Duke Nukem 3D: Can you still dig it?!
I’m not one who revels in rehashing classic videogames. Videogames are a medium so inextricably bound to the technology they’re built on, and that technology improves by leaps and bounds over short periods of time, that games, unlike film and music, can look very antiquated after just a few years.
My typical experience with many classic games released over Xbox LIVE Arcade goes something like this: excitement followed by the sinking realization that I’ve remembered the game through a rose-coloured lense, as I experience first hand how archaic the game is by today’s standards. That’s not to say I haven’t had some good fun with these games, but more often than not my unrealistic recollection is dashed with a dose of reality.
Duke Nukem 3D, released through Xbox LIVE Arcade September 24, falls squarely into that danger zone of once classic games looking very unflattering under the harsh light of today’s expectations. Gladly, Duke Nukem 3D appears to have escaped this fate.
They shot down Duke’s ride. Bad move.
What’s so refreshing about Duke, even while its forebearer DOOM fails to really have an impact when played today, is the personality that’s imbued in his character and the quirky story. Aliens have invaded Earth and are kidnapping all of our women. It’s up to Duke to blast the aliens to Hell and back, and save Earth’s women while he’s at it.
Duke is a hyper-exaggerated, Stallone-Schwartzenegger clone, baked with enough cheese to choke a thousand mice. There’s simply no doubt about it: this game is not taking itself seriously, not in the least. Duke may be the first and last videogame character featuring the ability to tip strippers, then quip “Shake it, baby!” with enthusiasm.
When the majority of “mature” games these days skew towards gratuitous blood and guts or taking themselves far too seriously, Duke is a reminder of how far the industry has moved away from mature characters and stories that are simply good fun and nothing more. “I’m here to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and I’m all out of gum,” says Duke, and we’d all be better off with more bubble gum like this.
Of course, it helps that the gameplay in Duke also holds-up surprisingly well. Somewhat juxtaposed to the goofy setting and tone is a first-person shooter that’s often visceral, bloody, and unforgiving. Enemies will stagger when shot and eventually crumple into piles of blood and guts. The game also moves at a blazing frame rate, which lends Duke a polished feel about it despite its age.
“Shake it, baby!”
It is often typical that after a genre defining game lays the foundation, that a different game comes along shortly thereafter and, through creative genious and sheer ambition, builds a house on that foundation, introducing a more refined vision of what the genre is really capable of. This is, essentially, what Duke Nukem 3D is to DOOM. It’s the little things that set Duke apart from its progenitor DOOM, especially in the realm of weaponry, gadgets, and scripted events.
I don’t mean to wax on philosophically for too long on this point. Suffice to say that Duke’s weapons, gadgets, and scripted events, taken together, feel more akin a game released today than a game from Duke’s era.
But that’s what’s old. Gratefully, Duke Nukem 3D in its Xbox LIVE Arcade reincarnation comes layered with advanced features.
One such feature is the ability to rewind your play session to any point in the present level after you’ve died, to pick up playing again at a point that suits you. This is a clever feature reminiscent of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. It also takes the edge off the difficulty allowing for a more casual approach to what is an otherwise fairly difficult game.
This, apparently, is the new Duke. Due for release sometime in 2050.
There’s also the inclusion of the expected online competitive multiplayer over LIVE and what appears to be up to eight-player online co-op as well. They’re what you might expect, work quite fluidly, and offer up even greater replayability once you’ve blasted through the main solo campaign.
Finally, Duke Nukem 3D features the very Halo 3-esque saved clips function. Just as in Halo 3, any campaign, co-op, or multiplayer competitive session is fully recorded. You can revisit any match, view it from any player’s perspective, and rewind and fast forward to any spot you please. You can also share your clips with other players and friends. It’s a very welcome addition and surprisingly as impressive now as it was when Halo 3 introduced it for the first time this time last year.
All this isn’t to say that Duke Nukem 3D is a faultless game that stands the test of time unimpeached. The visuals, of course, are dated. It runs at a fantastic framerate but that’s largely due to the low resolution visuals, sprite-based enemies, and low polygonal enviroments. The low grade looks coupled with sometimes bizarre level design also contribute to stretches of clueless wandering. While there are clever environmental elements and mild puzzle solving, the levels follow a completely haphazard and illogical layout indicative of the era.
With the obvious caveats, Duke Nukem 3D, even at this point in my early play time, appears to be one of the most robust re-releases of a classic game on Xbox LIVE Arcade. Of those games released over Xbox LIVE Arcade that are essentially the same as they were years ago, Duke Nukem 3D is setting the high watermark for what should be considered the complete package.
As Duke would say, “Come get some!”
peachey @ September 26, 2008