My first exposure to Duke Nukem came shortly after 3D was ported to the Nintendo 64. My dad picked it up as a weekend rental, though he never got past the first level, Hollywood Holocaust. Most of what I know about Duke comes through osmosis. His one-liners are still repeated often today, and there's no shortage of retrospectives and memes. But I didn't own my own computer until I was 16, long after the era of Boomer Shooters had ended, so when I finally sat down and decided to play it on my Sega Saturn (a weird choice of platform, I know) I went in with only the most superficial knowledge one could have.
At first Duke Nukem 3D took a bit of getting used to. I was never that good at Boomer Shooters, having been spoiled on more modern FPS games, but there's an undeniable charm to them that's ever-present in 3D. Guns all feel like they have their own utility, levels can at times be labyrinthine but a joy to navigate, and the mixture of 3D environments and sprite work creates a wonderful aesthetic. Controls are smooth, though Duke's weight and momentum can feel somewhat funky at first, and at times aiming on the x-axis feels a bit finicky. I'm unsure how much of this is my own poor aim and how much is the result of any idiosyncrasies with the SlaveDriver engine (I haven't played Powerslave or Quake on the Saturn to compare.) That said, I do think it's worth mentioning how easy it is to control on the Saturn. The shoulder buttons make strafing a breeze, and the six button configuration helps consolidate Duke's controls in a way that doesn't feel cumbersome.
Finding secret areas and easter eggs is a blast. I don't think I ever finished levels under par because I was having too much fun searching every nook and cranny. Levels are thoughtfully design and well landmarked, and even though progression largely boils down to "find the blue keycard to go through the locked door, then find the red keycard" it never becomes played out. This is a stark contrast to Alien Trilogy, another shooter on the Saturn which has a bit more variety to its mission structure while somehow feeling like it drags.
Maybe this goes back to the charm of Duke Nukem, which other shooters lack. He's not as much of a chatterbox as the Internet lead me to believe, but his one liners are excellent, and the world he inhabits is brimming with personality. Enemy designs are equal parts grotesque and funny, and levels are littered with interactive objects that at the time must have felt revolutionary. The sound design deserves some extra attention too. Explosions and gunfire are appropriately crunchy, and the music always lands in a way that got me pumped up.
I would say my biggest complaint is one that's true of many shooters of this era: retaining health between levels. This was more of a problem in Alien Trilogy, but a few levels in Duke Nukem 3D put you right in the shit as soon as you start. If you finished the previous level at low health, then it makes for an especially rough opening in the next. This can be mitigated by keeping two saves, though, so it's really not that much of a problem, and repeated attempts at levels often go more smoothly than the last.
Again, I never played the PC version of the game, though I do know the general consensus is that Duke Nukem 3D on the Saturn is a surprisingly good port that is none-the-less inferior to its PC counterpart. If you're like me and you've never given this game a shot, I would encourage you to do so, but perhaps seek it out on PC first. I just paid a lot of money for a Saturn and I needed something to play on it.
At first Duke Nukem 3D took a bit of getting used to. I was never that good at Boomer Shooters, having been spoiled on more modern FPS games, but there's an undeniable charm to them that's ever-present in 3D. Guns all feel like they have their own utility, levels can at times be labyrinthine but a joy to navigate, and the mixture of 3D environments and sprite work creates a wonderful aesthetic. Controls are smooth, though Duke's weight and momentum can feel somewhat funky at first, and at times aiming on the x-axis feels a bit finicky. I'm unsure how much of this is my own poor aim and how much is the result of any idiosyncrasies with the SlaveDriver engine (I haven't played Powerslave or Quake on the Saturn to compare.) That said, I do think it's worth mentioning how easy it is to control on the Saturn. The shoulder buttons make strafing a breeze, and the six button configuration helps consolidate Duke's controls in a way that doesn't feel cumbersome.
Finding secret areas and easter eggs is a blast. I don't think I ever finished levels under par because I was having too much fun searching every nook and cranny. Levels are thoughtfully design and well landmarked, and even though progression largely boils down to "find the blue keycard to go through the locked door, then find the red keycard" it never becomes played out. This is a stark contrast to Alien Trilogy, another shooter on the Saturn which has a bit more variety to its mission structure while somehow feeling like it drags.
Maybe this goes back to the charm of Duke Nukem, which other shooters lack. He's not as much of a chatterbox as the Internet lead me to believe, but his one liners are excellent, and the world he inhabits is brimming with personality. Enemy designs are equal parts grotesque and funny, and levels are littered with interactive objects that at the time must have felt revolutionary. The sound design deserves some extra attention too. Explosions and gunfire are appropriately crunchy, and the music always lands in a way that got me pumped up.
I would say my biggest complaint is one that's true of many shooters of this era: retaining health between levels. This was more of a problem in Alien Trilogy, but a few levels in Duke Nukem 3D put you right in the shit as soon as you start. If you finished the previous level at low health, then it makes for an especially rough opening in the next. This can be mitigated by keeping two saves, though, so it's really not that much of a problem, and repeated attempts at levels often go more smoothly than the last.
Again, I never played the PC version of the game, though I do know the general consensus is that Duke Nukem 3D on the Saturn is a surprisingly good port that is none-the-less inferior to its PC counterpart. If you're like me and you've never given this game a shot, I would encourage you to do so, but perhaps seek it out on PC first. I just paid a lot of money for a Saturn and I needed something to play on it.
LarryDavis
2 years ago