I must’ve played the first 2 side-scrolling Duke Nukem games constantly when I was young. When they announced a 3D version to be released in 1996 that was looking to outdo Doom and Wolfenstein 3D, I was extremely hyped. Duke Nukem 3D fulfilled every expectation I had, and then some. Now 24 years later that same game gets a re-release on the Nintendo Switch.
24th Anniversary World Tour
In January of 1996 Duke Nukem was released on the world. The game got praised for its raunchy humor and the over the top action. The non-linear gameplay possibilities and the almost fully interactive environments were met with high praise. In my opinion, Duke Nukem took everything great about Doom and Wolfenstein 3D while adding some bold additions that are pretty common these days. Duke Nukem made the FPS craze accelerate and set a new standard for every FPS game to come. A rerelease named Duke Nukem 3D 20th Anniversary World Tour feels completely justified for such an iconic title. In 2016 the anniversary edition got released on PS4 and Xbox One. The game released on the Nintendo Switch is still that 2016 version with some Nintendo Switch specific additions.
Hail to the Duke
In Duke Nukem 3D, the Duke wants a vacation when he returns from his previous adventure only to find out Aliens are wreaking havoc in the streets of L.A. Duke Nukem decides to have none of that and goes on a Alien killing spree. Over the course of three episodes taking place on earth and on the moon, the Duke tries to restore the piece to start that damn vacation. A year after the original release a new episode named “the birth” was added to further beef out the story. With the 20th anniversary edition, the original developers decided to further enhance the story with yet another episode: “Alien world Order” which takes place in different cities across the world. The 5 episodes all consisting of multiple levels are available in this version. Only a few previously (mostly console exclusive) released levels are omitted from this version.
It’s still surprisingly fun
The 1 million dollar question is obviously if Duke Nukem holds up and surprisingly I must say it does. Don’t get me wrong… The graphics – although buffed out for this edition – look appalling measured by today’s standards. It took me a while to get the feel for the game right after playing Doom Eternal for a few weeks. But all that aside… The game was still surprisingly fun. These levels were so well made in the day and they still hold up today. I still found it rewarding to seek the best possible route to complete the level and discovering all the secret rooms. With the feature “show level stats” toggled on, the completionist in me had an even better time. I could see how many enemies I might’ve missed and more importantly, how many secrets I still had to find before ending the level.
Extra features
The core of the game presented with Duke Nukem 3D 20th Anniversary World Tour is nice to relive. The extras give this version more shine. These extras include the ability to change the graphics to the originals, change the voice to the original,… to name a few. This version also has the ability to toggle developers’ commentary. With this feature, you’ll see icons in the game which can be interacted with to hear the developers talk about what their taught process was 24 years ago. The best future was the rewind possibility when you died. The game lets you “rewind” your actions to retry from that given point. A few Nintendo Switch specific additions made for this version are HD Rumble and motion controls. The HD Rumble felt like a nice little addition. The motion control feature lets you turn your controller (or the screen when playing handheld) to aim. This feature felt more like a novelty instead of something I would personally use.
Conclusion
Duke Nukem 3D 20th Anniversary World Tour is a nice homage to one of my favorite games from my youth. Somehow I doubt the younger kids will care about this title because it looks (and actually is) so dated to today’s standards. Still, I think this game should be played once in a lifetime as a mandatory thing before playing current FPS games. This version might be perfect for that assignment!
