Taken together, the old and new levels reminded me of how odd the original Duke Nukem 3D was. Level design is labyrinthine in too many places, and searching for the key cards needed to open doors just grew steadily more annoying as I plugged through Duke’s world tour. I was initially impressed by just how much the developers nailed the particular design sensibilities of the original Duke Nukem 3D-but then became annoyed by how little they sought to improve things. But you have to really be committed to the original game (and its now-very-dated style of play) to fully appreciate these new levels. If you're playing the game in order-and you don't have to here, since everything is unlocked from the start of play-the new episode flows seamlessly from the old ones. Every level has been designed as it would've been back in 1996, with the same focus on finding your way through maze-like corridors, securing key cards to unlock doors, and, of course, blasting mobs of aliens.Īll of the new levels are challenging, and they slot in nicely with the originals. You blow up baddies in the seedy red-light district of Amsterdam, near Red Square in Moscow, through the tweedy laneways of London with Big Ben looming overhead, among the ruins of ancient Egypt in Cairo, in the quaint streets of Paris, alongside the devastated Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and finally head back to Hollywood and outer space for a new boss battle (that doesn't carry anything close to the impact of the stadium battle that closed the original Duke Nukem 3D). This chapter allows you to keep rolling with the Duke after the original conclusion of the game and battle the extraterrestrials in seven new levels set all over the globe. Even if you like the retro-purist approach, it wouldn't have hurt to have provided more extreme graphical improvements so that gamers could make the call whether or not to go old school.Īnother big change is the addition of a new fifth episode titled Alien World Order. As it is, the game is ugly by today's standards, especially in close-quarters battles. A more thorough visual remastering would've made the game a little easier on the eyes-and more acceptable to a modern audience. John has re-recorded all of the Duke’s iconic quips and added a few new ones, giving new life to the game’s action-movie-hero vibe.īut the new visual features are a little understated. And original Duke Nukem 3D voice actor Jon St. As with the graphics, the core sounds and music have been cleaned up to simply sound better while not losing the 1990s charm of the original effects. This was a problem back in the day, and it remains one now. Still, it's tough to pick out fine details in level architecture, which can lead to some scavenger hunts to find the way forward. You can freely flip between the old and new visuals, which lets you see just how superior the lighting is today. The appearance of every level has been subtly improved, and new lighting gives the game a cleaner, less murky look-although everything's still very pixelated, to the point where enemies morph into chunky blobs of color when they get close. For starters, this edition contains some visual and audio refinements. Now Playing: Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary - Raw Meat GameplayĢ0th Anniversary World Tour is slightly different from other re-releases, though. By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |