Duke Nukem is a 2D Action Platformer set in the “near future” of 1997 where the city of Los Angeles has been overrun by Dr.Proton’s robot army. After multiple attempts by the military to take Proton down the CIA sent in a lone man named Duke Nukem as their final hope. Armed with only a laser pistol, Dr. Proton is quick to dismiss Duke as a threat and will often times mock him via any TV screens laying around. That is effectively all there is to the story and is your generic stop the bad guy plot. Story is really minimal here and the dialogue text is unimportant banter that serves to remind you to he is watching your every step. The fact that you are being watched is implemented into the game via security cameras that follow your every move and you are encouraged to shoot them down as you will gain huge points for taking down every camera in a level. Duke himself doesn’t really mind that he is being watched and is a really uninteresting character overall with little personality other than wanting to go home in time to watch Oprah.
Starting off the game you will be given the choice of picking from one of the three episodes though you should really start with the first and go in order as they do get progressively harder and the story is chronological. Once you enter the city of Los Angeles you are left to fend for yourself in a hostile city with no choice but to carry on your mission. Duke is a simple man and the only things he can really do is jump and shoot his way to victory. Luckily for him he can do just that and power through must any obstacles as his life bar is quite substantial and he can take many hits before he is killed. Cockiness can very often be your downfall as the invulnerability frames after being hit is very low meaning that it is not uncommon for you to take consecutive hits if you find yourself rushing through the level. Your laser pistol has infinite ammo though shooting before you look is a very bad idea as you may shoot a valuable health gem and destroying it. Life is not replenished when you finish the level so you must keep your eye out for health items or you’ll run the risk of finding yourself with little to no health left. Health conservation isn’t really a problem for the most part as health items are scattered about liberally.
On the topic of health make sure you shoot the chicken leg health item as doing so somehow turns it into a whole roasted chicken that gives you double the amount of health. One of the first things you’ll notice is that boxes are scattered about all over the level and the gray ones can contain random goodies like footballs, arcade sticks and flags or they may contain a stack of dynamite that will detonate once you break open the box. You can jump over the flames let out by the dynamite easily enough and will need to do so as some of the boxes do contain necessary objects to get through the levels so it is in your best interest to destroy any you see. Blue boxes are always safe and will contain either floppy discs or balloons for big points. Red crates always contain health items. You gain points by anything from killing an enemy to collecting an item though they are completely useless and serve no purpose other than to brag about high scores. Once you know how to get through the level it is really not all that tempting to explore unless you need health. Some sort of benefit from gathering points would have greatly improved the feel of wanting to clear out a level completely but as it is I only went out of my way to get them because I really dig the sound effect that plays when you pick something up.
After you finish a level you will enter a small hallway that leads to the next mission and this is where you have the chance to save by pressing F1 then the S key followed by the number of the slot you want it to be saved at which can be 1-9. This and the menus are the only parts where you need your keyboard, the rest of the game can be played with only a 360 gamepad. These halls are where you will find tips about the game on a piece of paper hung to the wall. They range from useful like telling you that there is a certain item hidden on the next level that you will need to find to useless stuff like reminding you to save. These tips can be turned off in the option menu if you so desire. Every time you die you will be sent back to your last save so don’t forget to save or you may find yourself having to replay everything since the last time you remembered to do so. Levels themselves are not too large though they do have a maze like feel to them and will require colored keys to open certain areas. There are no maps to be found here and you will need to rely solely on your memory to navigate these areas. That may be a turn off to quite a bit of people though the levels are not too complex or large so only those of us who frequently forget where we parked our car will likely be affected.
Various useful items can be found and added to Duke’s inventory. My personal favorite is a pair of shoes that makes you jump significantly higher and gives Duke an awesome flipping through the air animation that makes him look awesome as he dodges enemy fire. Second favorite is a grapple hook that lets you climb on certain materials. Last and definitely least is a PowerGlove looking thing that serves to activate certain objects and nothing else. If you try to activate it without a PowerGlove you will activate the turrets and be shot at. Patrolling the levels are a bunch of Dr.Proton’s robots that will attack you on sight. These range from small flying drones that go down with a single shot to giant leaping mechs that take quite a bit of damage before they explode. By far the worst enemy in the game are the helicopters. They will try to land on top of you to damage you and can fly backwards somehow. It is as if Duke had a very strong magnet attached to his head that causes the helicopter to mimic his every move making it so you to never have a clear shot on it since you can only shoot left or right. There are other very strange enemies like the Energizer bunny that will give you points if you allow it to touch you, stealing some life in the process or a moving flame that has eyes and mouth which don’t fit in with the theme of the game. Not necessarily a flaw and it is funny to see the bunny though they do feel really out of place.
At the end of each episode you will face Doctor Proton and upon defeat, will complete that episode. He is the only boss and his attack patterns are the same every time. What makes the fight difficult is the multitude of traps and hazards laying around the area in which you fight in. Collecting the few hidden gun items makes this fight a lot easier as it fills up your laser gauge which allows you to fire more consecutive shots at once. The last level of episode 2 has to be one of the most annoying levels I have played since the last stage of Double Dragon. It features a bunch of extremely fast moving conveyor belts that has you pulling off a series of jumps that will drop you to the bottom if missed, causing you to start all over again. These jumps require very precise timing and worse still if you manage to complete it you are more likely than not make your way back to the beginning of the level due to some sadistic level design for this single level. Another issue for some levels is that hazards like spikes blend in far too well into the background making it feel like a cheap way of losing health. Luckily most of the levels don’t suffer from this issue. There is no music in this game and the only noise you will hear are the sound effects which consists of the bleeps and bloops of yesteryear. The game definitely shows its age but is still a blast to play and a decent amount of levels to get through. It took me seven hours to complete it and in that time I experienced no technical issues which is pretty nice considering it is a 25 year old game running via DOSBox. If you are a fan of the genre or simply want to see the roots of Duke Nukem this is still a great title worthy of consideration.
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