Duke Nukem 3D

(3D Realms, 1996)

You'd think that a Doom clone, released so close to the next-generation in ID gaming, Quake, wouldn't sell. Well, that wasn't the case for Duke Nukem 3D, the sequel to Apogee's classic 2D shareware game. The thrill in this game, as opposed to Quake, was how realistic the environment reacted to the alien battle taking place; fire hydrants exploded into a fountain of water, glass shattered into pieces, and even cracks in the wall could be blasted open, to reveal alternate escape routes and secret areas! In some scenes, equipment could even be activated, including a projector in the movie theater, for example. Indeed, the title character Duke Nukem --an amalgam of the typical invincible, deep voiced, action film tough guy-- seemed too sexist at times, as did the whole game. However, fans of similarly macho action movies found a lot to like here. As long as you didn't take the game too seriously, the whole game truly was a lot of fun. In fact, this is one of many late 1990's games which would have made it onto Techtite's list of Top 50 Game Classics, if not for 1995 being the cut off date chosen for the term "classic" in gaming. This is a game that even exceeded the original game it "cloned"...and that is hardly easy!

Rating : Deep Impact.

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