Duke Nukem (video game)
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| Developer(s) | Apogee Software (Todd Replogle Jim Norwood Allen H. Blum III George Broussard Scott Miller) |
| Publisher(s) | Apogee Software |
| Platform(s) | MS-DOS PC |
| Release date | July 1, 1991 (PC) |
| Genre(s) | side-scrolling platform game |
| Mode(s) | single player |
| Rating(s) | OFLC: G |
| Media | floppy disks |
| Input methods | keyboard, joystick |
Duke Nukem is a platform video game developed and published by Apogee Software (now 3D Realms), featuring the adventures of Duke Nukem. The game was released on July 1, 1991.
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[edit] Story
The game is set in the year 1997 (which was the "near future" at the time of game release). Dr. Proton is a madman, determined to take over the world with his army of Techbots. Duke Nukem, a self-proclaimed hero, is hired by the CIA to stop him. The first episode takes place in the devastated city of Los Angeles. In the second episode, Duke follows Dr. Proton to his secret moonbase. In the third episode, Dr. Proton escapes into the future, and Duke pursues him through time, to put a permanent end to his mad schemes.
[edit] Gameplay
The main objective of the game is to get to the exit of each level, while destroying enemies and collecting points. The game was notable in its time because of its smart level design which allows very fast gameplay.[citation needed] Additionally, it allows many objects onscreen to be shot: obstacles, as well as enemies, can be destroyed by gunfire. Besides points, some collectibles include health powerups, gun powerups, and some inventory items with special abilities.
At the end of every level (with the exception of the last level in each episode), the player can receive up to seven 10,000 point bonuses, earned by making certain achievements in the level, such as destroying all cameras. At least two other Apogee titles, the game's sequel Duke Nukem II and Rise of the Triad, have similar end-of-level bonuses.
[edit] Technical implementation
The game's play control suffers from all objects only moving in 8x8 "blocks" rather than individual pixels like most other shooters,[citation needed]. However, for its time, it's implementation was still considered cutting-edge for the PC,[citation needed] especially in terms of its parallax scrolling (a scrolling foreground over a fixed background). This problem also appears in Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure and Duke Nukem II.[citation needed]
The graphics borrowed heavily from other games, such as Turrican [1] and the PC version of Mega Man [2].
[edit] History
After the game's release, Apogee became aware of a Captain Planet villain called Duke Nukem[3], and to avoid a lawsuit Apogee's game was renamed Duke Nukum in its version 2.0. It later turned out that Duke Nukem was not a registered name, so Apogee registered it and used the original Duke Nukem name in the sequels.[4]
[edit] Sequels
Duke Nukem was followed by Duke Nukem II in 1993, also featuring the same hero still without the dark shades, and later Duke Nukem 3D in 1996. Duke Nukem 3D was an outstanding success, and a strong competitor to Quake. As of 2008, a third sequel, announced in 1997—Duke Nukem Forever—is still in development. Several other sequels were developed for consoles only, such as the PlayStation titles Duke Nukem: Time to Kill and Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes.
In 2002, a new special title was released to conmemorate the 10th anniversary since the first Duke Nukem. This title was Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project, done with a 3D engine and elements from Duke Nukem 3D, but with the arcade style of the first two titles.
Recently a website has been created with information related to an "impending" release of the next Duke Nukem game, however it appears to be a hoax.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Duke Nukem Central - Informative fansite on Duke Nukem I and II
- Duke Nukem at MobyGames
- [5] - Potential hoax
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