Duke’s back!
Duke Nukem 3D 20th Anniversary Edition World Tour is pretty self-explanatory. It’s the latest port of the classic shooter for the modern consoles, but it’s more than just an upscaled version of the HD port from 6 years ago…this version has a choice of standard/updated textures, but also new secret levels that are found by finding secret exits during the game’s levels.
If you missed the original or the HD port before, let me just say that you’ve missed out. It’s completely insane, Duke has great one-liners like “Eat shit and die” that he says as he kills aliens, he can also tip strippers, but the game also has nods to other classic shooters like Doom, Serious Sam and even Star Wars as you find the dead bodies of the Doom guy, Serious Sam and Luke Skywalker in hidden areas.
There’s a nice collection of weapons from pistols and shotguns to flamethrowers and even a shrink ray that shrinks your enemies so you can stomp on them. Visually it’s pretty dated, but considering it’s a 20 year old game at this point it’s hard not to expect it to. Despite that, the updated textures are a nice addition and the framerate is solid throughout. As with the HD port, the game has a Rewind feature that lets you go back a second or even minutes if you die, but it also has cheats like God Mode and No Clip that lets you fly through the level walls to bypass everything.
For achievement enthusiasts, Duke Nukem 3D 20th Anniversary World Tour won’t take you too long to overcome as cheats don’t disable achievements. It’s not always clear how to progress in the game, I found myself backtracking a lot to try and find how to get to the next area, but it’s a great game overall and has huge bosses to overcome. The voice of Duke himself, Jon St John reprises his role for the new version for improved audio and is just as brilliant at delivering the lines as ever.
The Verdict
Duke Nukem 3D 20th Anniversary World Tour is a great port of a great game. It has new content, which you wouldn’t expect from a 20 year old game, while still feeling like the original classic. Duke is back in his best game…it does remind me however of how much DNF was a letdown and how much I want Duke to make a comeback.