Duke Nukem 3D is a 1996 first-person shooter game developed by 3D Realms and published by FormGen for MS-DOS. It is a sequel to the platform games Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II, published by 3D Realms.
Duke Nukem 3D features the adventures of the titular Duke Nukem, voiced by Jon St. John, who fights against an alien invasion on Earth. Along with Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake, Duke Nukem 3D is considered to be responsible for popularizing first-person shooters, and was released to major critical acclaim. Reviewers praised the interactivity of the environments, gameplay, level design, and unique risqué humor, a mix of pop-culture satire and lampooning of over-the-top Hollywood action heroes. However, it also incited controversy due to its violence, erotic elements, and portrayal of women. Since its release, Duke Nukem 3D has been cited as one of the greatest video games ever made.
The shareware version was originally released on January 29, 1996, while the full version of the game was released on April 19, 1996. The Plutonium PAK, an expansion pack which updated the game to version 1.4 and added a fourth eleven-level episode, was released on October 21, 1996. The Atomic Edition, a standalone version of the game that included the content from the Plutonium PAK and updated the game to version 1.5, was released on December 11, 1996. A fifth episode was released on October 11, 2016, with 20th Anniversary World Tour published by Gearbox Software. A sequel, Duke Nukem Forever, was released in 2011.
Gameplay
As a first-person shooter whose gameplay is similar to Doom, the gameplay of Duke Nukem 3D involves moving through levels presented from the protagonist's point of view, shooting enemies on the way. The environments in Duke Nukem 3D are highly destructible and interactive; most props can be destroyed by the player.
Levels were designed in a fairly non-linear manner such that players can advantageously use air ducts, back doors, and sewers to avoid enemies or find hidden caches. These locations are also filled with objects the player can interact with. Some confer gameplay benefits to the player; light switches make it easier to see, while water fountains and broken fire hydrants provide some health points. Others are simply there as a diversion. Tipping strippers provokes a quote from Duke, and a provocative reveal from the dancer.
Duke's arsenal consists of the "Mighty Foot" (a basic kick attack), a pistol, a shotgun, a triple-barrelled chain gun, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, pipe bombs, freezethrower and shrink rays, laser land mines, and the rapid-fire "Devastator" rocket launcher. The Atomic Edition version of the game also has an "Expander", the opposite of the shrink-ray weapon. Lastly, the 20th Anniversary World Tour version of the game also has an "Incinerator", the opposite of the freezethrower (with fiery projectiles instead of ice).
Various items can be picked up during gameplay. The portable medkit allows players to heal Duke at will. Steroids speed up Duke's movement, as well as instantly reversing the effects of the shrink-ray weapon and increasing the strength of Duke's Mighty Foot for a short period. Night vision goggles allow players to see enemies in the dark. The "HoloDuke" device projects a hologram of Duke, which can be used to distract enemies. Protective boots allow Duke to cross dangerously hot or toxic terrain. In sections where progress requires more aquatic legwork, an aqua-lung allows Duke to take longer trips underwater. Duke's jet pack allows the player to move vertically and gain access to otherwise inaccessible areas.
The game features a wide variety of enemies; some of which are aliens and other mutated humans. The LAPD have been turned into "Pig Cops", a play on the derogatory term "pig" for police officers, with LARD emblazoned on their uniforms. As is usual for a first-person shooter, Duke Nukem encounters a large number of lesser foes, as well as bosses, usually at the end of episodes. Like Duke, these enemies have access to a wide range of weapons and equipment, and some weaker enemies have jet packs.
Plot Setting Duke Nukem 3D is set on Earth "sometime in the early 21st century". The levels of Duke Nukem 3D take players outdoors and indoors through rendered street scenes, military bases, deserts, a flooded city, space stations, Moon bases, and a Japanese restaurant.
The game contains several humorous references to pop culture. Some of Duke's lines are drawn from movies such as Aliens, Dirty Harry, Evil Dead II, Full Metal Jacket, Jaws, Pulp Fiction, and They Live; the captured women saying "Kill me" is a reference to Aliens. Players will encounter corpses of famous characters such as Luke Skywalker, Indiana Jones, Snake Plissken, the protagonist of Doom, and a smashed T-800. In the first episode, players navigate a tunnel in the wall of a prison cell hidden behind a poster, just like in The Shawshank Redemption. During the second episode, players can see a Monolith (from 2001: A Space Odyssey) on the Moon and use it as a teleport to complete the level.
Story There is little narrative in the game, only a brief text prelude located under "Help" in the Main Menu, and a few cutscenes after the completion of an episode. The game picks up right after the events of Duke Nukem II, with Duke returning to Earth in his space cruiser. As Duke descends on Los Angeles in hopes of taking a vacation, his ship is shot down by unknown hostiles. While sending a distress signal, Duke learns that aliens are attacking Los Angeles and have mutated the LAPD. With his vacation plans now ruined, Duke hits the "eject" button, and vows to do whatever it takes to stop the alien invasion.
In "Episode One: L.A. Meltdown", Duke fights his way through a dystopian Los Angeles. At a strip club, he is captured by pig-cops, but escapes the alien-controlled penitentiary and tracks down the alien cruiser responsible for the invasion in the San Andreas Fault. Duke confronts and kills an Alien Battlelord in the final level. Duke discovers that the aliens were capturing women, and detonates the ship. Levels in this episode include a movie theater, a red-light district, a prison, and a nuclear-waste disposal facility.
In "Episode Two: Lunar Apocalypse", Duke journeys to space, where he finds many of the captured women held in various incubators throughout space stations that had been conquered by the aliens. Duke reaches the alien mother ship on the Moon and kills an alien Overlord. As Duke inspects the ship's computer, it is revealed that the plot to capture women was merely a ruse to distract him. The aliens have already begun their attack on Earth.
In "Episode Three: Shrapnel City", Duke battles the massive alien presence through Los Angeles once again, and kills the leader of the alien menace: the Cycloid Emperor. The game ends as Duke promises that after some "R&R", he will be "...ready for more action!", as an anonymous woman calls him back to bed. Levels in this episode include a sushi bar, a movie set, a subway, and a hotel.
The story continues in the Atomic Edition. In "Episode Four: The Birth", it is revealed that the aliens used a captured woman to give birth to the Alien Queen, a creature which can quickly spawn deadly alien protector drones. Duke is dispatched back to Los Angeles to fight hordes of aliens, including the protector drones. Eventually, Duke finds the lair of the Alien Queen, and kills her, thus thwarting the alien plot. Levels in this episode include a fast-food restaurant ("Duke Burger"), a supermarket, a Disneyland parody called "Babe Land", a police station, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez, and Area 51.
With the release of 20th Anniversary World Tour, the story progresses further. In "Episode Five: Alien World Order", Duke finds out that the aliens initiated a world-scale invasion, so he sets out to repel their attack on various countries. Duke proceeds to clear out aliens from Amsterdam, Moscow, London, San Francisco, Paris, the Giza pyramid complex, and Rome, with the final showdown with the returning alien threat taking place in Los Angeles, taking the game full circle. There, he defeats the Cycloid Incinerator, the current alien leader, stopping their threat for good.
Development Duke Nukem 3D was developed on a budget of roughly $300,000. The development team consisted of 8 people for most of the development cycle, increasing to 12 or 13 people near the end. At one point, the game was being programmed to allow the player to switch between first-person view, third-person view, and fixed camera angles. Scott Miller of 3D Realms recalled that "with Duke 3D, unlike every shooter that came before, we wanted to have sort of real life locations like a cinema theatre, you know, strip club, bookstores..." The game's development started in 1994.
LameDuke is an early prototype of Duke Nukem 3D, which was released by 3D Realms as a "bonus" one year after the release of the official version. It has been released as is, with no support. LameDuke features four episodes: Mr. Caliber, Mission Cockroach, Suck Hole, and Hard Landing. Certain weapons were altered from the original versions and/or removed.
The original official website was created by Jeffrey D. Erb and Mark Farish of Intersphere Communications Ltd.
Release PC versions Shareware Version: The shareware version, released on January 29, 1996, as version 1.0, contained only the first episode. This version uses 3D Realms's shareware distribution model, which means that it can be distributed for free. The shareware version was re-released as version 1.1 on February 20, 1996, and re-released once again as version 1.3D on April 24, 1996. Full Version: Released on April 19, 1996, as version 1.3D. 3D Realms started shipping the full registered version to customers on May 5, 1996. The company streamed the process of packing and shipping the first copies using a webcam. The full version contains the original three episodes, and includes the full versions of Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II as bonus content. Plutonium PAK/Atomic Edition: The Atomic Edition of Duke Nukem 3D was released in November 1996 as a standalone game. It contained the original three episodes, as well as a new eleven-level fourth episode, bringing the level total to 41 as opposed to 30 in the original Duke Nukem 3D. The Plutonium PAK was released as an upgrade package to convert the original release of Duke Nukem 3D (v1.3d) to the Atomic Edition (v1.4, updated to v1.5 with the standalone Atomic Edition release and via a free download patch for the Plutonium PAK version on 3D Realms' website). It introduced two new enemies, the Protector Drone and the Pig Cop Tank, a new final boss, the Alien Queen, and a new weapon, the Expander. Changes to the script made the game easier to mod, and players could set up a multiplayer session against CPU bots. This is the only official add-on for the game developed by 3D Realms. Unlike the original release of Duke Nukem 3D, however, the Atomic Edition does not include Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II. Macintosh Version: The Macintosh release was ported by Lion Entertainment Inc. and released on June 6, 1997, in Minneapolis, being shipped by MacSoft. East Meets West: Released in 1998, includes Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition and the full version of Shadow Warrior. Duke: The Apocalypse contains Duke!ZONE II, Duke Xtreme, and a T-shirt. Duke: The Apocalypse 2 contains Duke!ZONE, Duke It Out In D.C., a strategy guide, and a T-shirt. Kill-A-Ton Collection: The Kill-A-Ton Collection was released in 1998 and includes: Duke Nukem I (Duke Nukum), Duke Nukem II, Duke Nukem 3D (both v1.3d and v1.5), Duke It Out In D.C., Duke!ZONE II, Duke Xtreme, and various editing utilities.