Review by KingDubby

"Duke is gonna Nuk'em all!"

When you play this game, you'll think that Duke Nukem is THE coolest game character in video game history. This game is a Sci Fi themed First Person Shooter (developed by 3Drealms originally released for the PC) set in our humble planet Earth sometime in the early 21st century. It uses the old 2.5D Build engine and can be played on the platforms; PC, Mac, Sega Saturn, Playstation,, Sega Megadrive/Genesis (only in Brazil), Xbox 360 (XBLA) and even on something as little as the iPhone OS. But I'll be talking about Sega Saturn version released in 1997. So join 3Drealms' Duke Nukem, as he blasts through the levels in one of his many epic adventures kicking extra-terrestrial ass one by one while saving his girls from the evil invaders.

There is so much good about Duke Nukem 3D. When you turn on the game and wait for the menu to load, you'll instantly grab your TV remote and turn up the volume full blast, just to here the rocking, Duke Nukem 3D theme tune. It's intensively catchy! And not to mention the guns, of course there would be some, it's an FPS. And this game features some of the best guns you'll find out there: if want to feel bigger than your enemies, use the shrinker, if you're cold hearted, use the freezer, if you want to obliterate your enemies in a flash, there's an RPG available, or if you want to do that in a stealthy way, you could just use the pipe bomb, and there's many more fantastic guns to unlock. Plus you can even use your foot as a melee attack! As you are probably wondering right now what is the storyline, well I can tell you that there basically is no plot to the game, it's just about fun and games, with one objective, kill all alien toilets and survive. However, you could say the back-story is, the world being invaded by aliens and Duke Nukem is the man to charge them into their graves. Pickups are around in the game too, these include; holo-Dukes (to confuse the dumb alien b*st*rds), steroids, guns, bullets and health. (But if you really want to get health, the real way to do it is to break open a toilet seat and drink the water flowing out of it! Weird but very unique - in my opinion anyway). But that's not all to the gameplay, there's more! If you ever enter a strip bar (most likely you will) you'll see a bunch of almost naked, exhilarating pole dancers and strippers. Go up to them and you'll get a big surprise: one you press the action button, Duke hands out a dollar bill to the chick and says the words, "shake it baby" and she flashes her b**bs out at you. How awesome is that. And the best bit is you never run out of money to give to the strippers! While playing the game, at some points Duke comes out with the most coolest quotes, such as, when you pick up something really good (like a new weapon) he says, "hail to the king baby!" That's one of the reasons for why he's so cool. Even when he looks at himself in a mirror, he says "damn, I'm looking good!" So as you know, Duke Nukem 3D is amazing, and it's also very replayable as there are secrets and the total number of enemies to kill in each level, you haven't fully completed the game yet. Might I also mention the game itself on the Saturn, is not I would say long, but it's hard as hell!!! Even on the games easy mode (piece of cake) it's hard, so hard that it is so easy to even kill yourself if you're not careful. This game can get very frustrating at times - especially when the levels are filled with puzzles. Good luck handling the bosses. Beginners, you'll most definitely need the cheats, trust me! Unfortunately Duke Nukem 3D has no tutorial or anything to let you know what the controls are, you has to figure them out yourself, or go onto the options and see the controls. Also there you can change the games settings to your preferred standards. In addition, this is one of the first FPS games to actually enable you to move up, down and diagonally, however, it is pretty messed up on a console that doesn't have the left and right analog sticks. On the Saturn, you have to stand still, press the axis button, and then you can move up and down. But even then you can't move unless you have the crosshair aim where you want it. That function, is probably the only let down to the game. Gameplay: 9/10.

This games graphics is not exactly spectacular (well to the people at that time it was) especially when using the build engine to create an almost 3D phase to games, by using a 2D grid with sectors made out of 2D shape. There are some things that are more pixilated than others, like the aliens faces compared to their bodies. However, the animations of the game are excellently made, all the aspects from the way Duke shoots to the way explosions happen. If you compare these graphics to a modern game like Crysis (using the CryEngine 2), Duke Nukem 3D's graphics won't even stand a chance. So for all you graphic gamers, I suggest you look at what this game is like rather than how the game looks. (That's what a real gamer does). Graphics: 6/10.

Here we come to the sound of the game. It's pretty good if you ask me, I mean for a game that was developed just after the 16 bit era on the Sega Saturn. The sound of things sometimes get croaky, it's somehow always clear and understandable. Plus you can always tell what the piece of sound is signifying, or what it is supposed to be, whether it's Duke's amazing, masculine voice or if it's just sound of an alien groaning when it finds you (although the groans can get a little heart pounding, when you're in the darkness). I can tell you now, possibly the clearest sound you'll experience is the music. In my opinion, the sound of this game fits in with the pixilated graphics it has. Sound: 8/10.

So in my conclusion, Duke Nukem 3D, although it has a few very, very minor flaws such as the up/down movement and non - detailed graphics (not very important), it's an exceptionally enjoyable game and rate it a 9/10. I consider it one the greatest classic First Person Shooters of all time! Whatever people say about Duke, he is still the coolest! So guys like Marcus Fenix can go take a hike, along with his other over muscled wannabe Duke Clique! Especially when Duke Nukem Forever gets released! That's if it's going to be released.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10 | Originally Posted: 11/23/09

Game Release: Duke Nukem 3D (EU, 12/31/97)


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