- edit
- /
- history
- /
- upload images
Map review of Duke Nukem 3D remastered
by dunkelschwamm | June 25, 2025 | 2942 characters
Read my review of the original mapset here: http://scmapdb.wikidot.com/review:872
The Duke Nukem 3D Remastered mapset very graciously adds some great quality of life stuff to the original. In particular, there is now better scripted weapons, rescuable babes, more varied enemies, and QOL improvements to the maps. As far as I can tell, all of these are for the better: lots of the sewers I complained about in the original have been cut down, the action is more actiony, there are fewer strange map transitions as many maps have been consolidated.
I think the most standout additions are Duke and the Babes. Duke runs around as a friendly NPC helping with the increased action in the first couple of maps, which is a lot of fun. I wish he were around for the rest of the maps, but aside from brief cameos he isn't really present. He's got some decently voice acted lines, some oldschool Duke quotes, and some scripted segments where he runs around. It's great and injects a ton of character into the mapset.
There were babes in the original mapset as sprites, but now there are 3d babes that can be rescued with a babe rescuing device, awarding the players a new weapon. This is a fun system, though I wish there were some way for the map to give the reward to all of the players. I just don't like how if you grab the babe-rescuing-device, you're guaranteed to be the one to reap rewards.
Unfortunately, this map suffers from the same maps I said lacking in character doing so again, due to the source material being what it is. However, this time I played further before giving up, getting to the final level. I can't comment on what, after the end of the recreation of Episode 1 of DN3D, is changed in this revision, as I didn't play that far in the original mapset. I will say that the space levels are faithfully recreated in many places, for better or for worse. The vertical ascent in the final map is pretty painful.
Overall, I'd recommend this with friends. I still think the recreations of E1M4 and E1M5 are huge momentum-killers. I think I might recommend taking this in chunks because the pacing of all the maps taken together makes it feel like a downward curve, still.
Pros:
- All the pros from the original map are still present!
- The additions to the weapons and enemies are great fun!
- The friendly Duke NPC is great, and has some good voice lines!
- The rescuing babe mechanic is a bit flawed, but overall adds an interesting dynamic that livens up the whole mapset
- Lots of small changes I failed to mention throughout the levels overall make them more playable than the original
Cons:
- All of the cons from the original map are still present! (Though there is now less sewer traversal :D)
Review originally from *
Back to Duke Nukem 3D remastered | All map reviews
