Degrading content taints hot game
A perennial favorite on the PC platform, Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition is finally available for the Macintosh. It's an action-packed, first-person shoot-'em-up game with a sense of humor. Too bad that sense of humor belongs to a 14-year-old with a taste for splatter films and girlie magazines. Within the game you become Duke Nukem, a one-man army out to save Earth from an alien invasion.
Duke doesn't wimp out when it comes to devastating weaponry. Falling squarely into the Gratuitously Violent Weapons category is the Microwave Expander, which provides a working demonstration of why you shouldn't put living creatures in microwave ovens. Alas, the same loving care used to craft such evil weapons wasn't applied to the creation of Duke's enemies. Higher-level aliens look otherworldly, but low-level troops resemble anthropomorphized tigers and pigs. Overall, the aliens' appearance and movement is disappointingly blocky and crude.
Fortunately, the same criticism can't be made of the worlds that Duke strides through. There are some weaknesses--the alien installations feel like James Bond movies--but the game's apocalyptic urban interior decor is very convincing.
Futhermore, Duke Nukem's creators deserve extra credit for their visual and sonic flourishes. The game is peppered with moving lights, animated signs and television screens, roaring creatures, and lots of fire. Although its puzzles aren't particularly challenging, the game's worlds are entertainingly interactive, filled with hidden nooks and crannies.
Duke's environment is also loaded with sight gags. Mirrors can reveal enemies lying in wait, but Duke can also check out his good looks. In bathrooms, the toilets work . . . and Duke can use 'em. Plus, Duke delivers hilarious Eastwood-esque commentary.
But there's an ugly devil hiding in the details. Switch on Adult Content mode (there's a password for parents), and Duke takes video-game violence to new depths, tossing in cheap, degrading sex while you're down there. In just one scene--set in an adult bookstore, no less--you can splash an alien's guts on the wall, walk over his corpse leaving bloody boot-prints, and check out a film loop of a woman rubbing her face against an apparently naked body. Interact with one of the many bikini-clad dancers scattered throughout the game, and Duke offers a wad of bills, asking, "Wanna dance, baby?" If you step back and pull the trigger, the girl explodes in a shower of money.
Macworld's Buying Advice
As an action game, Duke Nukem is pure rock and roll, but its extreme violence and degrading content make it hard to recommend wholeheartedly. I had fun playing Duke--I just wanted to take a shower when I was done.--Cameron Crotty
RATING: Four Stars/7.0
PROS: Loud, fast action; humorous.
CONS: Excessive violence; degrading suggestive content; disappointing enemies.
COMPANY: MacSoft (612/559-5140, www.wizworks.com).
COMPANY'S ESTIMATED PRICE: $49.95.
September 1997
page: 92
Copyright © 1997 Macworld Communications, Inc.
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