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Duke Nukem 3D was a, for lack of a better descriptive term, “Doom-a-like” on the PC. It was a first person shooter and one of the earliest inspired by the success of Doom. Duke Nukem added a lot of humor to the game play making it have quite a different feel from Doom. There were a few spin-offs and only one true sequel that got mostly negative reviews. It really needs another sequel. It’s also worth noting that Duke Nuke 3D was not the first game in the Duke Nukem franchise but the third. The first two were 2D action platformers.
“Duke Nukem: Time to Kill” was released by GT Interactive for the PlayStation in 1998. It has all the Duke Nukem characteristics you would expect from a Duke Nukem game, mainly action and humor. However, this iteration of Duke Nukem adds time travel mix. Aliens are stil involved of course. It mixes up the format once again by being a 3rd person shooter.
Duke Nukem games have had an uneven history in terms of quality but overall this one is pretty good. The game’s graphics, at least for the time, were pretty solid. They did an excellent job of capturing the gritty, tongue-in-cheek aesthetic that the Duke Nukem series is known for. The environments are diverse and detailed making for a good amount of variety. They span different time periods including Ancient Rome, the Wild West, as well as cities with a futuristic theme. Each environment comes with its own unique set of enemies and challenges. Duke Nukem: A Time to Kill also has plenty of what Duke Nukem is known for the most. A sense of humor. While it is a little more tame that Duke Nukem 3D, there’s still plenty of funny one-liners and pop culture references.
The game play which is the most important aspect of any game is also pretty solid with Time to Kill. There is a decent amount of exploration mixed in with all of the action which is always nice. There are also a wide variety of unique weapons available including things like the shrink ray and freeze thrower as well as more common weapons like the shotgun and RPG. Most importantly the controls are responsive, making things like timing and aiming easier. Not being frustrated by the controls is always a big plus.
Level design is another plus for this game. Every level has secrets to find, multiple paths to completion, and various interactive elements. As mentioned above, there is quite a bit of variety. You might be scaling castle walls in one level and then wandering through the corridors of an alien spaceship in the next. There are also puzzles to solve in order to make it from one level to the next.
This game also has a two player mode. You can face off in a deathmatch or play in co-op mode. I’ve never really been a big fan of deathmatch on a split screen but co-op can be a lot of fun in this game.
If you have never played a Duke Nukem game, then I highly recommend the original Duke Nukem 3D game on the PC. The best/easiest way to play this is to get a hold of Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour which was released on the PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch and is also available for the PC via Steam. It has updated graphis and an extra episode over the original. However, Time to Kill isn’t a bad spin-off and it can be a lot of fun as well. Personally, I prefer the first person POV on the PC but I’m sure there are plenty of people who prefer the 3rd person viewpoint of this game. There are a few other spin-off games that are all mostly 3rd person and of varying quality. There are also several mobile games in the Duke Nukem universe. One of the more interesting ones to me is Duke Nuke Advance on the Game Boy Advance. It’s really the only true first person console Duke Nukem game (other than more recent remakes) and it was largely ported from the orginal Duke Nukem 3D.
