XBLA Today: Can We Always Bet On Duke?

Welcome to the bubblegum and guns edition of XBLA Today where we take on Duke Nukem 3D, the classic first person PC shooter that really did some amazing things for it’s time. The biggest questions here is not whether it’s a good game, but whether it holds up.

Duke Nukem 3D is a game that in it’s time defined the FPS genre, with it’s total political incorrectness and talking main character that couldn’t be more full of himself, it was an absolute blast. For those who haven’t ever played it or any of the old Doom games before, go try the demo, I’ll wait. Now, as you may have already seen, the game looks quite dated, but it still surprisingly plays fairly well. With 39 levels across all sorts of places, and all sorts of crazy weapons, the game is still fun. As an added bonus to the classic fun gameplay, there is now 8 player co-op and “DukeMatch” multiplayer. There is also user video clips you can review yourself or share with friends. The multiplayer did have some lag after you got all 8 players, but not enough time has been spent with it to be sure whether that was just the players I was with, I’m not sure. One fun thing is when you die, you have the choice of restarting anywhere in the previous level, whether that be 10 seconds before you died, or 10 minutes, its up to you!

Duke Nukem 3D is probably the best classic FPS on XBLA, so for all those people that bought Doom or Marathon, this is probably for you. The graphics aren’t that updated, but it is still fun, and plays well. Having played the game before, in it’s hayday, as I have, probably will make it worth it more to you as nostalgia plays a big part in these classic games. It seems we can bet on Duke for the classic stuff, but who knows if we can count on him for anything new (Forever is just around the corner, right?). Be sure to check out the demo and let us know what you think!