DUKE NUKEM : ZERO HOUR - DUKE NUKEM WILL BE BACK! - Miscellaneous - http://phatbowling.com/homertips/DUKE_NUKEM

He's famous for his one-liners and
kick-ass-now, take-names-later attitude,
but Duke Nukem's first appearance on
Nintendo 64, Duke Nukem 64, wasn't
nearly as well-received as GT Interactive
was hoping for. The game's aged, though
smooth semi-3D engine simply couldn't
stand up to the likes of Quake and
Goldeneye. The publisher, in a joint
venture with 3D Realms, has appointed
developer Eurocom to re-establish
Duke's reputation on the 64-bit front
with Duke Nukem: Zero Hour, currently
scheduled for a May '99 release.

Come Get Some
In Duke's latest adventure, the gun-toting
bad-ass learns of an alien plot to destroy
mankind. But this is no ordinary,
run-of-the mill alien plot like Duke has
fended off so many times in the past, this
is the real deal. The aliens have been
experimenting with time travel with two
objectives in mind: travel back and
sabotage key events in human history,
thereby setting in motion an unraveling of
sorts that will ultimately wipe mankind off
Earth. And, travel to the past and
eliminate Duke's ancestors, an interesting
group of folk made up of patriotic
heroes, cowboys, and English royalty,
thus erasing present-day Nukem before
he's even born. But Duke isn't about to
let that happen without a fight.

Perfect Timing

Traveling back through time has its
advantages, especially if you happen to
be a girl-saving tough-guy from the
future. Here are just a few of the
time-zones players can obliterate as
Nukem:

Post apocalyptic and present day
streets of New York City where
he will fight throughout the streets,
at and in the Statue of Liberty, and
on destroyed highways throughout
the metropolitan area.
The Old West where he will face
his adversaries in western towns,
jails, on paddle steamers, in old
western forts, and in mines.
Victorian England in and about
towns, in graveyards, on rivers, in
airships, inside island castles and inside scientists labs.
"Time zone" -- GT Interactive won't say what this is just, only that
it's a "secret."

He's Come to Kick Ass and Chew Bubble Gum...
... And he's all out of bubble gum. But he's definitely not out of
ammunition. The biggest difference between Zero Hour and previous
incarnations of Duke is that the game does not take place via an exclusive
first-person view a la Quake. Whereas Duke Forever will hit PCs
running on the Unreal engine and retaining the series' classic shooter
view, Zero Hour takes an alternate approach to the franchise: a
third-person view, leaving the first-person action to multiplayer activity
only. Because of that, Duke's maneuvers and options are increased
greatly. In addition to shooting off his vast arsenal of weapons, the Evil
Dead-like tough guy can climb ladders, roll, grab onto ledges, slide, and
crawl through every inch and corner of the game's numerous and varied
levels. And in a surprising addition, each level will come equipped with a
set list of objectives very similar to that seen in Mission: Impossible and
Goldeneye. For example, instead of simply hitting switches to exit levels,
Duke may be expected to use a crowbar, or even wire cutters to achieve
the desired results. Some levels require Nukem to blow-up alien
machinery and free captured Earth girls whereas others may simply want
Duke to make it out alive.

Whereas Duke Nukem 64 was more or less a port from PC, Zero Hour
has been designed from scratch to take advantage of Nintendo 64's
hardware. Eurocom, working closely with 3D Realms and GTI, has
designed time-specific levels ranging from a futuristic world equipped
with monitoring cameras to an underground mine-shaft with rail-barrel.
No longer is Duke a 2D and flat; instead, the Nukester has finally made
the long-awaited jump to 3D polygons and he, along with all of the
game's enemies and objects, look better than ever. All of the above and
a consistency that hugs 30 frames per second.

Four Dukes are Better than One
Thankfully, Zero Hour will feature a four-player split-screen deathmatch
mode in which players can hunt one-another down.

Outlook
Duke Nukem: Zero Hour looks to be a very promising title for many
reasons: the first and most obvious, it's a Duke Nukem game. The
second, it's being developed by Eurocom, the same team responsible for
Midway's excellent port of Mortal Kombat 4. And third, it's a
third-person action/adventure with mature themes and lots of objectives,
a much-needed genre for Nintendo 64. Keep an eye out for this one!

Movies:
Naughty Duke, Naughty-
http://n64media.ign.com/media/previews/video/dukezeronaughty.mov
Sniper Mode-
http://n64media.ign.com/media/previews/video/dukezerosniping.mov
Game Intro-
http://n64media.ign.com/media/news/video/dukeintro.mov

Doc.

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Page Updated Sat May 15, 1999 5:59pm EDT