Duke Nukem 3D - ALL 40 Levels Ranked from Best to Worst 

The news on the screen is OJ Simpson from the police chase he had.

As a kid I didn't find the drones very annoying. Just the idea of fighting onboard a spacecraft, and being able to see the earth and planets outside, was so mindblowing that I enjoyed every part of the game.

Lunar Reactor and Dark Side are personal favorites of mine. I was a bit surprised to hear someone call the red keycard orange.

56:19 the launch code is actually given to a player: it is located at the captain's chair (room after generator room, in which player gets through the vent)

the levels ,soundtrack, weapons..everything about this game was awesome

In E4M1 in the Mission Impossible vault room, if you use the jetpack to hover above the floor you won't trigger the alarms and waves of enemies, mimicking how in the movie Tom Cruise had to dangle above the floor.

In are 51 it isn't a rocket, it's the alien ship that was requisitioned by the US military in the movie Independence day, and the code is on the holographic screen with the teleporting assault commanders.

One thing I never realised about Launch Facility as a kid that I did as an adult is I'd assumed the explosion was build trying to make it look like the rocket was taking off, in it's own limited build engine way - only later did I recognise the rocket explodes, which I presume is a reference to the Challenger disaster.

The E1M2 sewers leads into the bar bathroom behind the toilet, it opens when you click the hand dryer

This was great! You were looking at it from a perspective that understands what makes a game fun and what types of tricks or rules a game needs to enforce in order to not only keep the playing having fun, but keep the player from playing the game in an un-fun way (if that makes sense lol). It's always interesting to see classics broken down like this, even if I've been playing them for over 25 years lol

Great video. My request for next FPS ranking is Blood! The chase seen you see on the TV in level 2, is actually from a real live news broadcast. it's OJ Simpsons trying to escape in his Bronco. Also in Tier Drops you mentioned you don't know how it works, dropping down the pipe? They use the same trick in the first episode where you drop down the vent. Halfway through the drop it teleports you to a different part of the map. So there isn't actually 2 areas on top of each other, they are actually quite far apart. Press tab to watch your map as you drop down.

Lunatic fringe does not teleport you anywhere. In the Build engine you can use the room over room trick in a way, that a full circle is actually 720 degrees instead of 360, you just need to carefully place the sector walls just to just a bit different coordinate. This way you can make even spiral staircases, but if you don't change the height of the sectors, you get impossible spaces. Comparing the underground train with Blood's train is not fair. The underground trains are moving. In the train level of Blood the environment textures move, the train is build as any other levels. Area 51 button combination: 4 buttons = 16 combinations, not that hard. If the 8 buttons are working together, then 256 combinations. A bit more tedious, but bearable. Yes, I played this level a long time ago to remember the combination :D

The secret in the Sewers in Red Light district has a hidden door that leads into the Mens Room, so it does loop to a regular part of the level. Also you missed the Secrete in LA Meltdown. The same building that you go in through the window to kill two aliens, there's another window along the outer ledge (it's the one the Atomic Health in front of it) that has another room with red lighting and more Ammo and Health pickups.

Hotel Hell has gotta be my favorite. Played countless deathmatches on this map.

The launch codes for the end of Area 51 are in the medical room on that transparent signboard.

Stadium in N64 Duke Nukem was actually a large indoor stadium and felt way better than the PC one. Cycloid Emperor was even a giant voxel-based enemy. Your editing and presentation on this vid is super detailed though, well done.

Faces of death can be accessed without cheats in the atomic edition - you have to use the exit on the abyss (outside the battlelord arena) which takes you to launch facility again. Then back to the abyss. Then go to the same exit and it then takes you to faces of death.

Humiliating the Cycloid Emperor in a thumbnail-sized clip, very nice.

The "rocket" you can get in, in the Area 51 map, is an UFO. It's a reference to the movie Independence Day. Also, the launch codes are written in several portions of the map as seen at 55:55

Great pace. Nice with focus on the commentary and footage with rankings as a bonus.

Dude, it drives me nuts every time you call the red card orange! You did it to boost the comments, confess! :D :D :D

@1:00:15 -- All these years later i never get tired of hearing that CRUNCH sound😅

Loved the idea of ranking levels like this. Plus, i think the way you break them down is pretty interesting. I hope you're able to keep making content like this. i'm sure this concept will work perfectly well with any classic or retro FPS of your interest (The Dooms and Quakes but also the Dusks and Ion Furys). I also agree that the proper way of covering these, is by order of appearance, just like you did. My only nitpick is that you should probably show the entire ranking at the very end of the video, but of course, is a small addition. Suscribed and definitely waiting for more!

I found the first level to be the most impressive. Having an FPS that actually takes place on earth blew my mind back in the day. Especially with the adult movie theater with toilets and an arcade and everything.

Nice video, would love to see more analysis like this.

LA Rumble its okay I guess!!?? It is the besst level, such good atmosphere. I couldn’t agree more that Duke is always discussed in a cultural context and not often enough as a game. Keep up the good work

Very well put together. When playing Duke Nukem 3D myself I always got the impression Freeway, Area 51 and Launch Facility were the top tier secret levels as they for the most part had comparable quality to the main levels. Tier Drops, Lunatic Fringe and Spin Cycle all had unique features but were really a showcase of what the build engine could do.

I can't believe we now got a Dean of Duke. Good shit!

In E1M2, the sewer does actually loop into a different area in the map, being the bathroom of the club.

4:55 that's not just any chase scene. It's the white Bronco chase when OJ Simpson was arrested for murder. Contemporaneously, pretty much anyone would have recognized that on the TV.

Great video! I've immensely enjoyed your analysis of the various aspects of level design - map layout, verticality, build engine effects, explosions, puzzles, enemy variety, lighting, music, real life-like locations, secrets and easter eggs - that make this game so much fun! Love your level choices, including not hating on E2. Personally, however, I did enjoy Spin Cycle quite a bit because of the chaos the moving conveyor belt creates! I feel most of the secret levels were meant to be creative diversions anyway.

Cool video mate. Love that YT algorithm recommends me such gems.

I have played only episodes 1-3 (and usually skipped 2) but this was a good video overview of the levels. Thank you.

Cool stuff! Looking forward to more content :)

Nice work on this!

Got a recommendation for this vid, saw your name, and as an old ROTT kid immediately went to your channel to satisfy my needs. Only to find that you have 2 vids of 2 of my other beloved games from the era, but none about what your name suggests! I feel like this needs rectification.

Very interesting - really enjoyed it. Albeit Duke3D was never one of my favorites some of the maps are very well designed and absolute classics. I think your verdict was spot on for the most part.

52:15 I always chucked a rocket in there, revealing the keycard

4:54 that's not just any "chase scene" that's THE police chase of the 90s 1994, ford bronco with a former football player inside ;D

The N64 version of the game made a lot of changes, some good and some bad, but one of the better ones was the Stadium level is actually finished out to look like a stadium, complete with tiered seating and an outer perimeter with concession stands, bathrooms etc. The Cycloid Emperor boss was also replaced on this version with a full 3D polygon version on himself that is ten times bigger and more intimidating looking but no less hard to beat, and kind of jars against the sprites used for all the other enemies. Curiously, while the Atomic Edition episode itself is not included, a few specific maps like Duke Burger, Area 52 and the Supermarket are ported faithfully as secret levels, and the Alien Enforcer enemy from the fourth episode is liberally parachuted into Lunar Apocalypse maps where it does kind of fit.

That "live news broadcast" on the TV in E1L2 was the famous OJ Simpson White Ford Bronco chase.

Superb job, thanks for the nostalgia

In Duke Burger level one thing i misunderstand is self-shrinking section. Out of all my playthroughs there wasn't any attempt where the glass will not be broken and thus i softlocked

Fantastic video all round

Interesting topic. Subscibed!

Nice video! 52:20 if the cannons annoy you, you can destroy them with the rocket launcher.

I remember the code of Area 51 being in a scientific board with dots opens and closed.

Thanks for the video!

Great video, subscribed! Love how you show the rankings, but I wish you had started at the worst level to the best.

The sewer DOES loop back into the bathroom behind the toilet. Secret door dude. Only opens from the toilet side after you destroy the toilet then try and open the wall.

I beat the entirety of DukeNukem64 (all enemies killed, of course) on the hardest difficulty without knowing you could shrink the non-boss Battlelords. I also don't think a lot of the what gets criticized in this game gets is all that big of a deal. I'm always enthralled when playing through the whole thing.

Hell yeah, now this is content.

It’s still one of my favorite PC games I play a lot

I played that game 20 years in a row online daily. And I built a lot of maps we played with up to 7 or 8 players.

Fun fact, the shrink ray didn't work on Battlelords before the atomic edition. Battlelords were avatars of hitscan terror.

Episode 4 secret "Area 51" didn't even need to solve the launch code. If y'pressed the "action" button where the exit symbol is hidden, Duke punched it thru the wall and the level would end. Don't believe me? Give it a try 😎

56:40 the codes for area 51 are written on the wall in other parts of the level

The drones can die in a ditch - I always despised them for what a pain to deal with they are. Only good thing about them is exploiting their stupidity by having them explode as you hide behind a closed door. Not a very Duke-like tactic but you gotta ease the pain where you can.

Many disagreements with this rank but still nice video. I still think most of the best levels are on Episode 3 because it is Duke Nukem 3D at it's best, so much you use everything in your arsenal on it. Everything.

great video :)

Faces of death was a part of the Psx version of duke nukem 3d too , being a secret level that could be found in a ufo level from the exclusive psx levels. As for ranking duke nukem levels I've always changed my opinion on some of them , i enjoy most of them and it's hard to rank them. Grew up with the n64 version as my first one, the freeway level had a unique police station added to it. Hotel hell might be my favourite and i appreciated flood zone more throughout the years compared to early on, especially the n64 version. Playing against bots on n64, my favourite by far was the pirate themed level that used a section of the Babe Land mission.

The point of Tier Drops level is that the pipe things that connect parts of the level are actually invisible teleporters and you get teleported to other parts, while looking like they are stacked over each other.

4:35 you can actually open the wall at the end and enter that bathroom beside the pool table.

As underdeveloped as the tram in Rabid Transit was, I *did* find it to be very memorable. I was in jr. high when I got the game, and my gamer friend and I thought it was neat as hell, and it felt very novel at the time. This was before Half Life's iconic train sequence. Anyway, great video, thanks.

This was a great video! I used to play this game all the time back in the day but never really got very far. It must have taken you quite a while to get all the screen shots and make this so thank you! Would you ever consider doing a similar video for Doom 2?

Felt the same way about Stadium as a kid, and tried to make what I thought the map should have been in the Day of the Toys map "Necessary Roughness."

Now THAT's what I call a top-list! Detailed analysis for each level, yet not too long and boring, yet again with pros AND cons given equal thought. ... aaand now do this for all other 357 games people mention in the comments!! (scnr. ✌subbed.)

Spin Circle is funny if you try to get all monsters to spawn (including the end-room) Battle Sentries before starting to fight them or just watch how they all blow each other up

On the Hotel Hell secret level: The manhole visible near the exit encourages blowing up that tree. Being able to blow up manholes popped up a few times in earlier episodes. As for the waterfall, stuff hidden behind waterfalls is a game cliche, and its an alcove (unique).

You seem to avoid using exploits like being able to gib Octobrains with one Devastator missile or the Sentry Drone door thing.

I'm one of those freaks the like EP2 the most for whatever reason and felt like most of EP3 insanely tedious with the exception of Rabid Transit and Hotel Hell. Awesome video nonetheless! Would love to see one done for the expansion packs and/or Blood.

4:35 it DOES loop back if you open it from the other side (press USE on the wall behind that toilet at 4:43)

2:11 Well, actually we just followed the street. We did not know we could jump. We didn't know about RPG. It's a secret place after all. We were killing monster to the right, then to the left (through the window). We were lurking around this window, unable to get inside. Certainly there was something going in inside, but doors are shut. Unable to solve this mystery, we had to proceed down the street, so kill another monster, then finally discover alternative entry to the cinema. You play as very experienced player and missed all that struggle. We were eventually discovering security cameras, and those cameras were showing quite mysterious view from some apartment. Street to the outside of apartment looked familiar, raising some questions. And then we went to check our suspicions. And we discovered this SECRET PLACE. What a rewarding experience. But you run straight inside, knowing it's there. It's not how it's been for first time players. By the way, do you know what are steroids for? By using steroids you can jump into window to the opposite side of street and finish level in record time. There is an achievement in Anniversary Edition

The gimmck of Warp Factor is that it's a (very abstract) version of the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek - look at the map from above and it's even shaped like the Enterprise, and a faithfully replicated Enterprise bridge from Star Trek The Next Generation can be found in a secret elevator.

Damn, Taradino Cassatt guy has wildly different opinions than me on duke3d map rankings! Still, it's good to see ole duke3d still getting some screen time smack dab in the middle of 2023. Gonna check any other videos ya got, hopefully you got some on rise of the triad (ROTT), 'cause this modernized wolf3d clone needs some more lovin', despite having some of the most boring maps i ever begrudingly waddled through! Edit: nah you ain't got any, might wanna do a rott map rating if you're feeling particularly masochistic, i'll be certainly entertained, especially if you let that wonderful rott midi music blast with a good soundfont.

in the second level, the "police chase" on the news is OJ's infamous white bronco lol

E1M2 - Blow up the wall in the toilet stall or destroy the toilets to drink the water for health.

Excellent video, been looking for FPS level reviews for a while. This look is exhaustive enough to give a good idea of each level, but doesn't bog down on minutiae. Very good balance and engaging style. Certainly will be waiting for more of these. Feedback: Instead of straight ranking, for me scoring 1 - 5 or A - F would be easier to get a grip whether each level would be considered "good" or "bad". That would give a better idea how each game compares to FPS genre levels in general. Would it be practical to make a final ranking best to worst or vice versa, where you could see the final list in one place? In the style of credits roll for example? Since you asked: here's my take on your rankings. Agree: Later part of Lunar Apocalypse has the best levels of the game; Occupied Territory, Lunar Reactor and Dark Side. As you mentioned, the feel isn't very "Duke" in those levels, but they stand on their own. EP2 is like a trippy filling in a sandwich of "regular Duke" of EP1 and EP3. Disagree: Spin Cycle. It's my favorite level because of its supreme gimmickiness and is just plain fun to play on a whole different level. As a "proper" FPS level it must feel overtly silly, but I like that. Same goes for Lunatic Fringe and Tier Drops. They feel nothing like a real place, and that otherworldly atmosphere makes them appealing to me. Abyss, while tedious as a level, is very atmospheric as well and a good sendoff to EP2's weirdness. Maybe reviewing Half-Life 1 chapters next? They should be distinguishable enough to make them rankable.

This is all very accurate. The past 2 years gave been on a retro FPS and worked my way through everything - Doom, Doom 2, the zillion wads, Quake and expansion packs, Shadow Warrior and expansion packs, Unreal and expansion packs, Heretic and all the expansion packs, and Duke nukem quickly lost my interest and frustrated me in exactly this way as outlined in this video. I thought it was just me, but your ranking system is exactly right. I lost total interest before I ever got tot he end of the lunar episode 2, and your points are 100% correct. the episodes worked and were so great and classic right up until he gets kidnapped and tried to be electrocuted and it all starts to drag just as you say. Thanks! I thought this was just me!

After e1m1 I instantly skipped to Dark Side to see its rank because in my mind there's no way that level deserves anything less than the 1st place. I guess 2nd place will do as well but come on, that level is a full adventure on its own.

Lunar reactor has got the best music theme top! Aliens, Say your prayers! Great video, thank you.

I'd really love to see you make a list on Blood. ❤️

This FPS have by far the most interesting and fun levels design of any shooters that I’ve played. My favorites ones are from Levelord and Allen Blum, a lot of verticality in most of their levels. It’s hard to disagree with Hollywood Holocaust being #1, this is peak DN3D level design and probably the best 1st level of any game of this genre. And hard to disagree for spin cycle, being one of the worst idea ever made, it was obviously the last one. Even if some peoples like to take jab a Randy, I think he did more than a good job as a level designer in this game. Too bad that the shrinker completely f-up all the balance of the game, they should have ammo starve the player just like the magnum in older Resident Evil game, not more than a couple dozen munitions for a whole episode. Personally I think this game and Quake 1 are the peak of 90’s shooters. Outstanding musics, level design, enemies encounter, gameplay and atmosphere in both of those games. Quake might have better enemies and gameplay but DN3D have ridiculously good level design. Duke It Out in D.C. and Caribbean Life’s a Beach have some solid level design, I presume you’ve probably already try those if you like Duke Nukem. Nuclear Winter is the best pack if you want to play garbage Duke. Pro tips: - You can take steroids while you are small, it will make you grow in size instantly, useful for the 3-4 obligatory shrinker section and the alien that can shrink you. - Like someone said, you can use a jet pack to don’t trigger the alarm, but you can simply stay on the computer, since it’s the floor that trigger the alarm. As a big fan of this game, it was really fun to watch you talk about all those 40 levels. I highly agree with Dark Side and some other, I might disagree with some of your ranking, like L.A. Rumble, but I am certainly not here to tell you what you should like and shouldn’t like. That doesn’t change the fact that this whole video was highly interesting to watch and hearing your opinion. I’ll have to watch the RTCW ranking, another great FPS.

I feel like i remember playing total meltdown on ps1 and faces of death level. There's a wall you can go through to exit. Its been many years since ive played

It's like Duke Nukem 3D only gets progressively worse as it moves on.

Do level rankings for Quake and Blood.

I agree with 2 best levels. Moon base music is the best. I also like rabbit transit

The Launch Code for the missiles in Area 51 is where the Yellow Key Card is @55:45 It is easy to miss because, besides the keycard, there's nothing else to draw your eye to it. Edit: Looking at the graphic for the code, it would've been easier to just place that on the bottom of the graphic, so when the player picks up the keycard, they can see the words launch code and see the sequence more easily at eye level.

4:35 - If my memory serves me right, one of the walls at the end of the corridor is movable, and connects to the strip club's toilets.

i spent hours playing this as a kid best times ever

Civvie hates the sentry drones.

From all the FPS I loved the Duke 3D the most in the 90s, but I never replayed it again recently. I play Doom all the time, I replayed all the Blood episodes recently also Shadow Warrior, but I have no need to play Duke for some reason(probably because of the enemies, they are not much fun to fight I guess, level design is still great tho). Maybe one day ;)

14:24 Faces of Death is also a secret map in the otherwise all new episode on the PS1 port of the game. (what a let down for a secret, huh?)

I feel sad for E2M9 from the original Doom. I remember it terrified me as a child, but got able to understand the narrative hints after a while (years) that it was about making the monsters fight each other. Two rooms that tell a story and introduce an unusual combat strategy at the time. Light years better than a circular room that causes motion sickness. (Okay, the three-key room paranauê at the end was unnecessary, Sandy Petersen) Anyway. Great video! I think my list would have been similar, because I also really like Lunar Apocalypse. It gives Duke Nukem a The Thing-like atmosphere (and soundtrack. God, the soundtrack). It's kind of claustrophobic and depressing, while at the same time the atmosphere doesn't lose its comical side. If Duke Nukem Forever had done something in that nonsense style, that actually carries a weight, instead of giving the protagonist more anabolics, I think the franchise could have been much more interesting.

Fun fact: On Hollywood Holocaust, if you crouch behind the box in the room after the arcade where the pig cops blow through the wall, you don't take damage.

The keys were Red, Yellow and Blue, you had to set the colour in Build so the game knows which door to unlock

Call me crazy but I thought Shadow Warrior had much better levels and consistently great levels. Would love a ranking for that game as well for us Wangheads(?). Great video!

Very cool. I would love to see something like this for the original Doom, only because I'm much more familiar with that one.

My favorite part of toxic dump is the hidden teleporter that lets you bypass a huge portion of the level and go directly to the normal exit.

Fucking ace video mate keep making them