Duke Nukem, Part 6: Duke Raider

After a bit of a break, I’m back (hasta la vista, baby) to talk about the next part of the Duke Nukem series: the Tomb Raider clones. Welcome back to THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM, and today I’ll be talking about three Duke Nukem games: Time to Kill, Zero Hour, and Land of the Babes. I just wanted to note that my format is going through a bit of a change; in fact this week I was writing some other posts in advance and I’ve gotten used to that new format, so there’ll be a bit of change in style when it comes to the writing. Other than that, we’re ready to rumble!

From the creators of... uh.
Image Credit: Amazon

To recap the last few posts in a single sentence, Duke Nukem 3D was released in its full form on May 5, 1996, it was very successful, and from here it received various ports and expansion packs from different companies. Flash forward to 1997 and it had only been a few months since Core Design (remember Fighting Force?) hit Tomb Raider had been released on Sony’s PlayStation console. Despite being a newer company with only two credits behind their name (one of which had a very bad reputation), American developer n-Space was asked by GT Interactive, publisher of Duke Nukem 3D’s ports on the PlayStation and Nintendo 64, if they were interested in developing an all-new Duke Nukem title. n-Space accepted the offer and began development, under the working title of “NewDuke”, as can be found in the game’s files. The game was also jokingly referred to as “Duke Raider” by the developers, because of its similarities with Core Design’s original Tomb Raider game. At least a year after development started, NewDuke was released on the PlayStation under the title Duke Nukem: Time to Kill on September 30, 1998. It generally received quite positive reviews, and was the first of two n-Space games released that year (the other being a Rugrats game, based on the cartoon of the same name).

I forgot to mention that there are a lot of Easter Eggs.
Image Credit: GBHBL

Time to Kill changed the formula of Duke from a first-person shooter (which in itself was changed from a side-scrolling platformer/shooter) to a third-person shooter, inspired by the third-person gameplay of Tomb Raider. The game takes place over 28 levels in three different settings: then-present day LA, common in the Duke Nukem series; the Old West; Medieval Europe; and Ancient Rome. The graphics, which have the classic jagged-edge look of many PlayStation games of the time, are rendered in full 3D, unlike (ironically) Duke Nukem 3D, which had 2.5D graphics to simulate a 3D effect. Like Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown (as a reminder: Duke3D’s port to Sony’s PlayStation), the game is lite on story but does have the occasional FMV along the way to give it some semblance of a plot. One certain improvement of Total Meltdown is the appearance of a two-player split-screen multiplayer mode, which allows two players to Duke it out it on one single screen. Time to Kill eventually received a sequel, but first, another similar game was released on the Nintendo 64.

Kicking ass and chewing FMV.
Image Credit: LHG / YouTube

On August 31, 1999, another third-person shooter, like Duke Nukem: Time to Kill, was released. Called Duke Nukem: Zero Hour, the game was developed by UK developer Eurocom (remember Cruis’n World?) on a modified version of the also Eurocom-developed Duke Nukem 64’s engine (i.e. a modified version of Ken Silverman’s Build Engine). The game follows a similar plot to Time to Kill, with Duke travelling through time to stop the aliens, although its more mature this time around with settings being then-present day New York, post-apocalyptic New York, the Old West, and the Victorian Era, where Jack the Ripper has just murdered Mary Jane Kelly. Cutscenes are now in-game, and multiplayer was expanded to feature up to four-player split-screen (albeit in first-person this time). Thanks to the N64’s Expansion Pak, graphics were much better than Time to Kill’s, and can be further improved thanks to this High Resolution Texture Pack for the game made by NUKEMDAVE. The amount of levels was also increased to over 30. To conclude this Duke Raider series, one more game was released the following year.

I'll always love this cover art.
Image Credit: PalitomanBass / SoundCloud

After two games earlier that year, specifically Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas (a sequel to the game adapting the Die Hard trilogy of films) and Danger Girl (a game adapting the comic of the same name), n-Space’s third game of 2000 was released. This game, titled Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes, acted as a direct sequel to Time to Kill and ran on that game’s engine, or at least a modified version, with similar third-person shooting gameplay (although with less emphasis on the “Duke Raider” side of things). Interestingly, the game was originally called "Duke Nukem: Planet of the Babes", but was renamed to avoid conflict with the upcoming 2001 Planet of the Apes film. Rather than focusing on time travelling through multiple periods like Time to Kill and Zero Hour, Land of the Babes instead places Duke years into the future where the world has been taken over. All men were killed, and all women became slaves. The player, as Duke, must save the women and, as the only male, repopulate the planet alongside all the women that were saved. Phew. Graphically, the game is about on par with Time to Kill, and is also lite on story. It has two-player split-screen multiplayer, like Time to Kill, but only two players, and not four (which Zero Hour had). Unlike Time to Kill, Land of the Babes received negative reviews, because it’s bad (at least in my and many others’ opinions).

I can't think of a caption.
Image Credit: RiotPixels

And that ends the saga of Duke Raider. I’m sorry if this post wasn’t as good as usual, I kind of rushed it (whoops) because I was focused on the next series of blog posts after Duke Nukem and forgot that I was going to write about this trilogy of games in this post. Also, I’ve just got through a Hellraiser film marathon, so I guess that’s a good enough excuse as to why I’m not at my normal blogging standard. Let’s hope I can fix that next time. Next time, I’ll be talking about something that at least has some interesting story behind it (unlike this, where I couldn’t find much info about development): Duke Nukem’s handheld games. Well, that’s a wrap on THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM!

**EDIT 19/06/2022: Forgot to talk about Planet of the Babes**

Duke Nukem, Part 5: Expanding the Third Dimension

So far, I’ve talked about Duke Nukem, its sequel, its FPS sequel, and the FPS sequel’s console ports. Now, I’m going to move onto probably one of the biggest parts of Duke Nukem 3D: its expansions. Welcome back to THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM, where today’s topic is the expansions of Duke Nukem 3D. I’m going to cover all of the official ones, so that means no unauthorised addons. I also won’t talk too much about the shovelware expansions; after all, they’re mainly just garbage map packs. Right, let’s start digging.

WizardWorks really was in the zone.
Image Credit: Me

The first expansion pack for Duke Nukem 3D was Duke!ZONE, a map pack released in September, 1996. Technically, the Plutonium PAK was the first expansion, but I’ve already talked about it (see Part 3 of this series). The Duke Nukem 3D Level Design Handbook was also released before this, containing 50 user maps, although it was more of a guidebook than expansion. Duke!ZONE contains over 500 user maps, collected into one collection by WizardWorks, a company previously known for publishing other !ZONE expansions (albeit illegal, unofficial ones), such as D!ZONE for Doom, S!ZONE for SimCity and W!ZONE for Warcraft II. The levels in Duke!ZONE are poor, many are simple rooms with nothing to do an no exits. The pack was condensed into a 150-map pack, titled Duke!ZONE 150, which contains some of the better levels, although the pack as a whole is a waste. WizardWorks, alongside GT Interactive, later published an expansion pack, Duke Assault, containing a whopping 1500 LEVELS! However, this pack, like the previous two, was filled to the brim with unfinished or unplayable maps, which detracted from the experience. In February 1997, WizardWorks published their fourth authorised Duke Nukem 3D expansion pack, titled Duke!ZONE II. Unlike the original Duke!ZONE or its condensed version, Duke!ZONE II has only 15 levels (21 if you include secret levels) split into three all-new episodes, Artic Assault (spelt like that in-game), Alien Abby, and Monkey Shines. Some of the maps are actually quite fun, and less shovelware-like. There are still many bad moments, though, so it doesn’t end up really being a good expansion. Duke!ZONE II was previously available in the Steam version of Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition before delisting, and is available in the ZOOM Platform version here.

Expect this quality of mapmaking in Duke!Zone.
Image Credit: Me

On February 20, 1997, a mere 6 days after the release of Duke Assault, WizardWorks published their fifth Duke Nukem 3D expansion pack, Duke Xtreme. Duke Xtreme contains 50 maps: 25 single-player maps and 25 Dukematch maps. Some of Xtreme’s maps were developed by Sunstorm Interactive, an important company in the grand scheme of Duke, while the rest of the maps were taken from online sites, like the Duke!ZONE series and Duke Assault. Duke Xtreme was the first expansion pack to bring some new things to the table: Duke’s Mighty Foot was replaced by a bloody knife, his pistol was replaced by a silenced Uzi, the Devastator was given an upgraded look, and two new enemies (the Gorilla Captain and King Cobra) were added, as well as other smaller changes. Duke Xtreme’s single-player maps were not divided into episodes, although there is a script available here that splits the maps into three episodes. The maps are made more, uh, xtreme than usual Duke3D maps due to the presence of the two new enemies, who can be very overpowered a lot of the time. A 1997 WizardWorks compilation release, Duke: The Apocalypse, included Duke!ZONE II and Duke Xtreme. Duke Xtreme was also included in another 1997 compilation release, Duke Nukem 3D: Kill-A-Ton Collection, alongside Duke Nukem 3D, the Plutonium PAK, Duke Nukem 1 and 2, Duke!ZONE II and Duke It Out in D.C., the next expansion pack.

These guys gave me PTSD.
Image Credit: Me

Duke It Out in D.C. is the first of what are known as the three major Duke Nukem 3D expansion packs. D.C. includes 9 new levels and 1 secret level, all bundled as one new episode. The episode centres on Duke Nukem travelling to D.C. in order to save the area from the aliens, who have managed to kidnap the president of the United States of America. Developed by Sunstorm, creators of Duke Xtreme, D.C. was the first Duke3D expansion pack to receive some positive reviews. The levels are mostly fun and very much like the original Duke3D levels. There are some bad parts, though, such as the Smithsonian Terror map, which is an absolute slog to play through. D.C. was included alongside the original 500-level Duke!ZONE in the 1998 Duke: The Apocalypse 2 compilation, as well as the Duke Nukem 3D: Kill-A-Ton Collection, the delisted Steam Atomic Edition, the delisted 2015 Kill-A-Ton Collection and also the popular Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition (more about it in a later post) before it too was delisted in 2015. It is currently available in the Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition on ZOOM Platform. Before going onto the next expansion, May 1997 saw the release of Duke Nukem’s Penthouse Paradise, a single-level expansion developed by Intersphere Communications that was a joint venture between GT Interactive and good old Penthouse Magazine. New content included renders of 13 fully-nude Penthouse Pets, a new beach-themed map, and a readme.txt explaining that the map takes place between Duke3D and the Plutonium PAK, during Duke’s R&R. Looks like Duke’s a naughty boy. The Penthouse Paradise map is available in the ZOOM Platform version. Back on track, it seems that Sunstorm learnt from their mistakes and made a great expansion after D.C.: Duke Caribbean – Life’s a Beach.

Hey pal, what are you gonna do? Save Mr President all by yourself?
Image Credit: Me

Duke Caribbean is by far the best Duke Nukem 3D expansion pack. It’s got 7 new levels and 1 new secret level (forming the Life’s a Beach episode), four new Dukematch levels (forming the Vacation Dukematch episode), and all the weapons have been redesigned to fit the Caribbean/beach aesthetic, as well as the items and the enemies. In terms of story, Duke is on vacation in the Caribbean when the aliens decide to start laying eggs and attacking the tourists there. This angers Duke, who decides that the alien bastards are gonna pay. Again. The levels are all very fun, the overall style is great, the movement and gameplay feels superb, and overall it’s an awesome expansion. Other than that, I don’t have too much to say, other than: Go play it. Caribbean was included in the delisted Steam Atomic Edition, the delisted 2015 Kill-A-Ton Collection, and the delisted Megaton Edition, but is currently available in the ZOOM Platform Atomic Edition. Now that I’ve covered two of the major expansions, it’s time for the third and final expansion pack: Duke – Nuclear Winter.

Time to crash this party!
Image Credit: Me

Released in late 1997, Duke: Nuclear Winter is a Christmas-themed expansion pack, developed by Simply Silly Software (who previously compiled the Duke!ZONE and Duke!ZONE II packs), that includes 7 “new” levels (forming the Nuclear Winter episode), 1 new Dukematch map and Christmas-redesigned enemies. As far as story is concerned, Santa himself has been captured (and brainwashed) by the aliens, who have teamed up with the Feminist Elven Militia (FEM) to do bad things. Duke goes to the North Pole to stop the aliens and stop Santa, to save Christmas. The expansion received negative reviews for many reasons, including the fact that many of the maps are reskins of Duke Nukem 3D maps with little changes. Nuclear Winter was included in the delisted 2015 Kill-A-Ton Collection, the delisted Steam Atomic Edition, and the delisted Megaton Edition. You can play it (if you are willing to waste your time) using the ZOOM Platform Atomic Edition. This was the last official Duke Nukem 3D expansion pack, and the next year, 1998, saw the release of the first game in a trilogy of Tomb Raider-styled Duke Nukem games, Duke Nukem: Time to Kill, as well as the disastrous Sega Genesis/Mega Drive port of Duke Nukem 3D (remember the last post?).

It might be fun to ride in a one horse open sleigh, but it isn't fun to play this.
Image Credit: Me

That just about sums up the history of Duke Nukem 3D expansion packs. Another expansion, Duke It’s Zero Hour, was rumoured to be in development for publication by WizardWorks as an authorised expansion pack. These rumours have never been confirmed, but either way, It’s Zero Hour was released as freeware in November 1997. It has been announced that it will be added to ZOOM Platform’s Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition soon, so I guess it counts as official. Next time I’ll be talking about the “Duke Raider” trilogy that I briefly mentioned just now, so stay tuned for that. Well, that’s a wrap on THE Sith ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM!