Duke Nukem Started a Lot Less Loud Than You Remember
Gaming Up North
The setup
Duke fights through a future version of Los Angeles to stop the evil Dr Proton and his army of Techbots.
If your idea of Duke Nukem starts with Duke Nukem 3D, the original game feels like finding a completely different character wearing the same name badge.
It is a straightforward PC platformer with shooting, keys, doors and plenty of very early-90s level design.
It is simple but moves at a decent pace and there is something fun about seeing where the character began before he became a walking collection of one liners.
I would not pretend it is secretly better than the later games, because it is not. It is just a solid old platformer that became the first chapter of a very strange gaming history.
Positives
Fast simple platforming, interesting piece of PC gaming history, plenty of levels.
Negatives
Very basic by modern standards, repetitive enemies, little of the personality people associate with Duke later.
Verdict
More curiosity than classic now, but still a decent old school platformer and a funny place for Duke Nukem to have started.
