Duke Nukem 64
The Nintendo 64 has received quite a few first person shooters over the last year with titles
like Goldeneye 007 and Turok really making a big impact on the market. However the PC
ported titles haven't faired so well with Hexen and Doom 64 definitely lacking in most areas.
Enter Duke Nukem 64, you know the arrogant marine who is well known for his expertise in
the fields of kicking some alien butt and of course shaking it with the honeys down at the red
light district.
Just like the other PC ports on the Nintendo 64, the visuals are nearly carbon copies of the
PC version. For starters enemies are still created from 2D Sprites (with the exception of a
few bosses) which are well detailed and drawn but animate like something has horribly gone
wrong. The backgrounds also look exactly the same as before and will seem uninspiring
especially to Goldeneye fans. In fact the only real graphical changes are new polygon
weapons, a smoother game engine in exchange for a large drop in resolution. The sound
effects on the other hand were still up to scratch will clear sound samples but the lack of
music was indeed a disappointment.
Unlike Doom 64, Duke Nukem 64 levels all come from the PC version with the Plutonium
pack included for good measure. One issue bound to cause some conflict is the absence of
some of the toilet and sex humour from the original. While this didn't ruin the game, it was
intrigue part of the original and should of been retained. Also Duke 64 was a great single
player title the multi player mode was a big let down but not any more. The Nintendo 64
versions offers four player death matches which with a group of friends was an absolute riot
and they also threw in a bot patch which means even those of us without friends can still
enjoy death matching. Other interesting points included tight and well layed out controls, new
polygon weapons, a few new polygon bosses and numerous new features.
Overall: Duke Nukem 64 may be very similar to the PC version, but for those wanting a solid
first person shooter with a great multi player feature and male humour don't have to look no
further.
8 out of 10
Reviewed by Brad Penniment from VideoGames.co.nz
