Tag: Duke Nukem

[Not Massive] Preview: Ion Maiden Plugs Old School Into New School


Ion Storm is the perfect level of ridiculous to be almost believable. Imagine for a moment that in 2018 I’m trying to tell you that 3D Realms is not only releasing a new game, but it is a first person shooter on the Build Engine starring a character who is essentially Duke Nukem’s lady alternate.

In a world where crispy M&M’s, French Toast Crunch, and Jumanji are all making a comeback, it only stands to reason that a shooter actually built out of a twenty year old engine would be eaten up like, well, crispy M&M’s. Ion Maiden is currently in early access on Steam with an anticipated release date of later this year, and people are loving it. It currently holds a 97% approval rating and clocks in at a hard drive busting thirty two megabytes.

Without a doubt, Ion Maiden is the Duke Nukem game we all wished had released instead of the depressing episode that was Duke Nukem Forever, and likely evidence that 3D Realms might still have the Duke rights if George Broussard hadn’t catapulted his company into the sun in the pursuit of fancier game engines. Everything you’d want from a Duke Nukem iteration is in Ion Maiden from the fast paced gun action to the cheesy one liners, pop culture references, and maze-like maps with tons of hidden areas.

The Build Engine has been modified and upgraded throughout the years to include a 3D renderer and be capable of showing off really good looking sprites. Those of you who don’t wax poetic about the virtues of 90’s shooters might not find the aesthetics as appealing, considering anything and everything in the world is a two dimensional sprite that moves its orientation to face you no matter how quickly you circle around it. Still, 3D Realms has created nothing short of magic with this engine since it debuted in 1997, and while it may not impress anyone with its graphical fidelity, it is by no means simple.

It’s especially impressive when you consider that the Build Engine isn’t technically 3D, it just tricks you into thinking it is.

Right now there is only a sample campaign available that should take you about an hour to finish and a hell of a lot more time if you decide to try and track down every one of the campaign’s dozens of secret areas. There are only a handful of enemies and the preview is rather short, so I can’t fault anyone for simply waiting until the full game comes out later this year especially since it’ll still be a cheap $20.

PSA: Wild Buster, How To Unlock Duke/Sam, Turn Off Annoying Voices


Wild Buster launched today, and there seems to be some confusion on how Founders can unlock Duke Nukem and Serious Sam, or any of their founders items for that matter.

  1. Create a Wild Commando (Sam) or Titan Trooper character (Duke).
  2. Skip the tutorial because you aren’t five.
  3. Go to the Mailbox bot right next to the first portal.
  4. Click on the Event Tab
  5. Retrieve the skins.
  6. Right click on them to equip.

You can unequip the skins and place them in your stash if you want to share them between characters, but skins and mounts can only be redeemed once.

Duke Nukem Licensed Out To MMOARPG Wild Buster


MMOARPG Wild Buster dubs itself a “gritty science fiction hack’n’slash MMORPG” with PvP, PvE, and now apparently Duke Nukem. In an announcement posted today, developer Insel Games announced that the Duke would be joining the roster of heroes. No piracy here, the inclusion of the babe-rescuing, cigar smoking, Ash parody is fully licensed with the blessing of Gearbox. Insel Games also hints in its Indiegogo campaign that more than one character may be from another property.

What Hack’n’Slash MMORPG would be complete without a badass cast? That’s why we are thrilled to announce the addition of the legendary Duke Nukem to Wild Buster: Heroes of Titan’s already deadly dozen!

See the story on Steam, view more details about the game on its website, or check out the trailer below. Insel Games is aiming for an October launch, with early backers gaining access to alpha.

sd

[NM] Catching Up With Duke Nukem: 20th Anniversary


Duke Nukem 20th Anniversary Edition is the latest re-release of the popular 1996 first person shooter, released by Gearbox Software with a new episode, audio commentary, and a new weapon. If you consider that the game peaked at a whole 320 users on Steam (estimated 15,000 owners total) and immediately plummeted down to just a few dozen in the following month, plus the estimated 140,000 copies sold between the Xbox and Playstation, it’s hard to imagine that Gearbox saw much of a return on their work.

But in considering that the 20th Anniversary Edition replaced the Megaton Edition, making it impossible to buy, and how just about every Duke Nukem related product since Gearbox took over the license (Forever, removing Megaton, pre-order DLC on Bulletstorm) seems to be met with disappointment, I had to have an answer to the question that has plagued me since the game’s launch: Would Gearbox put in the most basic of support and fix the game’s end boss?

The answer is no: They haven’t.

The 20th Anniversary edition of Duke Nukem 3D has numerous issues, but the one that stood out from the rest during my play time was the boss encounter in the new episode. The final boss of the game is the Cycloid Incinerator, who makes use of flamethrowers, spawns firefly troopers, and can shoot napalm that remains on the floor and causes environmental hazards. He’s also completely broken, as the boss is not just only capable of very close to low-distance combat, but he stands still and fires his weapon every time the player shoots him with something.

For all but the least competent or most daring of gamers, you are guaranteed to win the fight without ever taking a single hit. The game also doesn’t play to the boss’ strengths by placing you in a small confined space, but rather gives an open field to fight on, a reminder that this fight is equally poor game design as it is substandard programming. You can run a whole lot faster than the Cycloid boss can, and since he’ll willingly stand still from a hundred feet away and uselessly fire his flamethrower at you, there isn’t any danger at all in the fight. In fact, he’s more of a danger to the flying pig cops who fly into his line of fire and are, in turn, more of an actual threat to the player.

But don’t take my word for it, check out the clip below.

Gearbox has had the Duke Nukem license for seven years, during which they’ve managed to release Duke Nukem Forever, the work on which was mostly completed by 3D Realms, and Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary Edition, a re-release of a game with most of the work done by 3D Realms. The company confirmed in 2015 that a new Duke Nukem title was in development, noting that it was in early concept and may not ever see release.

The Cycloid Incinerator is a direct model rip of the Cycloid Emperor, a color-swapped, lazily programmed, barely functioning recreation of an entity that was mostly the work of 3D Realms, that appears to have been rushed to market with no intent on fixing down the line. In a way, he nearly perfectly represents Gearbox’s handling of the Duke Nukem IP. Perhaps Gearbox should hire this guy, who evidently managed to code a better functioning boss than Duke’s own veteran programmers.

Night Cap: Learning From Duke Nukem 3D


ss_ca3097505b5609ecb09ec5366de1af139f667d55.1920x1080

What can the industry learn from Duke Nukem 3D? That’s the question I asked myself as I played through the recently released Duke Nukem: Megaton Edition on Steam. Duke Nukem 3D originally released in 1996 and despite the highly unsuccessful launch of its sequel, stands as one of those games that continues to get ported to new consoles wherever they may be found. So what cues can developers take from Duke?

For starters, let’s look at difficulty. There is no doubt that Duke Nukem is an insanely hard game, especially when you consider that enemies were unpredictable in nature. A pig cop, for instance, might hit you with a shot that takes five HP, or he might hit you with the full force of the shotgun and take away more than half of your health. There is a fine line between dangerous and lethal that your enemies cross fairly regularly. The game even goes as far as taking the shrink ray and handing it over to one of the aliens later on in the game, allowing them to shrink you in one shot and then walk over and squish you in a matter of seconds.

And for that Duke Nukem accomplished a feat in creating enemies that were both easy and devastatingly lethal at the same time. Bosses had attacks that were easy to avoid, but may luck be on your side if they manage to hit you because it will likely kill you instantly, even at full health and armor.

There was also a certain charm in Duke Nukem’s interactivity in levels. Too many times developers try to copy the kind of environmental interaction which started with 3D Realms, and the end result is a collection of boring and poorly programmed mini-games. For Duke, the interaction was mostly shallow but highly enjoyable, like sitting at the door flicking the doorstop and amusing yourself with the twang sound it makes. Shooting stuff off of the counter, turning lights on and off, telephones, playing pool on the pool table, and more. There weren’t any points, they weren’t fully featured mini-games, they were just there.

Now obviously Duke Nukem 3D was released nearly twenty years ago, and the game itself doesn’t serve as a platform for MMO development, but when 3D Realms created the game, they had a lot of great ideas for concepts that should still be used to this day. Nonlinear level design, enemies that could be incredibly dangerous if allowed, an incredibly unforgiving death system (at the highest difficulty), interactivity on a shallow yet fun level, and more.

Today’s developers need to be taken to the University of Duke, where they shall major in Nukemology.