It was the distant January 29, 1996, when Duke Nukem 3D saw the light on PC (and then on consoles), as the heir of the now known and appreciated successful Duke, seen in action in Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II and who was immediately able to win many hearts between beer, steroids and women . After 20 years, Gearbox Software reissued to celebrate a special edition: Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour, making the Duke return to the rescue in the homes of gamers, with a graphically reworked version and new unpublished levels. Ready to take a dip in the past, let's get to know in detail what has changed and how, being guided by our favorite character in a tank top.
The best return
We broke up with Duke Nukem Forever when, announced as early as 1997, it was necessary to wait until 2011 to return to the role of the Duke, after a thousand ups and downs in production. A title that at the time did not make the true fans go crazy, but perhaps managed to please many, also bringing new neophytes to the series. Surprisingly, the same manufacturer Gearbox Software has announced and published 20 years later a reinterpretation of the most successful title of the entire series. So let's go back to making our way between ugly and dirty aliens, to save all the women of our planet captured for dark purposes ... and this must not be allowed! We will do it among the original episodes of the Atomic Edition, plus a new episode (divided into four levels) developed by creators Allen Blum II and Richard Gray, original and inimitable.
The wolf loses the hair but not the vice
The gameplay remained unchanged, time never seems to have passed. Pure frenzy between jumps, bullets and puzzles to be solved to understand where to go and what to do, all in the shortest possible time. THE new levels keep the same style, remaining in the same line as the original episodes and not making the gap in age weigh in the creation of the new entries. In this World Tour, traveling to Amsterdam, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco and ancient Egypt, we will face all the colors. We will also come across the corpses of the marines of Doom and Serious Sam, which will surely make us smile, making us understand how the developers have never lost that strong sense of irony (especially against other well-known titles) that has always characterized Duke Nukem.
An eternal Duke
Going to analyze the technical sector, which we are most interested in knowing in this review, Gearbox did a great job using True3D Rendering Mode, a mode that allows you to instantly activate and deactivate the original graphics, moving on to the more modern one, with visibly smoother textures, illuminated by new lighting effects and with a more stable frame rate. In some moments, the original graphics may be more pleasant compared to the new one, but in both cases it will be a subjective choice, which will not affect the gaming experience. In Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour we will hear the new music by Lee Jackson, another original author of the title, who returns to accompany the Duke with old-fashioned rhythms, which could however be slightly muffled compared to the traditional ones. The real surprise will be the new vocal lines recorded by the historic and unmistakable voice of Jon St. John, which returns to give soul to Duke. Even the weapons, second protagonists, continue to have that charm of destruction, with which the Duke fulfills his mission. In this edition the flamethrower is introduced, but from the first moments you will understand how it does not go hand in hand with our hero. After having had some fun initially in incinerating the various monsters, you will be happy to return to classic weapons, more reliable and safe to hit the mark.
Dying is mainstream
We had already seen it in the Megaton Edition, death mode rewind, which will allow you to rewind time after a death, thus not necessarily having to save for long stretches of the game, if not before exiting the game itself. A mode that increases the usability of the title, especially for the less experienced, who can advance in the game without too many worries. On the other hand, this comes at the expense of difficulty of the title itself, which is slightly lower than the original 1996 title, especially during some boss fights.
Finally, we also had the opportunity to try the online mode, which brings Duke Nukem a little outside the box, offering in addition to the classic single player, a fun and new multiplayer mode, where you can choose whether to cooperate with other players, or face each other in classic Deathmatch games, up to 8 players.
When is retirement?
Let's face it, who hasn't appreciated the announcement of this version? Who has the courage to say no to the good old Duke? Above all to a title that has been able to have its say and that cannot go unnoticed, and which returns with an edition to celebrate an important birthday. Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour deserves to be played, by fans (and not), to return to the years of their childhood or to know a piece of the history of the video game. A piece of advice to which, however, I would like to add the “If and only if” you haven't played Duke Nukem 3D - Megaton Edition recently, same game but without the icing on the cake. This is to tell you how I did not particularly appreciate the decision to release a title practically identical to the one proposed for the 20th anniversary a year ago. A Duke therefore who perhaps would like to retire, after 20 years of honorable service, if not ready to be reborn again (after Duke Nukem Forver's half attempt) only in a brand new title worthy of the name it bears. Confident of a new future, currently Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour is available for € 19,99 on PC, via Steam, and for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Modus Operandi: the review you just read was written based on the version PC of the game, after playing for several hours both in single player mode (testing both types of "graphics" available), and in multiplayer.
