Current Events > Which do you prefer: The original Doom/Doom II, or Duke Nukem 3D?

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I'm a Duke Nukem fan myself. The Doom games were fantastic, don't get me wrong; I still play them regularly, especially with mods. But DN3D... That really impacted my childhood gaming career. It's one of the first games that I bought off the shelf and was blown away by in terms of level design and 3D movement. Plus it had built in mouse move - far above what the Doom engine could do at the time.

These days, Doom.

At their peaks, Duke.

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Duke Nukem 3D, no contest. Doom and Doom II are classics bestowed with superb gameplay and are very easy to learn, no doubt, but the levels are mostly abstract with a superficial resemblance to what their names suggest they're representing. Doom's first level is called Hangar, but it's pretty much a linear romp through a few large rooms arranged around a large courtyard, with one room having a zig-zagging walkway through toxic sludge.

Duke Nukem 3D, on the other hand, starts with Hollywood Holocaust, an admittedly nonindicative name, but the level's centerpiece is a movie theater that closely resembles a movie theater. It even has a bathroom with urinals and stalls. One stall memorably is occupied by an alien taking a dump. Moreover, the level's non-linear, presenting two entrances to the theater. One is to go into an alley and enter trhough the back door. The other is by literally exploding a hole into the ticket booth.

It just gets better from there, and I didn't even mention the weapons. I have to give special note to the the shrink gun. It's introduced in the second episode, and it does exactly what its name implies. Almost any enemy can be shrunk to the size of a beer can witha single shot and then be stepped on for a one-hit-kill. The large behemoth that is the end boss of episode 1 return as a minibosses are impervious to the shrink gunbut not its blast radius! The shrink gun has a blast radius, albeit a tiny one, so if the shot lands right at the big dude's feet, he'll be shrunk down! It's hilarious, and very satisfying.

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Thompson posted...

The large behemoth that is the end boss of episode 1 return as a minibosses are impervious to the shrink gunbut not its blast radius! The shrink gun has a blast radius, albeit a tiny one, so if the shot lands right at the big dude's feet, he'll be shrunk down! It's hilarious, and very satisfying.

Holy shit, I didn't know that trick. I always just laid into him full out

Duke is filled with so many references.

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Duke is fun but doom is infinitely more replayable and has far more quality content

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