Duke Nukem 3D

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Duke Nukem 3D
Studio United StatesUnited States 3D realms
Publisher United StatesUnited States GT Interactive
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 MS-DOS January 29, 1996 1996
North AmericaNorth America
EuropeEurope
platform DOS , Windows , Mac OS Classic , macOS , Linux , Sega Saturn , Sega Mega Drive , PlayStation , Nintendo 64 , Xbox 360 , iOS , Android , Atari Falcon , PlayStation 4 , Nintendo Switch
Game engine Build engine
genre Ego shooter
Subject Science Fiction , invasion by aliens
Game mode Single player , multiplayer
control Mouse , keyboard , game controller , touchscreen
medium CD-ROM , download
language English
Age rating
USK approved from 16
PEGI recommended for ages 18+
PEGI recommended for ages 16+
PEGI content
rating
Game contains violence
information Indexed in Germany until 2017.
The Xbox Live version is PEGI-18.
Megaton and 20th Anniversary Editions are both PEGI-16.

Duke Nukem 3D ( Duke 3D for short ) is the third part of the Duke Nukem computer game series and was published on January 29, 1996 by 3D Realms . This game is a first person shooter . The first two parts of the game series, Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem 2 , are jump-'n'-run games. Duke Nukem 3D only has the protagonist Duke Nukem in common with them.

Despite the name, Duke Nukem 3D doesn't offer real 3D, just an improved version of a 2D raycaster . It also enables the representation of inclined surfaces and looking up or down. This type of display was sometimes referred to as a 2.5D display. The technology represented a certain advance over the game Doom, which was widespread at the time .

Action and gameplay

Aliens invade Earth and kidnap women who are held hostage naked. The aim of the game is to destroy the invaders and thus save the world. One encounters, among other things, police officers of the LAPD (“Pig Cops”) who have mutated into warthogs, as well as opponents similar to reptiles and jellyfish.

In addition to firearms with different firepower known from other games, such as the pump gun or the rocket launcher , Duke Nukem 3D also features innovative weapons such as pipe bombs , the "shrinker" (for shrinking and then crushing the opponent) or the "freezer" (to freeze the opponent). In addition, the player was able to move on the fly with the help of a jetpack .

technology

The graphics engine known as the " build engine " was developed by Ken Silverman . It followed the engine for Ken's Labyrinth , which he wrote as his own version of Wolfenstein 3D in 1992 when he was only 17 years old . On August 24, 1993, Silverman became an employee of Apogee Software, Ltd., which operated under the name 3D Realms .

The well-known level designer Richard "Levelord" Gray designed about half of the levels in the game. The music was composed by Lee Jackson .

The greatest technical innovation is the ability to display inclined surfaces as well as mirrors and surveillance cameras that could be used by the character. The Doom engine could only display straight surfaces. This made much more sophisticated levels possible. Just under six months later, the competitor id Software brought the technically much more advanced Quake engine onto the market.

Duke Nukem 3D can be played for up to eight participants in the local network using the IPX protocol .

The source code of the game was published on April 1, 2003 under the GNU GPL , but the game content has been excluded and remains the property of 3D Realms.

System requirements

The game requires at least a PC with a 486 DX2 with 8 MB RAM , a CD-ROM drive , 30 MB free hard disk space and a VGA graphics card.

In addition to the necessary drive, the manufacturer recommends an Intel Pentium with 16 MB RAM and a local bus graphics card.

particularities

The game is worth mentioning mainly because it makes an often raw humor a main part of the plot. A good example of this is provided by the one-liner comments by the character Duke, which appeared in this form for the first time in a first-person shooter. For example, if the player comes near a corpse that is reminiscent of a character from the competing product Doom , Duke comments with " That's one doomed space marine ". The story of the game makes generous use of films such as Alien - The uncanny creature from a strange world , The Body Eaters are Coming , Army of Darkness and They live - They Live .

In addition, the player can perform minor actions that are rather unusual for first-person shooters. For example, Duke can slip banknotes to the common strippers, which then reveal their breasts ( "You wanna dance?" ). Furthermore, you can also use a pool table and urinals, whereupon Duke gives a relieved sigh on this occasion (“ Aah, much better! ”) And also regenerates some life points.

Due to the depictions of violence contained in the game, Duke Nukem 3D has been indexed by the BPjS (now BPjM) . Indexing was lifted in January 2017. This also applies to the Plutonium Pak add-on.

Different editions

Different versions of Duke Nukem 3D were released for the PC:

  • Duke Nukem 3D (Duke Nukem 3D version 1.3d). The 1.3d CD contains the previous games Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II , which are still completely in 2D.
  • The Atomic Edition with the three episodes from the original version including an additional episode The Birth and additional weapons such as B. the counterpart to the "shrinker" ("expander") which did not let the opponent shrink, but enlarged them until they burst. The Atomic Edition episode first appeared as an add-on under the name Plutonium PAK (version 1.4) and was integrated into the game during this re-release (version 1.5). However, the two previous games are missing on the Atomic Edition CD.
  • A few commercially available add-ons to the game appeared. The most famous among them were Duke Carribbean: Life's A Beach (an additional CD officially authorized by 3D Realms, in which Duke Nukem acts in a Caribbean scenario), Duke It Out In DC (Duke Nukem has to free President Clinton, for which he has to go through levels must fight, which were modeled on Washington DC) and Nuclear Winter (a special "Christmas version" in which Duke meets elves and standard opponents in Christmas costumes; the final boss is Santa Claus himself). While the first two add-ons were generally well received by the fans, the criticism of Nuclear Winter was rather mixed, as the scenario and level design did not seem original and uninspired.
  • Megaton Edition: contains the Atomic Edition and the three additional add-ons, a port with OpenGL renderer is used. The Atomic Edition can also be executed in classic rendering mode. The Megaton Edition was withdrawn from regular sales in favor of the "20th Anniversary Edition World Tour" edition.
  • Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary Edition World Tour : includes the main game in the Atomic Edition with the four original episodes and a new, additional episode consisting of eight levels. Add-ons (such as Duke It Out In DC ) are not included. The edition also features some new speech samples by Jon St. John, who was Dukes' voice actor in the original edition, as well as new music by the original composer Lee Jackson. A new weapon and a new enemy type have also been added and the graphics have been slightly revised. This edition is the only release officially classified by the USK (USK-16).

Ports

The original game was developed for MS-DOS , then ports followed to:

  • Mac OS Classic
  • macOS : In 2004, Ryan C. Gordon released an update for macOS.
  • iOS : On August 11, 2009, Machineworks Northwest released a port for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch via the AppStore. In the meantime it has been removed to protect minors.
  • Linux , Windows , BeOS , Solaris , FreeBSD : Porting based on the source code published by 3D Realms .
  • PlayStation : Appeared under the name Duke Nukem (without addition) in Europe and Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown in the USA and Japan. In terms of content, it corresponds to the levels from Duke Nukem 3D (Plutonium Edition) with an additional episode called “Plug and Pray” (the name is an allusion to Plug and Play ). In the Japanese version, however, the numerous prostitutes , table dancers and the women captured by the aliens are missing - the posters that can be seen in the game have been changed accordingly. In addition, offensive words in Duke's sayings have been replaced with less vulgar expressions.
  • Nintendo 64 : Released under the name Duke Nukem 64 . Duke Nukem 3D (Plutonium Edition) with improved graphics and a split-screen multiplayer mode. In order to meet the censorship regulations of the Nintendo group , all "offensive" elements such as prostitutes , table dancers or even steroids were removed or replaced. In addition, all weapons have been graphically redesigned.
  • Game Boy Advance : Published under the name Duke Nukem Advance . Has hardly anything to do with the actual Duke Nukem 3D levels. Separate levels and story have been developed for the GBA version.
  • Sega Saturn : This port comes from Lobotomy Software , which used its own 3D engine for this, which was also used in the game Exhumed (also known as "Powerslave" in the USA or "Seireki 1999: Pharaoh no Fukkatsu" in Japan) . This has a lot ahead of the build engine of the original. For example, colored lights are displayed in this port. However, all levels had to be recreated for this; some small differences to the original levels have been incorporated.
  • Sega Mega Drive : Appeared only in Brazil. This port contains the main character's sprites , weapons, and some of the digitized quotes. The game is based on the Lunar Apocalypse episode of the original, but the level architecture is more reminiscent of Wolfenstein 3D than the PC version. You only run through levels at ground level, killing enemies and doing typical Duke Nukem tasks such as collecting key cards or puzzles. A special feature is the astonishing technical design of the game for the hardware, which was already nine years old at the time, although in no way comparable to the other versions. The game runs in a much larger window than comparable 3D games on the system, runs relatively smoothly with around 15  frames and is optimized for the use of an antenna cable; the dithering method is used excessively to create the illusion of more colors than there actually are. However, this only works in the case of a slightly blurred image, as offered by an antenna cable. The making of this version is controversial; 3D Realms denies their legitimacy, while TecToy, who programmed and sold the implementation, claim to have received permission from GT Interactive , which sold the other console versions.
  • Palm OS : This port from Henk "metaview" Jonas is based on the port from JonoF for Windows and Linux. Requires Palm OS 5.x (an ARM processor), 4 MB DBCache or storage memory and approximately 7 MB dynamic memory (UDMH can help here). The port is compatible with levels created by fans.
  • WebOS : http://www.precentral.net/duke3d-headed-webos
  • Xbox 360 : The game was released in September 2008 on the marketplace (Xbox Live Arcade). The Atomic Edition is used here, which comes up with additional features. For example, a motion blur can be activated, which shows up when Duke is injured. In addition, the arcade version includes a kind of replay function, which allows the player to play a scene again within a limited period of time after the death. Thus a "game over" is practically impossible. In Germany, however, the title was indexed and therefore never appeared on the German marketplace.

Fan modifications

High Pack (HRP)

For some time now, the Duke 3D community has been compiling a high-resolution pack (HRP) in the official 3D Realms forum, which offers high-resolution textures and three-dimensional models instead of the original 2D sprites for the jfDuke3D and eDuke32 ports. This gives the game a more modern look, which makes better use of the possibilities of conventional 3D cards using the OpenGL graphics standard. All content of the HRP is published under its own license, the "High Resolution Pack Art License", which prohibits the further use of the new content for commercial purposes and guarantees the rights to the appearance of the game and the game elements 3D Realms. To play you need a version of the "duke3d.grp" from the original CD or the shareware version, one of the two ports mentioned (preferably eDuke32, which is updated frequently) and the HRP.

New edition

Fans started to develop a new edition based on Unreal Engine 3 in 2010 with the permission of the rights holder . A release of the project, which is known under the name "Duke Nukem 3D: Reloaded", was planned for 2011, but in the same year, work on the game was paused indefinitely. In 2013, Frederick Schreiber, the head of the project, got to the bottom of it in an interview. According to him, Gearbox, the rights holder of the Duke Nukem license, feared that the game could compete with Duke Nukem Forever and that the release of the new edition could lead to lower sales. Although Schreiber saw opportunities to restart development, there was no further news.

successor

In 1997 the successor Duke Nukem Forever was announced and was in development for the next 14 years. In 2010, 3D Realms finished work on the game, which has now been further developed by Gearbox and finally released worldwide for various game platforms in June 2011.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.golem.de/news/jugendschutz-duke-nukem-3d-ist-nicht-mehr-auf-dem-index-1702-125925.html
  2. ↑ http://www.usk.de/titelsuche/titelsuche/?tx_uskdb_list%5Baction%5D=search&tx_uskdb_list%5Bcontroller%5D=Title&cHash=c88f86b2b231b3fbf76fa8f7c3e3b73d
  3. ↑ Apple: Duke Nukem 3D Download
  4. ↑ 3Gapps: Duke Nukem 3D
  5. ↑ Icculus: Duke3D for Linux , project homepage for open source porting
  6. ↑ License text on hrp.duke4.net
  7. ↑ New edition of Duke Nukem 3D , article on heise.de
  8. ↑ Website for the project ( Memento of the original dated February 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / interceptor-entertainment.com
  9. ↑ Andre Linken: Duke Nukem 3D: Reloaded - work on the fan project stopped for the time being. In: GameStar. September 29, 2011, accessed July 1, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Sebastian Klix: Duke Nukem 3D: Reloaded - Why the ambitious remake project was put on hold in 2011. In: GameStar. July 26, 2013, accessed July 1, 2017 .