PC CD-ROM minimum system requirements: 486DX/66mhz; 8MB RAM, 30MB hard disk space, CD-RQM drive; DOS 5.0; VGA. £32.99
DUKE has served his apprenticeship! He has finally made it into the big time and now he has got them all, including the Devastator. As you may remember in the shareware version a couple of months ago, Duke had to make do with just six weapons and had only one episode to complete.
In this, the full release, he has four additions to his arsenal including the Devastator. And although the Devastator is, as its, name suggests, a very powerful weapon, it is also the least imaginative. This tool of atrocity is a double barrelled missile launcher of the highest order, but when matched up against his other high tech equipment it lacks a little ingenuity and flair.
Much more fun are the Shrinker, TripBomb and Freezer. The Shrinker will cut your enemies down to a more manageable size, whereby Duke can strut over and squash them with his boot. The TripBomb is a far more strategic weapon and is perfect for setting traps and barriers. The idea here is to place the device on a wall and after two seconds a laser beam is emitted to the nearest opposite wall. Once this beam is broken it will unleash a powerful blast and destroy the unwary soul who walked into its path. The Freezer chills its victims to the point of death, but Duke must shatter the frozen enemy with his boot before they manage to thaw out.
Duke, I'm sure will be glad of all the extra firepower as he now has two more episodes to complete: Lunar Apocalypse and Shrapnel City. They are as full of mayhem and sarcastic humour as LA Meltdown, which was included on the shareware version.
Because of the violent content and the sometimes adult nature of the game, Duke 3D comes with an 18s and over" tag and a parental lock within the game can be used to safeguard against some of the more explicit parts being witnessed.
Any time a game of this nature comes on to the scene it is invariably compared to Doom, and Doom only. Things are going to have to change though, as Duke 3D has what it takes to be mentioned in the same breath, and it will now be up there with Doom as the benchmark. Explosive stuff and a lot of fun.
Graphics: 92%
Sound: 92%
Gameplay: 95%