Two Decades Later, ‘Duke Nukem 3D’ is Back

  Ah, Duke Nukem. You studly, studly bastard. Back in the nineties, this was the guy every guy wanted to be. A grimacing, sunglasses-totin,’ babe-oglin,’ one-liner spoutin’ hunk of raw masculinity, with cajones like cannonballs and more ‘tude than any one person has any right to contain within.  

I like to think that the Duke was modelled on Dutch, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character from Predator. Maybe with a dash of that dude who called himself a goddamn sexual Tyrannosaurus thrown in. And if that sounds like the best damn role model for manliness possible, that’s because it is.

Problem is, the Duke Nukem games haven’t always lived up to the man himself on the badassery scale. Duke Nukem 3D? Hell yes, I’ll take a slice of that any day of the week. Duke Nukem Forever, 2011’s half-assed sequel/series reboot? Screw that.

With all of that said, then, good news everybody: Duke Nukem 3D is getting a fancy-ass remake, in honor of the game hitting the big 2-0 this year. The game’s full title is Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary Edition World Tour, and Destructoid got themselves some play time with an early version this weekend. Here’s the skinny:

‘DN32AEWT is a hybrid of the Megaton Edition and the Xbox 360 version of Duke Nukem 3D, incorporating different aspects of both; the aforementioned rewind function from the 360 and online multiplayer from Megaton Edition. In the vein of the recent Double Fine/LucasArts adventure game re-releases, you can also switch between render styles for Maximum Nostalgia or turn on developer commentary if you are more interested in Duke Nukem 3D as a cultural artifact.’

Yep, this sure sounds like something I want to get on board with.