Keen Dreams: Duke Nukem Forever

 

It actually happened. Last night, for the first time ever, I dreamt about Duke Nukem Forever.

And it was probably one of the best dreams I’d had in recent memory – not just because it was about DNF, but because it was one of the most emotion-fuelled ones I think I’ve ever had.

It started with me playing DNF, and walking around some building, which felt like some sort of top secret facility, or lab (it could have been the IMF: Impossible Mission Facility, from Duke Nukem 3D). And as you can imagine, there I was, picking things up, throwing them around; enjoying the interactivity that is said to be in the game.

As I made my way down the storeys of the building, I was talking to people, and one of these individuals sounded like Isaac Kleiner from Half-Life 2. “They’ve really gone all out on this!” I thought to myself, as I even caught myself shedding a tear or two every now and again. I was finally, actually playing the game of my dreams (no pun intended).

Then I reached a point where I had to get down on my belly and crawl under some part of the structure, all the while being careful to avoid shooting myself with my duel M1911s. That’s right, DUEL, as in TWO Golden Colts. I think this made it in there after playing a lot of Duke 3D with the DukePlus mod.

As I was crawling (and feeling that this was a scene straight out of Metal Gear Solid), and nearly getting Duke’s huge body stuck under the floorboards, the action picked up. Through an opening ahead, I saw a van ram some kid right up against the wall in an alley. Then I heard voices, like they were questioning the kid’s friend, whose name happened to be Christian. For every question he hesitated on, the van rammed the other guy against the wall again (might have been Yatta). Maybe they wanted to desperately know what playing DNF was like.

Then the dream skipped ahead for a bit. I must have exited the game for some ludicrous reason, and there I was, reading an issue of some gaming magazine down by the pool. It looked like it might have been NAG due to the familiar reviews and scoring system. I skipped all the way down to the bottom and read the last paragraph, while simultaneously, my other eye caught the final score and pros and cons down at the bottom of the page.

There was a big round, solid score of 80. Not bad, but not as great as some might have wanted. And when I looked to see what the pros and cons were, I noticed something rather ironic under “plus”. It was one word: “pretty”. And this is after so many people have criticised the game for not being graphically up to snuff. I could only chuckle at that. Under “minus”, there was nothing; just a blank space. Once again, I found this kind of hard to believe, as critics who have played the game and previewed it have had a lot of nasty stuff to say about it – particularly the Xbox 360 version of the game, with persistent framerate issues and the like.

I think this was likely the reason I dreamt about DNF last night, after going through all my RSS feeds, picking up on the latest chicken scratch, and sh!t-talking on DNF. Whether the game does suck or not, I know that I’m going to get it and play it. I have to, since it’s really the only game that I’ve ever truly wanted for half my life (Half-Life? Get it?).

Keen Dreams: Duke Nukem Forever

Apocalypse Then: Duke Nukem 3D

15 years of Duke Nukem 3D

On this in gaming, one of the greatest games ever made (in my opinion) was released: Duke Nukem 3D.

Developed and published by 3D Realms (one of the biggest and most respected companies during the 80’s and 90s and perhaps all time), and first released in early 1996, the game went on to become one of the most successful and enduring first-person shooters of all time, with people still buying and playing it today. A very committed and talented community keeps it alive and kicking, with projects like the EDuke32 source port (with the polymer renderer), the HRP, and Duke Plus in ongoing development. And with the sequel, DNF, just around the corner, this has only gotten stronger, with other projects like Duke Nukem 3D: Reloaded in the works, which is essentially a modern remake of the game – which was green lighted by Gearbox.

But when the game was released a decade and a half ago, they said it was on top of its game – technologically advanced. Hardly just another Doom clone, as the term was back then, it had some brilliant level design, courtesy of one of the greatest in the business, Richard “The Levelord” Gray, as well as some awesome music, by talented and respected video game musicians, Lee Jackson and Bobby Prince, who had also worked on previous Apogee games too.

And not to mention that DN3D no doubt had in my mind, the first “real” character in a game. No more silent, faceless protagonists like other FPSs of its time, Duke was and still is an egotistical, misogynistic, one-liner spouting jerk – but we all loved him just the same, and he is considered one of the “coolest” game characters ever conceived. Several characters, such as Serious Sam, and most recently the protagonist from Epic Games’ Bulletstorm, are strongly influenced by the King himself. Maybe these should be called Duke Clones!

I could go on and on about how great the game was and still is today, but I’ve all ready done that so many times. Like you might have guessed: I’m a huge Duke fan. And if you’re reading this, maybe you are too.

I also have a surprise up for the anniversary of Duke Nukem 3D. It’s an article which covers the evolution of the Duke Nukem character throughout the last twenty years. That’s right: Duke Nukem 1 was released in 1991, so also don’t forget about its anniversary in July! Check out the article here.

                           Happy 15th Birthday, Duke Nukem 3D!

Apocalypse Then: Duke Nukem 3D

NAG February 2010 Issue Out Today

It’s time. It’s NAG time. I thought I’d save you having to read through “it’s the last Thursday of the month”. Oh dear, I did it again it seems.

Anyway, NAG will be here this week to save me from an otherwise uneventful month, games wise. There’s been the typical drought after Christmas, with things usually heating up more towards Q2.
So let’s see what’s in store for us with the February 2011 issue. Crysis 2 is making the big news this time, nabbing the cover, as you can see. By the way, it looks like the Crysis 2 demo doesn’t seem to be going down well with some people, according to players of the game on Twitter. I don’t think the game will be that bad, but it won’t really be Crysis.

Reviews cover Gran Turismo 5 and WoW: Cataclysm, as well as Back to the Future: The Game: Episode 1 – needless to say the first in a line of games based on the classic sci-fi series.
As for the DVD, only one of my suggestions made it on to the DVD, and that was the StarCraft II demo. There’s also a demo of Bejeweled 3 (here we spell it with two ls, but whatever). As for the extras there’s 8 free game soundtracks (can’t wait to check those out), and a new updated version of the always useful NAG CD database.

Plenty of drivers this issue, along with THE TRAILERS!!! 135 of them. You wanted them, here they are.
By the way, the new DVD suggestion thread for the March issue is now open, so go there, sign up (or log in), and post your links to whatever you wish to appear on the DVD. There’s about a 10% of it doing so, but do it anyway.
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Sources:
NAG February 2011 issue
[NAG] February 2011 issue
[DVD] March DVD Suggestion Thread

NAG February 2010 Issue Out Today

The Verge Returns Tonight

After nearly a month of sitting through “special” episodes of The Verge since they went off air temporarily (again) last month, it’s nearly time for the show to resume regular live programming again.

Pippa said that The Verge would not being showing any live shows for about a month or so, instead showing specially recorded or taped shows. But it was mainly just a bunch of assembled footage that we had seen before and then some (also known as a repeat or perhaps a montage).

But it’s January and it’s time for everyone to get their @sses back in to gear and get on with the year after all the festivities of yesteryear have finally died down. The Verge reported on its Facebook page that Monday the 17th of January, 2011 (today), is when The Verge returns, for real this time… until the next time it goes off the air.

So make sure to tune in tonight, on Vuzu, channel 123 on DSTV, at 22:30 for a brand new, live, and hopefully good show.

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Source: The Verge [Facebook]

The Verge Returns Tonight

Thrifty Thursday: Jewel Up

Sorry it’s been a while since the last post. It must have been a gap of about two weeks or so. But now that Christmas and New Year’s is all over, I can resume the normal routine again.

I discovered this little game while browsing through Big Download – one of my fave blogs seeing as it’s dedicated to PC gaming. After posting the download link to the NAG DVD suggestion forum thread, I downloaded it myself over New Year’s.

I got a chance to sit down and actually install and play it recently.

Jewel Up is a free game that was made available recently at Clintwood’s website. You can also download it at the App Store for use on your iPhone.

You’d expect it to be very similar to another favourite casual game of years past, namely Bejeweled. And you’d probably be right, seeing as it play a lot like said game.

So once the game is fired up, you arrive at the main menu. If you go to the Options menu, you can select your board style, or background, your style of gem (there are always four different games no matter which style), as well as whether you will receive any hints in-game. Then there’s also the sounds and music volumes too, if you don’t want those to play during the game. The music isn’t bad though, speaking of which.

Getting on to actually playing the game now, you can select one of three game modes: these are “Overcharge”, “Time Attack”, and “Endless” (or freeplay). This last mode is no doubt my favourite.

Overcharge sees you fighting against the clock, but the main aim other than this is to charge the chargers present on the board. Time Attack means you obviously have to also play against the clock, and it seems as though you have limited time that cannot be incremented no matter what you do. I said it seems this way – maybe it isn't so.

The only mode that really appeals to me is the Endless or freeplay mode. There’s no time limit, and you can just keep playing and levelling up all day long if you want.

In all game modes, the objective, just like in Bejeweled, is to link a number of gems together to score points. The minimum chain you can have is three. This is worth 40 points. Four gems in a chain is worth 75; Five gems is 120; Six gems is 175 points.

Then the game borrows a bit from the likes of Unreal Tournament it seems, when at 7 gems you get the announcer, who says “Impressive!”. At 8 gems in a chain, you get “Excellent!” – very Mortal Kombat. At 9 gems it’s “Awesome”, and at 10 gems, which is the most you can have it seems, you get “Godlike!”

After building a big enough chain, usually six or more gems, you get a bomb which will drop on the board. If you can build a chain of gems close enough to it, then the bomb will explode, taking out all the gems in a particular row or column (rows are across, columns are down).

At the end of each play on the first two modes, Overcharge and Time Attack, you will get to see all of the statistics, and awards achieved during the session.

Overall, a nice way to pass some time. Two game modes don’t appeal to me, but one largely does. It may not be Bejeweled, but it is free, and it’s fun - and that’s what matters here.

Download it:

http://clintwoodgames.com/iphone/games/jewel_up_free_pc [PC version]

http://itunes.apple.com/app/jewelup/id394420210?mt=8 [iPhone version]

Thrifty Thursday: Jewel Up

Thrifty Thursday: Trials Legends

This last issue of NAG’s Cover DVD arrived in stores on Christmas Eve just lately, and naturally, I picked it up, along with something else called a magazine. On there was the usual stuff, but under free games I saw that there was a title by the name of Trials: Legends.

I’ve played one or two of these games in the past, most recently Trials HD, which looked a hell of a lot better graphically.

This Trials: Legends “celebrates the early years of RedLynx Trials”, from 2000 to 2005. I have had a on and off love affair with games involving FMX and the likes, including MotoRacer and Motocross Mania, and so I obviously couldn’t wait to try it out. Legends was released in November 2010.

Do you remember playing a game years ago called Elastomania? Trials is essentially like that game – just as mad and probably a little on the unrealistic side at the very least, but still fun as hell.

Trials pops under the Thrifty Thursday column seeing as it’s completely free. It’s basically a compilation of 33 tracks released in previous Trials games over the years. Not only this, but it comes with six different bikes, as well as a track creator. There’s also 15 ranks to go through before finally reaching the ultimate status of “Legend” – this happens when you beat all 33 tracks and the 3 marathon campaigns which each take place over 12 tracks. After you do all that, you can also compete in the online leaderboards for the fastest time achieved on a track, so there’s quite a bit to do then.

You obviously take control of a bike, which has some exaggerated suspension. And it’s your task to take on some challenging courses filled with frustrating obstacles, as you try to conquer them with the power of physics. Depending on the bike you pick, these courses can be easy, or they can be a nightmare. The best bike I find is the fifth one, which is the heaviest and the fastest too. I was able to complete most tracks with it. It has the power to climb up steep slopes, and more often than not can bypass several obstacles in your path with one big jump. It does have a tendency to be twitchy and can be a bit overpowered in some places. All the bikes have their strengths and weaknesses.

The sounds in the game are a bit repetitive and annoying, with the manager shouting commands at you sounding quite funny. I wish there was a way to jump off the track and crush him. The sounds of the various bikes are convincing enough though.

Graphically, it’s dated. The riders look blocky and comical-looking, and the animation is rather poor. It’s all 2D as well, which does make it look as though it belongs in the 1990’s instead. But the backgrounds are quite detailed, and remind one of pre-rendered backgrounds you might have seen in some games – even more modern ones. It doesn’t hold a candle to the more beautiful Trials HD, but it’s what one would expect more or less for a free game.

                     Proof that I did it! I did it! It drove me crazy, but I did it! 

After several hours of play over a period of 3 days or so I as able to reach this coveted spot. Now it’s on to the track creator! This is easier said and done though as the “editor” will make you work more within an external image editing program, such as PhotoShop, to create tracks. But you can make them out of almost anything, including photos or screenshots from other games! In fact, as I think more and more about it, Trials Legends almost reminds me of Worms, for some odd reason.

You can also go onto the Trials: Legends forums and download all the fan-made tracks that have been uploaded, too. My advice is to try your hand at making some, because I’ve tried some of those tracks, and they’re nowhere near as good as the ones that come with the game… yet.

Overall Rating:

/ 8/10

Thrifty Thursday: Trials Legends

Theory: Blood may have had more Influence than you Thought

     

These three seemingly very different games might have more in common than once thought

To many, Duke Nukem 3D was the most popular build engine game ever made, even though there were several others out there from the mid to late 90’s. Blood was one of these build engine cousins of the Duke, and for the most part probably wasn’t played by as many people. It did establish what one would refer to as a cult following though.

I was one of those types who only got around to dabbling in the rest of the build “big four” years after they were released. Not that it wasn’t fun playing catch-up. I love the era of sprites in games from the 90’s, when it was then cutting-edge technology, or at least dated but still awesome towards the later half of the decade.

But I was playing through Blood again recently, a couple of years since my first playthrough, and I came to some rather shocking conclusions. Blood may have been more influential on later games than even I thought.

Two games come to mind when I play through the game. First off, there’s another forgotten title from that decade named Nocturne. I’ve played both, and I see some mighty large similarities between the two. In both, you have a sinister protagonist clad in a trench coat and hat, armed to the teeth, who hunts demons, zombies, and the like. Let’s also not forget the train level (third mission of the first episode) in Blood, and how a similar mission took place in Nocturne (first section of the second chapter).

Both games at one point also featured delving deep into crypts and the underground as well, and both took place in Western themed universes, at about the same time (Blood’s 1928 versus Nocturne’s 1928 – 1935).

The second game I think of when I play Blood is System Shock II. Granted, the two don’t have a lot in common. Blood is a bare bones, all out FPS, while System Shock II is a classic hybrid title, featuring FPS and RPG gameplay. But one level in Blood certainly did remind me SS2, which came out more than two years later – and that was the “inside the body” level. You remember in System Shock II you had the creepy level called “Body of the Many”, which took place in a disgusting setting which looked like the stomach or digestive tract of a huge creature?

Blood did that. Blood had a level near the end of the fourth episode, called “In The Flesh”, which also saw Caleb enter inside what looked to be the same sort of environment. There were also bodies of water, except not toxic like in SS2, as well as teeth, but not as lethal as SS2, but not any less scary.

Yeah, Blood may well have taken inspiration from other games and even movies, but I think that in Blood’s case, it possibly inspired at least the two above-mentioned games too. I mean when you think back, Blood was one of the first games to have alternate fire modes with weapons, much like Marathon and Dark Forces before it.

Not many people would have played games like Nocturne or even Blood, and so probably won’t care much about all this, but still… I guess the point is that there’s always a game that did it first before it became cool and people gushed about it.

Theory: Blood may have had more Influence than you Thought