Duke Nukem Advance

Dom Robinson reviews

Duke Nukem Advancefor
Gameboy Advance
Distributed by
Take 2 Games
cover

  • Price: £29.99
  • Players: 1

“I’m gonna rip off your head and shit down your neck!”

That phrase will bring memories flooding back to anyone who remembers thePC game, Duke Nukem 3D, one of the first post-Doom first-person-shootersand a sequel to two 2D platform outings for the wisecracking one.

Anyone who’s a gamer will know what to do without much introduction, so it’ssafe to say that you begin in Area 51, the first of 19 levels, and you haveto stop alien scientists intent on taking over the Earth, having already takenover that top-secret government base.

Let me just say that I absolutely fucking loved that game and spent manyhappy hours trying the same scene several times over to kill the pig cops ina different way, or trash the cinema, or sneakily throwing a pipe bomb intoone of their dugouts, then inspecting the blood and guts afterwards.


coverThe graphics feel like they’ve been ported direct from the PC blaster, butsuffer a little in the translation to the GBA because of the lower resolution.

It was also a FPS title that used sprites rather than polygons for objects,enemies and scenery, such that it doesn’t look as ‘advanced’ as similar othergames of the genre since Quake was released and overall looks ratherdated – and all that is the reason why it’s not always wise for experiencedgamers to go back to the past because they don’t realise what’s gone onsince their old favourites were first released.

There’s also slow-down sometimes, which isn’t meant to happen in consolegames at all.On the sound front, the music is nothing to write home about, plus speech andgunfire are a bit on the scratchy side.


coverOverall, it’s another trip back to recapture the games of years gone by and there’snothing wrong in that, but it’s definitely one that should be played byyoungers gamers new to the Duke Nukem franchise.

This is because many PC users will be able to get, or have played to death,the original and while it’s fun for a while, or for a long car journey,it’s a far from essential title.

Some of the gameplay is a little too simplified for older gamers as well,since shooting across a room will hit those gas tanks, even if they’re notat the same height as you, because there’s no look up/down function here.Moving about can be a bit tricky as when you begin, you’ll often strafeleft/right when you meant to turn in that direction.

GRAPHICS
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ENJOYMENT


OVERALL
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2002.

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