Duke Nukem 64
Reviewed by Ian Chaney
The Facts: There have been lots of first-person shooters in the history
of gaming, and it all started with Wolfenstien 3-D and Doom. Following
Doom were a handful of clones, more and more by the day. Duke Nukem
3D was one of the better Doom-clones, with its creative levels, fun
interactivity, creative weapons, and Duke's Now Duke Nukem's
been ported to the N64, and was the effort worth it?
Graphics 8 out of 10
The graphics are much better than DN64's PC brother, because of N64's
MIP-mapping and texturing abilities. Although that pixelization of
textures at close range is still there, it's not as bad. One big downfall
on DN64: The monsters and items are still those ugly 2D-based sprites.
Their animation is choppy at best, but it's tolerable. The explosions are
beautiful polygons, with smoke lingering in the air for a while, a little
like GoldenEye. The framerate is good enough, due to the fact that most
objects are sprites.
Music and Sound 9 out of 10
First off, during the game there is no music whatsoever. (the only music
is a looping guitar riff at the main menu) This didn't bother me much,
but it's still annoying. Sound effects are nice, and realistic to the most
part, although I often mistake wind for an alien with a jet pack.... Duke's
voice is crisp and very much understandable.
Game Challenge 10 out of 10
The game provides a difficulty level for all skills: Piece of Cake (easiest),
Let's Rock (normal), Come Get Some (hard), and Dang, I'm Good (lots harder..)
I suggest starting out at Piece of Cake and staying there for a while, as it's
not as easy as you may think.
Game Play-Fun 10 out of 10
The single player levels are all copied from the game, or at least I think
so (I'm judging by their names). The only way to save your game is by a
memery pak, so be warned. Another thing I hate is you can only save at the
end/beginning of levels. I am the kind of person who plays a high difficulty
and likes to save before turning a corner, but oh well. I am pretty sure
most levels have changes in them, for example, level two, they added
a Duke Burger.
Multiplayer: For all you fans of Dukematching with the PC version, it's
still there. Up to four players and Duke it out, but the screen gets really
small. I suggest going against a couple of Dukebots on a higher difficulty,
so you get the whole screen. I THINK there are two or three specially-designed
Dukematch levels, but I can't say for sure. (I give gameplay-fun 10
because of Dukematching)
Frustration
Frustration? What's the matter, little baby want an easy beat in one day
game? Sorry. The easiest difficulty is not 'easy', so to speak, so if you
get frustrated easily with a game, either get some patience or stay
away from Duke Nukem 64.
Replayability 7 out of 10
For good lastability, finish the game on the easiest difficulty, then start
over with the next difficulty up, and so forth and so on.
Control 7 out of 10
The default controls are much like Turok's, C buttons to move, analog
stick looks & turns, a activates, Z shoots, R jumps, L activates inventory
item, B crouches. There are two-three other configurations to choose
from, though. It gets a 7 because you can't assign your own customized
control scheme.
Saving/Memory 8 out of 10
You use a memory pak to save your progress/control scheme for DN64,
but have no fear, one save game takes only 2 pages of memory pak space.
No saving on Game Pak, at all.
Overall 81 out of 100
In conclusion, if you liked the original Duke Nukem 3D, this game is probably
for you. As I said, DN64's graphics are better than Duke Nukem 3D's, so if
that necessarily bothered you with the PC version, rejoice! : If you like the
first person shooter genre in general, rent this game, or if you're daring,
buy it and hope you're lucky. Oh one more thing, fans of the PC version - no
nudity. Yep, the censors down at Nintendo said none of "that" could be in an
N64 game. Women are now reduced to T-shirts and jeans! - little to no cussing,
and no stripper bars, nudie mag shops, or anything like that now.