Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour

It's better than Forever and better than the original Duke Nukem 3D. I played the 5th episode and skipped the rest because I already know them.

This fifth episode is too hard. The difficulty is somewhat exaggerated, and because of that, there are a lot more atomic health and medkits than in the original Duke. The recorded completion times for each level are too fast. It took me much more than half an hour on each level. It shows 5 minutes recorded. What?? I didn't find all the secrets. They're much better hidden than in the original. In some levels I didn't find any secrets at all. You face Duke's bosses from the beginning. Only the last boss has new attacks, but it's still a reskin of an existing one.

There are still abducted women, but much fewer than in the original. The music is excellent. Duke's new lines keep up with the classic duke's style. Duke already had a satire vibe with movies, culture in general, and real-life settings like workshops, offices, and diners. The new episode continues this thread but with a much more modern design. The enemy placement, items, and progression aren't just the 'do whatever feels good' style of the original. There are new textures, and even though it's a game from the 16-bit era and 256 colors, it manages to create very realistic environments.

I didn't use all the weapons, but one can see that this time around they did plan the usage of each weapon in the levels. The level design isn't just 'find the key and move on' anymore. They included puzzles. I think the pyramid with the four elements (fire, earth, air, and water) was inspired by the movie 'The Fifth Element'. Even finding the exit in each level was hard.

The last level is the shortest and the easiest. Ironically. The boss has a short-range flamethrower. Just stay far away and fire at will and you'll win very easily. There are a few enemies in the middle, but since the area is large, it's not much of a problem to dodge them.

Comments on design and levels

There's an arena at the end in the first level. I got lost there because it's not clear that picking up the weapons on the couch triggers a new wave of enemies. Eventually, a button opens a passage that takes you back to the nightclub. There's a delay between seeing the passage on the surveillance screen and it actually opening. I ended up running in circles until I understood I was supposed to go down there.

In the second level there's an elevator without a button. Duke doesn't handle true rooms over rooms. But at least there should have been a button texture inside the elevator... After opening the door with the yellow keycard in the supermarket, there's a platform with an indicated texture. But I looked around and couldn't find any button. I wandered throughout the entire level until I discovered it was a lift to go down. The original Doom also had lifts without buttons, but either the lift lowered automatically or it was a trap.

In the fourth level, I got the blue key and activated the explosives. It blew up somewhere, I didn't know where. Here's the thing: If you use the blue key while aiming to see the pyramid in the background, you can see the explosion. But I was aiming lower and facing the wall, so I didn't see anything at all. At the the blue key there's an almost invisible crack in the floor indicating the soon to be cleared passage to go. It took me a while to find it. That's why some games force a cutscene to show you where something opened.

After passing through the ceiling traps that crush there's a button shaped like a bloodstain on the wall. It's the same as in the original Duke. But due to the strong light glare above it, it's almost invisible. It took me a while to see it. I only noticed because I looked for a walkthrough. After overcoming the challenges of the four elements, there's a button on the pillar that opens. But it's so tiny that it took me a while to find it. You're teleported to a spaceship and have to destroy two generators. I had to guess that I had to destroy them, since there was nothing else to do after killing the aliens.

In Duke, those who've played it know you can activate buttons by shooting them. In this pyramid level, shooting is the only way to activate the buttons. But those who've never played wouldn't know.

In the fifth level, I had to resort to a walkthrough again. When you descend and defeat the boss, the next step is an alien base with a door that won't open. Only with a walkthrough did I find out there's a passage in a very hidden corner. You have to crouch there. There are bloody footsteps indicating the path. The problem is, it's hard to notice. There's a lack of contrast. I wasted time trying to open a door that would never open.