I recently played through Duke Nukem 3D for the first time since I was a kid, and had some thoughts on it. The Build Engine is kinda weird and wonky with how it handles certain mechanics, but Duke is proof that it can work to a degree. Much better than say, TekWar and some of the other games that licensed out the engine.
Duke was the first game I ever played that had real interactive environments and I'd argue that these environments along with the level design are really what makes the game memorable opposed to the character himself who hasn't aged well. From the very first level of the game, it encourages you to explore around and you can find a rocket launcher within seconds.
Duke's levels are mostly non-linear and have great replay value since you can replay them and go for alternate routes, and even speedrunning them. Many of the early levels and in the final episode have destructive environments that lead to short cuts and alternate routes.
I always preferred Quake over Duke, and that's not a surprise given my favorite FPS game of all time is Doom 64. Quake has the same immersive atmosphere that D64 excels in, but I think Duke really set the standard for both of those games when it came to non-linear level design. Both Quake and D64 have many levels that are designed around a non-linear approach that lets you play them over and over with different routes.
I am of the unpopular opinion that Duke Nukem could've been saved in the modern era by keeping the humor around making fun of pop culture and tropes, rather than the extreme misogynistic and shock factor approach that Duke Nukem Forever went for. I could see a Duke game making fun of superhero movies, social media and reality TV. Instead, Forever seemed to take the character and try to make him serious and forget that it was all making fun of American pop culture. Forever also had some god awful level design and the game mechanics which is part of why that game was so disappointing. The only thing I really remember positively was it that it had a better shotgun than Doom 3, which isn't saying much (Doom 3 has the worst shotgun ever in an ID Software game and probably FPS games all together).
Duke Nukem Forever is awful. I played it when it first came out and followed the whole shit show that was around it.
I used to have a friend from where I grew up who was a HUGE Duke fan and I remember him being so excited for DNF back in the early 2000s. He wanted to pre-order it when it was first talked about and I often wonder if he ever got the game later on. It was stuck in development hell for so long.
A few years ago, some of the old developers released a code that was 97% done to a DNF build from 2003. It was one of the versions they were close to finishing that Randy Pitchford put a stop to. Because it was early 2000s, it had more in line with shooters from that era.
The DLC for Forever was arguably better than the finished game, and many fans believe the levels of the DLC came out of an old build for the game cause it fit more in line with the older games and the levels were far more polished and had some serious effort put into them. I don't know if that's true or not, but I did like the DLC more than the original game (with the exception of having to deal with Dillon some more. Ugh. Worst side kick ever in an FPS game)
On another note; seriously fuck Randy Pitchford. That guy is one of the absolute worst in video games. He is the reason we can't even get a re-release of old 2D Duke games that were made at Apogee Software long before the FPS game that Duke is known for. Duke Nukem 2 is a really good side scrolling PC game, similar to the Commander Keen games. Randy has copyrighted everything with Duke and moved it to Gearbox, and when 3D Realms attempted to release a Duke anniversary set with the old 2D games, Randy basically pulled the rug out from under their feet and put a stop to it with the copyright claims. There was a huge shitshow over the release of the World Tour Anniversary edition of Duke 3D and how it resulted in puling the Megaton edition from Steam/Gog. Randy had the Megaton edition pulled and replaced with the newer remaster that had a new campaign but is missing all the old expansion packs that the Megaton edition came with.
I recently played through Duke Nukem 3D for the first time since I was a kid, and had some thoughts on it. The Build Engine is kinda weird and wonky with how it handles certain mechanics, but Duke is proof that it can work to a degree. Much better than say, TekWar and some of the other games that licensed out the engine.
Duke was the first game I ever played that had real interactive environments and I'd argue that these environments along with the level design are really what makes the game memorable opposed to the character himself who hasn't aged well. From the very first level of the game, it encourages you to explore around and you can find a rocket launcher within seconds.
Duke's levels are mostly non-linear and have great replay value since you can replay them and go for alternate routes, and even speedrunning them. Many of the early levels and in the final episode have destructive environments that lead to short cuts and alternate routes.
I always preferred Quake over Duke, and that's not a surprise given my favorite FPS game of all time is Doom 64. Quake has the same immersive atmosphere that D64 excels in, but I think Duke really set the standard for both of those games when it came to non-linear level design. Both Quake and D64 have many levels that are designed around a non-linear approach that lets you play them over and over with different routes.
I am of the unpopular opinion that Duke Nukem could've been saved in the modern era by keeping the humor around making fun of pop culture and tropes, rather than the extreme misogynistic and shock factor approach that Duke Nukem Forever went for. I could see a Duke game making fun of superhero movies, social media and reality TV. Instead, Forever seemed to take the character and try to make him serious and forget that it was all making fun of American pop culture. Forever also had some god awful level design and the game mechanics which is part of why that game was so disappointing. The only thing I really remember positively was it that it had a better shotgun than Doom 3, which isn't saying much (Doom 3 has the worst shotgun ever in an ID Software game and probably FPS games all together).
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Duke Nukem Forever is awful. I played it when it first came out and followed the whole shit show that was around it.
I used to have a friend from where I grew up who was a HUGE Duke fan and I remember him being so excited for DNF back in the early 2000s. He wanted to pre-order it when it was first talked about and I often wonder if he ever got the game later on. It was stuck in development hell for so long.
A few years ago, some of the old developers released a code that was 97% done to a DNF build from 2003. It was one of the versions they were close to finishing that Randy Pitchford put a stop to. Because it was early 2000s, it had more in line with shooters from that era.
The DLC for Forever was arguably better than the finished game, and many fans believe the levels of the DLC came out of an old build for the game cause it fit more in line with the older games and the levels were far more polished and had some serious effort put into them. I don't know if that's true or not, but I did like the DLC more than the original game (with the exception of having to deal with Dillon some more. Ugh. Worst side kick ever in an FPS game)
On another note; seriously fuck Randy Pitchford. That guy is one of the absolute worst in video games. He is the reason we can't even get a re-release of old 2D Duke games that were made at Apogee Software long before the FPS game that Duke is known for. Duke Nukem 2 is a really good side scrolling PC game, similar to the Commander Keen games. Randy has copyrighted everything with Duke and moved it to Gearbox, and when 3D Realms attempted to release a Duke anniversary set with the old 2D games, Randy basically pulled the rug out from under their feet and put a stop to it with the copyright claims. There was a huge shitshow over the release of the World Tour Anniversary edition of Duke 3D and how it resulted in puling the Megaton edition from Steam/Gog. Randy had the Megaton edition pulled and replaced with the newer remaster that had a new campaign but is missing all the old expansion packs that the Megaton edition came with.
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