"I'm gonna rip off your head and shit down your neck!"
That phrase will bring memories flooding back to anyone who remembers the
PC game, Duke Nukem 3D, one of the first post-Doom first-person-shooters
and a sequel to two 2D platform outings for the wisecracking one.
Anyone who's a gamer will know what to do without much introduction, so it's
safe to say that you begin in Area 51, the first of 19 levels, and you have
to stop alien scientists intent on taking over the Earth, having already taken
over that top-secret government base.
Let me just say that I absolutely fucking loved that game and spent many
happy hours trying the same scene several times over to kill the pig cops in
a different way, or trash the cinema, or sneakily throwing a pipe bomb into
one of their dugouts, then inspecting the blood and guts afterwards.
The graphics feel like they've been ported direct from the PC blaster, but
suffer a little in the translation to the GBA because of the lower resolution.
It was also a FPS title that used sprites rather than polygons for objects,
enemies and scenery, such that it doesn't look as 'advanced' as similar other
games of the genre since Quake was released and overall looks rather
dated - and all that is the reason why it's not always wise for experienced
gamers to go back to the past because they don't realise what's gone on
since their old favourites were first released.
There's also slow-down sometimes, which isn't meant to happen in console
games at all.
On the sound front, the music is nothing to write home about, plus speech and
gunfire are a bit on the scratchy side.
Overall, it's another trip back to recapture the games of years gone by and there's
nothing wrong in that, but it's definitely one that should be played by
youngers gamers new to the Duke Nukem franchise.
This is because many PC users will be able to get, or have played to death,
the original and while it's fun for a while, or for a long car journey,
it's a far from essential title.
Some of the gameplay is a little too simplified for older gamers as well,
since shooting across a room will hit those gas tanks, even if they're not
at the same height as you, because there's no look up/down function here.
Moving about can be a bit tricky as when you begin, you'll often strafe
left/right when you meant to turn in that direction.
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
The graphics feel like they've been ported direct from the PC blaster, but
suffer a little in the translation to the GBA because of the lower resolution.
Overall, it's another trip back to recapture the games of years gone by and there's
nothing wrong in that, but it's definitely one that should be played by
youngers gamers new to the Duke Nukem franchise.
