Another episode full of memorable real-world locations with solid level design, the best part of Duke Nukem. The new alien enemy was a perfect addition. Rush down with a good amount of health, is immune to the shrinker, has a projectile that shrinks you to try to step on you and a melee attack, freezethrower works well, and is used a good amount of times. Pigtank was pretty good too, even if it feels a bit awkward to get to its back. There's also a new fun, silly weapon that's perfect for this kind of game. They even made the boss (not just a copy of a previous episode) better this time, and the map isn't over in 10 seconds, though it is a bit worse than the rest of the episode.

It's easily one of my favourite FPS expansions, just behind Plutonia.

When talking about Duke Nukem 3D even people who enjoy it struggle to put into words why they like it so much. People who don't know will say it was having an action hero pastiche, others will say it was the "interactivity" as in being able to play biliards in one level. Duke 3D actual biggest strength it's his level design, levels that are still to this day looking actual places while allowing gamey stuff to happen with small narratives and setpieces in them, no memorable story obv but levels leading into one another at the exit rather than just dropping you there and amusing theming in the levels adds a lot to it. Duke 3D actual loop is also pretty good and standout for the genre, with the core loadout from the first episode being usual but slightly different to further additions like the Shrinker and Devastator being nice and fuctional gimmicks, sadly there's also the Freezethrower and a good chunk of actually useless weapons and items, not many games are designed around the fact that the player could have a jetpack on themselves at all times though.

Episode 1: The most iconic the game gets and probably a good reason why the saying that the freeware episode in a retroshooter is the best one is said to begin with. This is as tight as the game gets not the other episodes aren't to look forward too.
Episode 2: Drop down in quality but not as severe as a lot of people make it out ot be. Levels are still really good but plagued with the overuse of suicide drones and less varied in their colors.
Episode 3: Back to earth with more colorful and better levels.
Episode 4: Pretty nutty. There are a lot of annoying encounters but over this is Duke 3D at it's limits.

Duke Nukem 3D is still to this day a standout in the genre with it's design and unique gimmicks. And it's still probably the weakest in the Build Engine Trinity.

(Grabbag aggressively intensifies)

Review? WHAT REVIEW? [kicks review away]

Grab a shotgun, kick some alien's ass, save the chicks and save the Earth! And not necessarily in that order (maybe)!!

Duke Nukem 3D truly was a one of a kind shooter that innovated clever map designs, and the added "The Birth" episode in this Atomic Edition is a welcomed addition!

With the Atomic Edition, 3D Realms decided to basically pull out a "ultimate Doom" for Duke Nukem 3D by adding a new episode, The Birth. Obviously, this review focuses on that new set of levels.

This is somewhat of a mixed bag. Out of 10 levels, i enjoyed a half, while i decidedly disliked the other half. First level, a parody of spy films (notably Mission Imposible but also series like Get Smart, and probably some other reference) is one of the best levels in this campaign. Then, levels 2 to 4 where kind of a let down in comparison, with a lot of moments that were just awful. And when i was thinking this episode as a whole was definitely going to suck, level 5 onwards were slowly getting better. They were all pretty much ok, like a slow crescendo until level 9, the other outstanding level from this game alongside level 1. Level 9 is actually the longest map of all Duke Nukem 3D including the original first three episodes, but it was so well designed that it got me really hooked up. Sadly, Duke Nukem 3D always had difficulties in bringing a good closer to the episode, and level 10 is no exception. The boss fight is actually ok but everything that happened before that moment, it made me feel like i was playing Hexen. A really confusing map with lots of backtracking.

You have a new weapon here, the expander, which i really didn't use much. And two new enemies: Protector Drone, which are a stronger enemy that doesn't add much, and Pig Cop Tank, a lot more interesting enemy since it allows you to incorporate some kind of stealthy way to deal with them, somewhat bringing a new small element to the gameplay.

The whole thing will probably be more interesting to those who already enjoyed the original three episodes from Duke Nukem 3D, although i would really recommend to those who are into classic fps in general, to check levels 1 and 9.