Duke Nukem 3D
| Duke Nukem 3D | |
|---|---|
| File:Dukenukem3d.jpg | |
| Developer(s) | 3D Realms |
| Publisher(s) | Apogee Software |
| Engine | Build |
| Platform(s) | PC (MS-DOS), Mac, Sega Saturn, Sega Genesis (Brazil only), Sony Playstation, game.com |
| Release | January 29, 1996 (PC) May 25, 1997 (Mac) April 1, 2003 (Source) |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
Duke Nukem 3D is a first-person shooter developed by 3D Realms and released on January 29, 1996 by Apogee Software, featuring the adventures of Duke Nukem, based on a character that had appeared in earlier platform games by the company: Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II.
Synopsis
- "Murderous aliens have landed in futuristic Los Angeles, and humans suddenly find themselves atop the endangered species list. The odds are a million-to-one, just the way Duke likes it!"
Taking on the role of Duke Nukem, players must fight through 28 levels spread over three chapters (later versions of the game added a further chapter, with an extra 11 levels). As usual for a first-person shooter, players encounter a whole host of different enemies, and can engage them with a range of weaponry. As well as killing aliens to free the Earth, players must also puzzle-solve to progress through the various levels. Some puzzles allow access to extra, hidden levels.
Humour
Duke Nukem 3D is mainly notable for the oft-crude humour it introduced into what had previously been a fairly humourless genre, including a stream of one-liners (heavily inspired by Ash Williams and John Nada) from the title character. Many of these related to the frequently gruesome deaths meted out by the Duke ("That's gotta hurt"), interactions with useable props such as toilets ("Ahhh, much better") or noteworthy things Duke comes across and feels necessary to comment on, like Duke Nukem arcade machines ("Hmm... don't have time to play with myself."). Various easter eggs appear in the game, such as a giant sign on a wall proclaiming "NOONE SHOULD BE HERE" in an area not accessible except by using a no-clip cheat.
The game also references many films and other games, usually humourously. For instance, when the player comes upon a corpse that closely resembles the player character in Doom, Duke comments, "That's one doomed space marine". This quote became famous after websites dedicated to Duke Nukem 3D began reporting that Doom's developer, id Software, had filed a lawsuit against Apogee Games and 3D Realms, trying to obtain an injunction to remove it (the suit was ultimately unsuccessful). Another jab at a fellow shooter game was a line in a level in Episode 3 when a building (with a sticker warning of a fault line) blows up and partially collapses, Duke responds, "I ain't afraid of no quake," obviously poking fun at the game Quake, which was yet to be released.
The game freely plundered many themes from cinematic sources, notably the Alien (the proto-slimes come out of eggs exactly like those seen in the Alien series and people trapped in pods who whisper "kill me" like in Aliens and one deleted scene from Alien) and Evil Dead film series. There were also cameos from Indiana Jones (a dead Indy hanging in a cave that collapses), Star Trek: The Next Generation (a hidden recreation of the Enterprise bridge), Star Wars (the hanging corpse of Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper armor), Escape From L.A. (the corpse of the movie's lead character, Snake, on a pike, with Duke saying, "I guess he didn't escape from LA."), The Hunt for Red October (the submarine USS Dallas in Episode 1, Level 3), 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Terminator (where we see a crushed Terminator like at the end of the first movie). In the Atomic Edition, the game contained references to Dirty Harry, Mission: Impossible, and Independence Day.
Gameplay
Level design
A notable quality of the game was the immense interactivity and realism of its levels. While many past first-person shooter games like Doom took place within relatively confined corridors, usually in gloomy, claustrophobic bases, the levels of Duke Nukem 3D took the player through attractively rendered street scenes, military bases, deserts, flooded cities, space stations, moon bases and even Japanese villas. Levels were also designed in a fairly non-linear manner such that players could advantageously use air ducts, back doors and sewers to avoid enemies or find hidden secrets, which also made the levels well suited to deathmatch. As well as being highly detailed (for the time), these locations were also filled with objects that the player can interact with (including light switches, toilets, pool tables, arcade games, closed-circuit cameras and, infamously, strippers). While these rarely had a crucial role in play (the closed-circuit cameras being a tactical exception), they gave Duke Nukem 3D an immersive feel greater than that in its rivals. As previously indicated, they also usually added considerably to its humour.
An extra "feature" in the game that could be exploited by players was warping (i.e. teleportation from place to place very quickly). This feature would only operate at some very specific locations in the game, and usually only under complex sequences and/or simultaneous moves. Many players particularly liked these warps as they were very difficult to find and because they were able to convey powerful advantage during play. In fact, the warps were nothing more than an unwanted bug in the software, more specifically in the 3D engine. 3D Realms eventually fixed most of the warps in version 1.5 (also known as Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition). However, for many experienced players the warps contributed a lot to their enjoyment of the game, and many people kept playing with the earlier version v1.3d (in which the warps were allowed), instead of using the v1.5. Most of these warps were an indirect result of the Build engine's inability to support rooms on top of other rooms. The developers had to work around this problem by overlapping different rooms to give the illusion of different floors. Crouching or jumping around in certain spots inside said overlapped rooms would occasionally confuse the game and warp the player to another "floor." This concept can also be seen in underwater portions of the game - crouching down on the surface of the water would actually teleport the player to a completely different sector shaped to look like an underwater room. However this behaviour is intentional and was used to create the illusion of being underwater.
Weapons and equipment
The game also featured some of the most varied weapons in any first-person shooter game. Traditional weapons such as pistols, shotguns and machine guns were augmented by the inclusion of a range of more imaginative weapons, some of which, even today (Fall 2005), are still unique to Duke Nukem 3D. Pipe bombs with remote triggers and laser trip bombs allowed the player to set traps for enemies to blunder into. A freeze gun locked enemies in a block of ice long enough for Duke to smash them with a well-placed shot or boot. A shrink ray would turn enemies into vulnerable miniature versions of themselves, that again were at the mercy of Duke's boot (using mirrors, the shrink ray could also be used on Duke himself to complete objectives that required a shorter stature).
Aside from weapons, Duke's inventory also included a series of items that could be picked up during play. A portable medkit allowed players to heal themselves whenever they chose to. Steroids sped up player movement making transit through hostile territory easier (additionally, they rendered the player immune to the effects of the Shrink Ray, especially useful in multiplayer mode). Infra-red goggles allowed players to see enemies in the dark. The "HoloDuke" device would project a hologram of Duke that could be used to distract enemies. Protective boots allowed the player to cross dangerously hot or toxic terrain. Where progress required more aquatic legwork, an aqualung allowed the player to take longer trips away from air. Perhaps most impressively, a jet pack allowed the player to range fully in 3D, often to reach carefully hidden weapons caches or extra health, although typically jet pack availability was restricted to avoid making levels too easy.
Monsters
The game features a wide range of monsters, some of which are bona fide aliens, others mutated humans (the LAPD has been "turned" into pigs). As usual for a first-person shooter, Duke encounters a large number of lesser foes, and a small number of boss enemies (usually at the end of chapters). Like Duke, these enemies have access to a wide range of weapons and equipment (some weaker enemies have jet packs). In keeping with the general tone of the game, Duke's enemies frequently experience humourous deaths, or engage in amusing, everyday activities (e.g. using the bathroom).
See also the main article on Duke Nukem 3D monsters.
Multiplayer
Fans may have happy memories of Duke Nukem 3D's network gaming maps. In particular, fort was the pick of the community maps especially for 2 or 4 player mode. The game can be played either in Death Match with or without monsters or in co-operative mode versus the monsters, a feature ever less frequent in newer first-person shooter games.
Criticism
The game has been heavily attacked by some critics, who allege that it promotes pornography and murder. For example, Media Watch wrote that:
- "Duke Nukem 3D moves the 'shooter' through pornography stores, where Duke can use XXX sex posters for target practice. Duke throws cash at a prostituted woman telling her to 'Shake it, Baby' his gun ever ready. In Duke Nukem bonus points are awarded for the murder of these mostly prostituted and partially nude women. Duke blows up stained glass windows in an empty church or goes to strip clubs where Japanese women lower their kimonos exposing their breasts. Duke is encouraged to kill defenseless, often bound women." [1]
While some of this criticism is exaggerated (e.g. players do not receive points for killing women, and are often attacked for doing so), the extreme depiction of women in Duke Nukem 3D is notable. George Broussard, the president of 3D Realms, defends the game, noting its success and arguing that consumers obviously do not find the content abusive or immoral. However, success with some consumers is clearly not evidence that Duke Nukem 3D is more widely acceptable. Significantly, virtually all of the women that appear in the game are either strippers, prostitutes, cheerleaders or alien prisoners (although a few of the following franchise sequels changed this, with Duke fighting alongside strong female characters). Consequently, while the game's treatment of women (which is extreme even by the standards of video games) could be viewed as an ironic, over-the-top send-up of Hollywood action-film stereotypes, it is easy to see why it causes offence (even if this was never intended by the developers).
As a result of a gunman's rampage through a movie theatre in Brazil, Duke Nukem 3D was banned in that country along with Quake and Doom and several other violent first-person shooters, due to Duke Nukem 3D's opening level "Hollywood Holocaust" (Episode 1, Mission 1) where Duke inevitably gets into a firefight with aliens inside a cinema. Unlike Carmageddon (which was banned in Brazil too) this didn't prevent the game from being published in a computer magazine. Quake was still found in a "Best Seller" package years later and Doom's Collectors Edition and Doom 3, as Quake III Arena and other shooters are still found and sold legally in Brazil.
Years later there would be a similar controversy about the Grand Theft Auto series distributed by Take-Two Interactive. Coincidentally, Take-Two Interactive is the distributor for Duke Nukem Forever, the sequel to Duke Nukem 3D.
Successors
The source code to the Duke Nukem 3D executable, which used the Build engine, was released under the GPL on April 1, 2003. However, the game content still remains the sole property of 3D Realms. The game was quickly ported by enthusiasts to modern OSes, including Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. As of 2005, these ports gave the game a second life in multiplayer games through the Internet and a growing community is still actively playing.
Many mods/total conversions of Duke Nukem 3D have appeared on the Internet, including Jesse Petrilla's controversial conversions Quest for Al-Qa'eda: The Hunt for Bin Laden and Quest for Hussein, in which the player is a U.S. Marine who must single-handedly dispose of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, respectively.
Duke Nukem 3D's graphic engine was an evolutionary step from the engine used for Doom. While the levels were still defined as 2D maps, the capabilities of Ken Silverman's Build engine allowed more complex levels than Doom. Since Duke Nukem 3D was still not a fully 3D engine, it was considered to be a 2.5D game. Although the era of true 3D games had begun with Descent in 1995, it would not be until Quake was released later in 1996 that a true 3D engine would be used for an FPS.
Today, the long-promised sequel, Duke Nukem Forever, is still in production after 8 years of development. Duke Nukem Forever last made a public appearance at the E3 of 2001, where a video trailer of the game was released, citing again the "When It's Done" release date. However, even that recent appearance no longer represents the true state of the game, which, according to 3D Realms President George Broussard, has been rebuilt from the ground up at least twice.
The game Sin is considered by some a spiritual sequel to Duke Nukem 3D. Like Duke Nukem 3D, Sin features a vocal main-character, over-the-top guns, hideous monsters, large-breasted women, and a realistic near-future setting. Ritual Entertainment, Sin's developer, was founded by several members of the Duke Nukem 3D team.
Unofficial add-on packs
Although Plutonium Pak is the only official add-on pack, some companies have marketed their own add-on packs for Duke Nukem 3D. Four well-known add-on packs are Duke Caribbean, Duke it Out in D.C., Duke Nuclear Winter, and Duke Xtreme.
Duke Caribbean: This game supposedly takes place after Duke Nukem 3D. Duke relaxes on a tropical island when he discovers that the aliens are having their own "vacation". This add-on pack has often been praised by players.
Duke it Out in D.C.: Duke Nukem has been called out to rescue US President Bill Clinton from an abduction.
Duke Nuclear Winter: The aliens have taken over the North Pole, and kidnapped Santa Claus. Duke Nukem must fight the aliens to rescue him. Although this add-on has been praised for its Christmas theme, it has still been criticized for unoriginality and poor level design.
Duke Xtreme: This add-on pack contains around 50 levels and many utilities for Duke Nukem 3D. This pack has often been criticized for its many software bugs.
Ports
Duke Nukem 3D was ported to the playstation under the name Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown. This edition included sx extra levels and re-rendered graphics[2].
Atomic Edition
With the release of the Duke Nukem 3D source code in April 2003, a sleu of ports have emerged. Initially, there were quite a few releases (Rancidmeat, CDuke, the "Icculus Port", and Jonathon Fowler's port known as "JFDuke3D") for various platforms, but as time went on support for most of them dropped. Currently the most prominent port is JFDuke3D, which in December 2003 recieved backing from the original author of Build, programmer Ken Silverman. JonoF, in cooperation with Ken Silverman, released a new version of JFDuke3D using the Polymost renderer. The Polymost renderer allows hardware acceleration and 3D model support, along with 32 bit color high resolution textures. Ken Silverman has since helped Jonathon Fowler with a large portion of other engine work, including updating the network code and continuing to maintain various other aspects of the engine. Projects such as the Duke 3D High Resolution Pack [3] were started in order to take advantage of the various engine improvements and attempt to update Duke's graphical resources almost to the level of modern games. Plans are still in the works to include additional engine features as time goes on.
EDuke (Duke3D 2.0)
Around May of 2003, not long after the release of the Duke Nukem 3D source code, Blood project manager Matt Saettler released the source code for both EDuke 2.0 and EDuke 2.1. EDuke was a branch of Duke Nukem 3D focused primarily on enhancing the CON scripting language in ways that allowed those modifying the game to do much more with the scripting system than originally possible. A few ports emerged (most notably WinEDuke and EDuke 2.1.1), but it wasn't until the release of EDuke32 (a merging and extension of EDuke and JFDuke3D) that EDuke became a prominent community focus. EDuke32 has seen consistent and frequent releases (often allowing the community to taste experimental new engine features weeks before the next JFDuke3D release), and thanks to the work of Richard Gobeille (TerminX) it has drawn a greater interest to the modding community.
Crew and cast
Todd Replogle, Allen H. Blum III, George Broussard, Greg Malone, Ken Silverman, Mark Dochtermann, Jim Dose, Richard Gray, Chuck Jones, Stephen Hornback, Dirk Jones, James Storey, David Demaret, Douglas R. Wood, Lee Jackson, Robert Prince, Lani Minella, Jon St. John, Robert M. Atkins, Michael Hadwin
External links
- Official Duke Nukem 3D homepage
- Planet Duke (GameSpy)
- Duke Nukem 3D at MobyGames
- 3D Realms Duke Nukem 3D Source Boards
Ports allowing you to play Duke Nukem 3D on Windows XP and run multiplayer games (via LAN or Internet):
- JonoF's Duke Nukem 3D Windows/Linux port (JFDuke3D)
- TerminX's Windows/Linux port of EDuke (EDuke32)
- Duke3D for Win32(Duke3d_w32)
Other useful items:
- Dukester X -- Manage multiplayer games on the Internet through the Rancidmeat and JFDuke3D ports.
- The Duke Nukem 3D High Resolution Pack -- Art and models to enhance your play experience when using JonoF or Eduke32.
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