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Summary: King of the first-person action shooters--at least for the moment
I can't recall an event that was as eagerly anticipated among the PC Games staff as the arrival of the full version of Duke Nukem 3D.
The shareware release of this hot first-person action game, which includes just the first six levels of the game, had been sucking up all of our free time (and then some) since it came out in February. The prospect of 22 brand-spanking new levels--ripe with multiplayer possibilities, new weapons, and new secrets to discover--had us all champing at the bit.
Thankfully, the full version actually lives up to our lofty expectations.
Developed by 3D Realms, Duke Nukem 3D couples high-res graphics (up to 800-by-600) with fast, fluid gameplay. While not true 3-D--game characters and enemies are rendered two-dimensionally, for instance--Duke Nukem is perhaps the most 3-D first-person shooter available. It features rooms on top of rooms and the ability to fight enemies above, in front, behind, and below you at the same time.
The game's story is as flat as the characters, serving only to set the stage for the fully fleshed-out combat. Murderous aliens have landed in a futuristic Los Angeles and are stealing Earth women to use as breeding stock back on their home planet. Duke Nukem, who is equal parts Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Jean-Claude Van Damme, sets out to stop them. It's a B-movie plot, but Duke makes up for its literary shortfalls with cleverly designed levels, some intriguing weaponry, and fast and furious gameplay.
The game divides its 28 levels into three episodes: L.A. Meltdown (the shareware version), Lunar Apocalypse, and Shrapnel City. You start out on Earth, travel to a massive base orbiting the moon, and return to Earth for the finale. Of course, the game supports network play for up to eight players, and head-to-head play via modem or serial cable, for both deathmatches and cooperative play.
Like most Doom clones, you've got an arsenal of weapons (10) to help increase your odds for survival. These include such staples as the Shotgun, Chaingun Cannon, RPG, and trusty pistol, but the Pipebombs (remote-activated grenades, if you will), Shrinker, and Freezethrower steal the show. As its name suggests, the Shrinker reduces enemies down to doll-size for Duke to squish under his boot. The Freezethrower turns enemies into ice sculptures for Duke to shatter with his boot or a weapon. As you can see, Duke doesn't just like to kill his enemies, he enjoys humiliating them.
As with Doom, your goal in each level is to find the exit that leads to the next level. Usually, these exits are cleverly hidden and require you to first find a series of keycards to gain entrance to different areas. The levels range from exceedingly massive to small, but almost all of them include something that will have you laughing out loud or simply shaking your head in amazement (or shock). For example, step up to the microphone in the Fahrenheit level (episode 3) and hit the space bar, and you'll hear Duke perform a somewhat adult-oriented yet exceedingly juvenile radio commercial.
While the lunar levels are interesting, and feature many cool moon and earthscape visual effects, the more realistic Earth-based levels of the first and third episodes seem more compelling. You'll ride on dirty, graffiti-covered subways and explore a massive hotel and other buildings that have logical, believable designs--not to mention rats scampering about the streets, tunnels, air ducts, and hotel rooms.
The levels also "borrow" elements from hit movies. If you've seen The Shawshank Redemption, you'll recognize the solution to one of the shareware levels (a door hidden behind a poster), and if you fully explore the Hotel Hell level in Shrapnel City, you'll encounter a certain Dr. Jones and a variation of a well-known movie scene. While not incredibly unique, many of these "cameos" are simply hilarious.
Even Duke's voice--a gravelly blend of Clint Eastwood and Sly Stallone--is spectacular, matching his character perfectly. Duke can also be very humorous at times, especially in multiplayer games. Hit Alt-F1 and you'll say "You're an inspiration for birth control" to each of your opponents; combinations of Alt and the other F keys yield similar results. Duke also reacts to things that happen in a single-player game. Blow up a bad guy real good and he might quip, "That's gotta hurt!"
These are relatively minor features, but the game is brimming with them, and they work together to separate Duke Nukem 3D from all of the other Doom clones. In fact, Duke rises above Doom in nearly every way--graphics, sound, gameplay, and even controversy (which is saying a lot).
My only complaints are a bug that occasionally kills you when you pick up an item (solution: save often) and not enough different kinds of creatures (there are only six different main enemies and three boss characters, not counting the sharks in episode three). But these are mere quibbles, as the bug doesn't occur often and the game is more than challenging enough with the current mix of baddies on the higher skill settings.
3D Realm's inclusion of a graphical level-building editor, which you can use to design your own levels, means you can make up for any shortcomings yourself. (For more on the level editor and how to use it, see the next issue of PC Games.)
So get out there and start kicking some alien ass! Old Website Recovery