➤ Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition, review 🎮

In the 90s Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Duke Nukem 3D, in exactly that order, set the stage for the current first-person shooter genre.

These were titles that did not yet use true polygonal graphics, so all the more reason they demonstrated how a team of capable developers could carry out projects that seemed impossible on paper, especially then. In the case of the 3D Realms masterpiece, capable of selling over 3,5 million copies at its debut (and we are talking about the 1996 market), the engine boasted new features such as the ability to interact with the environment, destroy objects , use sliding doors and take advantage of levels that often also developed vertically. Elements that today can make you smile, but which at that time were able to break into the scene to create new situations and provide the product with its own specific personality, rather than the simple clone label. And then there was him, Duke Nukem, star of a two-dimensional action platform created by Apogee Software in 1992, an Arnold Schwarzenegger of the poor who, thanks to the new context, between machismo and effective phrases, managed to quickly gain popularity and established himself as one of the most famous video game characters ever.

Challenging and caciarone, Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition is a welcome blast from the past for the nostalgic

Gentlemen, we have a Megaton

Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition, in short, represents a substantial piece of videogame history, although the publication of this compilation took place on the PlayStation Store almost two years later than Steam, however, at the same price (9,99 euros).

However, the package supports cross-buy (which means that those who buy it can use it indiscriminately on PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Vita) and is part of the Instant Game Collection reserved in January for users registered on PlayStation Plus, who will then be able to proceed with the download in completely free way and get some culture on the origins of FPS, or kill some anthropomorphic pig remembering the good old days. The pack includes the original Duke Nukem 3D campaign, three single player expansions (Duke Caribbean: Life's a Beach, Duke It Out in DC and Duke: Nuclear Winter) and an online multiplayer for up to eight players, with four different modes ( One-on-one, Free-for-all, Dukematch and Cooperative) divided between ranked and unranked matches. Unfortunately, during our tests we did not have great luck: online users seem to be few at the moment and we ran into really embarrassing episodes of lag. We hope that this aspect of the experience will be fixed soon, so as to take advantage of the player boost due to the free PlayStation Plus to organize some good matches. However, it is the single player that represents the fulcrum of the offer, thanks to a total of over fifty stages distributed in the various episodes and a degree of difficulty that is anything but trivial, indeed much greater than what Call of Duty fans or Battlefield may be used to it. With a nice arsenal, moreover, which alternates pistols, rifles, submachine guns, missile launchers, remotely controlled grenades and other delicious tools of death. To overcome the inevitable frustration of yet another game over, the developers responsible for this edition have seen fit to insert a sort of "rewind" similar to the one present in some driving games, which allows you to resume the game from a precise moment instead of start the whole mission all over again.

PlayStation 3 Trophies

The fifteen Trophies of Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition can be obtained in a fairly linear way, therefore by completing missions and carrying out a series of particular actions, such as killing a certain number of enemies in a certain way. Some Trophies are also unlocked by playing in cooperative mode, while others depend on our online performance, drawing the picture of a fairly complete achievement package.

Old chicken makes good soup?

Tested on both PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3, Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition undoubtedly has the charm of the great classics, but at the same time the graphics, made of 2D sprites "smeared" in the scenario, are extremely old. Some things have been fixed, such as the distortion of perspective when looking up or down, but at the same time the vertical aim remains an accessory, as it is enough to shoot in line with an opponent who is higher or lower. of us to center it anyway.

Initial loads on PlayStation 3 are honestly too long and at times the game suffers from an annoying "snap" (when Duke picks up a card, for example), but the reliability of the DualShock is undoubtedly greater than the tiny analog sticks of PlayStation Vita, which you have to get used to, especially in vertical movements. The touch screen of the Sony handheld is used to change weapons and works very well, while on PlayStation 3 the back keys L2 and R2 perform the same task, with a pressure of the left stick on its axis to activate or deactivate the stroke ( on PlayStation Vita you have to press down on the d-pad). Defects and merits of an adaptation that, as mentioned, technically remained that of 1996 (upscaling and widescreen aside) but on the gameplay front it still has something to say, with its intricate level design (no one will tell you where to go, you'll have to get there by yourself), the puzzles based on switches and the many "desperate" situations we will find ourselves in during the campaign, with enemies literally waiting for us around the corner and an energy system that does not recharge automatically but requires traditional medical kits. Speaking of reloading, it is useless to try to reload the starting gun, whose ammunition must necessarily be exhausted for Duke to change magazine: a "limit" that falls within the balance of experience, and that is also applied to other weapons.

Comment

Tested version PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita Digital Delivery PlayStation Store Price 9,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

7.0

Readers (16)

8.1

Your vote

Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition represents in some ways a welcome blast from the past, a videogame history lesson that will not fail to thrill the nostalgic and that could easily be appreciated even by newbies; provided you turn a blind eye (or maybe both) to the graphics, which beyond the excellent frame rate has very little to offer today. The controls on the PlayStation 3 are better than on the PlayStation Vita due to the higher accuracy of the DualShock's analog sticks, but in both cases the gameplay, particularly due to the high degree of challenge, is engaging. Of course, we are no longer in the 90s and the machismo of the Duke has had its day, but that blond truzzo with the crew cut still seems to have something to teach us.