enemies. The speed of drawing and holstering his weapons, and even strafing, is so slow that you will more than likely take a hit or two before you can get one on the enemy.

But the aiming system itself deserves special mention, which you'll have a hard time wrestling with. The manual states that Duke can aim pretty well as long as you point him in the general direction. During gameplay, this seemed more and more like an outright lie. While it is true that Duke can aim at an enemy on his own, it only applies to what appears to be a thin line of sight in front of him. So naturally, I tried to aim manually, which is also very tedious, as enemies are much faster than the aiming speed in both normal and precision modes. However, the biggest problem I had was trying to aim at an enemy directly in front of me. To elaborate, when near an enemy, the red aiming reticle, which only appears when in a firefight by the way, will attach to the enemy like it should. But instead of staying there, the dot will sometimes bounce back and forth between your intended target and the wall behind them, leading to more lead in the wall than in an alien's chest. For this reason alone, I used the Combat Shotgun as soon as I could and never thought twice about it.

Duke is definitely no stranger to weaponry, and this game has plenty of choices, overwhelming even. There's the standard Desert Eagle, Combat Shotgun, and RPG, among others. But throw in the fact that each time period also has it's own unique weapons, like a Buffalo Rifle and Holy Hand Grenades, and your list of weaponry will cover the selection screen, which ends up with you having more weapons than you will actually use. While most of these work just fine, especially the guns, some of the weapons, like the Throwing Knives, have abyssmal control and overall aren't worth using.

The graphics of this game are pretty standard fare for that point in the PS1 era, but I found that the graphics of Duke Nukem 3D were a lot better to look at, and those were mostly rotating sprites. Duke's character model actually looks a little feminine, even with his time-accurate costumes, and the Pig Cops are more obviously portly, which can be a little jarring after watching the opening movie. However, I can't complain too much, as it is an older system, but it was still a little hard to look at at times. At the same time, the level design was done well for a TPS like this, but some moments are a little cryptic, like needing to blast open a wall to get to the first Gun in level 3 or needing to push a trash bin in level 6 to get one of the crystals for the time machine. Overall, some of the levels could have used some minor tweaks in size and design to be more interesting to play through.

On that note, the boss levels are the shortest, being basically a room. However, instead of being challenging, they can actually be taken out with total ease. You don't even have to enter the center part of the room to kill the first one and hiding in one of two pools of water is enough to kill the second, which even conveniently hovers above to let you get in a few cheap shots. These stages just didn't provide enough of a challenge to excite me, instead making me wonder if they knew how to properly design a boss room. The same can be said for the overwhelmingly difficult challenge stages. If Duke finds a Stopwatch in a level, he can be transported to an extra level at the end where killing the enemies in a room within a time limit will net you a new weapon. However, the enemies deal enough damage that it is very unlikely you will get the weapon, let alone survive with it.

The biggest aspect of a Duke Nukem game is actually the one-liners that he churns out. They are the bread and butter of his dialogue and are usually pretty hilarious. But this game is actually a little off here. While it is funny the first couple of times to hear what Duke has to say, it gets annoying when you hear him say the exact same lines repeatedly, sometimes in a row. It appears that Duke here has a limited dialogue pool, which is a shame as a bigger selection for the game to cycle through would have made it easier to tolerate.

Now, the game would be a fairly decent reccomendation, even with the control problems, if not for one simple flaw: the game utilizes an arcade-style continue system. While it is easy to get used to at first, screwing up enough can get you to focus on getting through levels flawlessly and saving continues, actually making the experience more painful given the wealth of enemies and the damage they can deal at once. Compounding this further is the fact that checkpoints seemed to be placed too far apart from each other, making for large sections that need to be redone at a time. This became more and more unbearable over time, reducing my willingness to continue playing. In fact, it got to the point where I was almost getting to an "infinite death cycle", where no matter what you do your progress is forever halted, the only solution being to restart the entire game.

I have played through a majority of the game, about three levels off from the end. But at this point, I had just about lost all will to continue playing. I decided to watch the ending on YouTube, and it turns out that a scene in the opening where Duke's motorcycle is transformed into a pink girlie bike offers a rather questionable motivation for the narrative. This just didn't make sitting through the game seem that worth it anymore, so I just relinquished all will then and there.

Duke Nukem: Time to Kill has an interesting time travel premise, but the numerous gameplay and control problems actually make it more frustrating than fun. I have read that there was some influence from Tomb Raider, but I have no experience with that line of games and thus have no comment on that. I can't really recommend this game, except to those who have played both Duke Nukem and Tomb Raider before, or are brave enough to bear the flaws and make it to the end. Otherwise, I would suggest that you look somewhere else to find a TPS worth playing.

[OLD] Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown - Hail To The King, Baby!

If you have ever played a Duke Nukem game in your life, there's a very good chance it was this one. Released in 1996, Duke Nukem 3D was, and still is, the most popular Duke Nukem game on the market. In fact, there still exists a huge following of the PC version's level editor to this day. It's also the game that introduced Duke to the Mature rating, and has consistently remained with each installment. This game was originally brought to the PC through DOS, but has also been ported to the major consoles of the time it was released; it has also been recently ported to the Xbox 360 and iPhone. With so many versions to pick from, I have decided to play and review the PS1 port, Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown.

The story of Duke Nukem 3D takes place immediately after the events of Duke Nukem II, which is explained in the manual of Total Meltdown (the PC version has it on-screen). After the defeat of the Rigelatins in the last game, Duke has hijacked one of their ships, making his way back to Earth for relaxation. As fate would have it, his ship is shot down by unknown hostiles, forcing him to eject. He lands miraculously on the roof of a skyscraper, vowing revenge on the aliens that attacked him.

Like the second game, you get a choice of difficulty settings before you start: Piece of Cake (Easy), Let's Rock (Medium), and Come Get Some (Hard), with an unlockable Damn I'm Good (Very Hard). I played on Piece of Cake, not only for the sake of efficiency, but also because I'm not very good with FPS games. Even then, the game provides a bit of a challenge, often leading me to come up with creative ways to kill aliens on very low health. This game also has an improved Save system, allowing you to Save permanently or Quicksave temporarily at any point. Even on Piece of Cake, I recommend using Quicksave as often as you can, since you can easily die if you're not careful.

You start off the game with a Pistol, but over time, you can pick various weapons, including a Shotgun, RPG, and Chaingun Cannon to name a few. At times, you will see a crack in a wall, so it's good to have the RPG or Pipebombs on standby. You can also use your Mighty Foot as a kick attack, which can also be used on glass or trashcans to conserve ammo. In order to advance to certain areas, you must also gather keycards, colored yellow, red, and blue. Power-ups in the game include, but are not limited to, Portable Medkits, Steroids, and a Jetpack, and can be found not in crates, but in the open, behind secret compartments, and inside trashcans. In a change of pace from the first two games, this third installment is a First-Person Shooter, but remains the only one in the series aside from the upcoming Duke Numen Forever.

The controls are tight and respond perfectly, though it can get a little awkward depending on how you use them. Total Meltdown, even though the box doesn't say, is Analog Compatible (recommended), with the Left Stick for normal movement and the Right Stick for strafing. You can move the camera up and down using L1 and L2, which can lead to the aformentioned awkwardness, especially if you are facing a ledge or tall platform. Fortunately, you can center the camera by pressing both Left Shoulder Buttons at once. Aside from that small hurdle, the controls are, as stated, perfect.

The game comprises three episodes (L.A. Meltdown, Lunar Apocalypse, Shrapnel City), with a fourth one (The Birth) for owning Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition. Total Meltdown has its own fourth episode (Plug N' Pray), but I only played the first three as they are universal to all versions. Each episode is comprised of many levels, 7 for the first and 11 for the other two, each with a couple of secret levels. Each episode has its own challenges, but you can also find videos on YouTube on how to progress through each level much quicker, given this game's massive following. Every episode also has a Boss at the end, the first two of which you must find, which prove to be quite a challenge, and can take some time to figure out how to kill in the most efficient manner.

A notable thing about this game is the number of movie references it makes. For instance, the cover is a reference to Evil Dead, and at one point you encounter the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, you actually have to know the references in order to get them, and a couple of times they are required in order to advance in the level. At one point early in the game, you see a poster that covers an obscure pathway. I didn't know this was a reference, let alone that I had to go through it, so I had to find that out with an online walkthrough. I was aware of the 2001 reference, but I didn't know I had to go through it, and again I found that out through a guide. Newer players, like me, are likely to miss a lot of these references, so they are more prone to looking them up in a walkthrough. Still, the jokes are funny when you know the references.

The graphics are a big improvement over Duke Nukem II, although they are sort of pixelated in Total Meltdown compared to what I've seen of other versions. To create the 3D effect, levels are constructed in the style of DOOM, with enemies, women, and objects being rotating 2D sprites. Despite the downside of the PS1 port, they're still rather impressive, and still seem to hold up to this day. Since the music seems to change depending on the version, I will say that the music of the Total Meltdown variant is pretty well-done, and you are able to to listen to a few of them by using the PS1 disk as a CD (though the manual warns against playing Track 1 because its really a data file). The voice of Jon St. John suits the Duke Nukem character quite nicely, and it's nice to know that he treats this role with great admiration and respect. My only complaint about it is that some sounds that should be playing at the end of each episode are left out of this port, so I had to look for them on YouTube in order to know what they were.

One last thing I should mention is that this game has a multiplayer function called Dukematch. However, since Total Meltdown, the only version I have, requires two PS1 consoles, I am unable to comment since I only own one.

Duke Nukem 3D is a game I would whole-heartedly recommend. It's fun, even for those like me who don't excel at its genre, and provides a bit of a great challenge. As said with the first two games, it has a lot of trial-and-error gameplay, presented in an enjoyable and satisfying way. It's good to play the first two games so that you know the story better, but this can still easily be one you can pick up and play. As said before, this is a game that has a large fanbase to this day, and chances are, after playing it, you will become part of it.