Anyone who grew up in the nineties has uttered the words “Hail to the king baby,” at one time or another. We grew up in an era where CD-roms were all the rage and you either were the kid with all the games, or you went to your friends house because they had all the games. My family was pretty late to the game getting a computer, but when we did, you can bet that I tried to get as many games as possible for it. That included Duke Nukem 3D.
I remember playing Duke Nukem with friends and trying to find all the secrets, weapons, and anything else we could in the game. So now that Duke is 20 years old, what’s it like returning to his old stomping grounds? Well, it’s like a friend you haven’t seen in 20 years, but can pick up right where you left off like no time has passed.
How is the new game Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour from Gearbox Software? Let’s dig in and find out if it’s worth coming back to after 20 years.
Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour is classic Duke that has been polished and made all shiny. The levels look great, the sound is perfect, and it’s unrelenting in it’s old school difficulty. If you never played Duke Nukem, let me break it down for you. You play as Duke Nukem, a one-liner spitting, gun toting, macho man who loves to chew bubble-gum and kick ass. You are trying to stop an alien invasion across many different areas and regions. It’s a classic like Doom and Wolfenstein and was among the forefathers of first person shooters. The levels were nonlinear and there were secret passageways everywhere.
This updated version of Duke includes new content such as levels, commentary, and an option to turn on Classic Duke (called Legacy Duke Talk). These new features are enough to keep any player interested and the new levels are ridiculous and fun. Not to mention that the new locations (such as Amsterdam, London, Los Angeles and more) come from the original team of Duke Nukem 3D!
While playing I had a small issue with the controls of the game. What do I mean by this, you ask? The controls seemed very loose and at times I had to slowly move my thumbstick to aim properly. Other than that the game played great and I had a great time bringing back a game I grew up with and more.
Duke Nukem 3D makes it so that you can instantly go to any world, any level, right from the start. This is a cool feature since most games would have you beat the game before having such an option to do so. When I loaded up the game I went straight into L.A. Meltdown since I played that world more times than anything else in my past. After going through all the old secrets (which are still there) I jumped into the brand new world: Alien World Order. What is there to expect in this new area? You’ll find out yourself, but you’ll have a fun time doing so when you get the chance.
The new locations are extremely fun. They’re challenging, they’re vast, and it really feels like old school Duke. I highly encourage you jump straight into Alien World Order after you launch the game. I found myself continuing to go back into those levels to try and find more secrets.
Overall, Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour is a fantastic deal at $19.99. You get a lot of updated content and the new content is well done. If you want to wash the taste of Duke Nukem Forever out of your mouth, Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour is the palate cleanser we have been waiting for.
