Duke Nukem 3D Two Decades Later: An LGR Retrospective 

DUDE! Your Duke Nukem imitation is spot on.

This is one of my all-time favorite games. I still play the 32-Bit version (known as eduke) on my modern computers. I play a few minutes of Duke3d nearly every day. I know the game like the back of my hand. I've been playing it now for 20 years!

If duke nukem needed a new voice actor, this guy is perfect for it.

"i've got causality loops of steel" this has to be one of my favorite jokes from LGR to date, oh my god

One of the reasons this game was so great is it was the first time, that I can think of, that an FPS portrayed realistic locations (movie theater, strip club, hotels, etc) in a really effective way. That made it stand out. This made the gameplay, interactivity, weapons etc that much better.

What's crazy is that even when he's not doing the impression LGR still kind of sounds like Duke Nukem if he was just talking normally

holy crap that duke nukem impersonation....100% accurate. insta-subscribed.

Your commentary about all the interactivity is so true. When I was a kid I was amazed by all the buttons, destructible objects, etc. I would just stare at a wall and shoot bullet-holes in it; spelling my name, drawing, whatever. These little things are overlooked today, and frankly sound pretty silly, but back then it was amazing.

Your Duke voice always brings a smile to my face. You nail it so hard it always takes me a while to realize it isn't the actual game talking.

Duke 3D is one of absolute icons of gaming 90s. It's still perfectly enjoyable 25 years later.

Jon St John once tweeted no one has made a perfect Duke impression this far. I guess he never heard your impression.

I also had that level design handbook. I also stayed up for days at a time creating my own levels. I also created my own house and turned it into a deathmatch level for my brother and I.

I've had this game on Steam for like eight years. This convinced me to finally give it a spin.

"Damn I'm good" is the email notification I get for making a sale; I work in digital marketing.

I remember taking this game to my dad’s work and playing death match against his coworkers over their LAN. Mid 90’s office LAN party. It was definitely the best way to play multiplayer at the time, and I kicked their asses across the “intranet.”

This game made me grow a beard. And I was only 7 years old.

Duke Nukem 3D had more interactivity than most FPSs from the last 10 years or so.

There was nothing like Duke 3D. It's so surprising there wasn't a sequel until YEARS later.

3:54 the double boot! Had to bind two separate keys to do that but totally worth it.

You've actually never reviewed Duke 3D before? I could have sworn you would have done it by now. This review was a long time coming.

I know you've done it before, but god damn that Duke impression, man. I'd struggle to tell you and the original VA apart.

Duke guy voice at the end was an great idea, thanks for you video!

One objection, Duke wasn't originally just a generic tough guy action hero. He was also a bestselling author and Oprah fan.

I had no idea there was even an editor. So very cool!

"Suck it down!" "Damn, I'm looking good." "You're an inspiration for birth control" "I've got balls of steel!" *"It's time to kick and chew bubblegum... And I'm all out of gum."* Duke Nukem's one liners never get old.

I love the aesthetic of games from this era, like the city skyline in the first level.

1:37 the best 20 seconds in the history of LGR.

1:46 I couldn't stop laughing at this part. Damn you Clint!

Been waiting for a stand alone review of duke3d for a long time and you did not dissapoint! This is a really great, highly objective review, which at the same time shows your passion and love towards this monument of a game. You, sir, are a true duke fan, and this is a perfect ode to the king.

Seriously wanna play this game now.

I love the enthusiastic way, you are talking! Really nice to listen to! Thx man

Back in 1996, when we would routinely go to the local business expo, (I was 6 years old), most of it was boring. But for that one expo, and that one expo only, the local computer shop had a PC running Duke Nukem 3D, and they would let you play it (much like Target used (?) to let you play consoles). I spent the entire expo playing the first couple levels. It was the most amazing experience ever. Wolf3d was in some far off castle, Doom was on Mars, but Duke3d was on Earth, and had libraries, and pig cops, and nightclubs. The most amazing thing ever was flicking a light switch and having it work, not just be a texture on the wall. Of course, I never really got into and played Duke3d much after that experience because Quake came out. But that experience stuck with me, much like the experience you described when you reviewed Doom.

A gun control ad came up on this video, makes it even more amusing. Love this game! Great review buddy.

I seriously thought it was John St. John at the end :D

Alright man, well you, Gmanlives, and plenty others finally did it. I regularly hear praise of the game and i saw there was a ps4 copy for the 20th anniversary and i picked it up on black friday. Just recently (actually on christmas morning) i had finished the final new level and now was ready to rewatch all the reviews that brought me there and appreciating the passion from everyone because as gman would say "damn son, you pop that sucker you, youre gonna have a good time" I havent felt the joy and excitment from a game in a hot minute, and the fact that its a 20 year old game with minor changes blows my mind. I was staying up late with the glow of the tv illuminating me, not wanting to save and come back in the morning because i had just one more chapter to go. Its aged like fine wine and its one of the most satisfying experiences ive had with a game, well worth the 15$ i paid. My only regret is its yet another thing I'll love forever but will always only be able to imagine what it was like when you were playing it at launch as a new game

It's over 20 years old, but it's still my favorite PC game of all time. It re-defined the genre and has never been matched

I'd love to see that same old-school childhood reminding review on 1997's Blood !

Game manuals... Long gone but not forgotten! :)

My first experience with Duke Nukem was actually Time To Kill on PS1. I played the hell out of that game up one side and down the other until I memorized every secret and knew it all like the back of my hand. Loved that game. Then I lent it to a friend and ended up never getting it back. Some time after getting into it though, I learned that among the handful of games my Uncle had installed on his mid-90s-era Acer desktop PC was Duke3D. I scrambled to try it out, of course, and it blew my mind, not just because what an awesome gaming experience it was, but how different it was from Time To Kill, which to be honest was more like Tomb Raider than Duke3D(not that that made it a bad game ofc). Since then, Duke3D has become one of my all-time favorite titles on PC, and is on the short list of games I never get tired of, and still go back to regularly as the years wind on. I just picked it up on my Nintendo Switch Lite, even.☢

What other game could give you a rocket launcher in the first 30 seconds and make it work?

This was all I expected. Duke voice, interesting tangents and fantastic research. You've done it again Clint, you maniac.

I literally just finished Duke 3D's singleplayer campaigns earlier today and I can attest that this game absolutely holds up.

Omg this is amazing. My dad had a computer business when I was a kid in the 90s and I am now left with a garage full of old computer stuff and after watching this I went and found the duke nukem cd. I loved this when I was a kid. He also played a game called mdk a lot and it was interesting

"Duke talk" should be in your list of skills, were you to be filling out a resume. Hats off to you sir.

14:19 It me! I had never played multiplayer Duke 3D before then, and it turned out to be ridiculously fun.

LazyGameReviews is relaxing to watch,I love listening to you, your voice is really friendly and you know what you're talking about so thats enjoyable! And damn Duke Nukem 3d is a blast from the past!

In the karaoke bar, Duke can sing "Born to be Wild" in that microphone. Found that out by accident and was delighted.

Your Duke impression just caused my balls of steel to hit the subscribe button. If They ever need a back up voice actor for the Duke you would be first in line.

I had no idea you loved Duke Nukem, Clint. ;)

man I love this game, like you it's what got me into modding, there where just so many fun possibilities. oh man I wish I could remember the name but there was one mod I played all the time. it was a total conversion for the game that turned it into a Vietnam war game, it was so much fun

The editor for this game is what gave me my love for CAD drafting and gave me a boost for my career as a mechanical engineer

Episode 1 Level 1 will forever be special to me. My and my best friend must have played the shareware version using modem-to-modem connection for hours and hours and hours. That level was so great though because it had so many secrets and places to hide.Our death matches became more like a strategy thing then a straight up brawl. Pipe bombs in the elevators and whatnot. It was damn brilliant.

Thank you for bringing back a memory! Wow.. this old game.. it was such a special game =P Great review! I love these videos!!

Man, your John St. John is spot on. I'm glad you finally reviewed this, a game I spent countless hours with both by myself and with friends! Did your Atomic Edition big box have any 17 year old coupons inside? Haha. Hope to see a Doom review from you some day!

I grew up playing Duke 1 and 2 and just recently started playing Duke 3D. Does anyone else think it's insane that you can't destroy the security cameras? In Duke 1 and 2 you actually got a bonus for destroying all of them, and those were simple run & guns. Duke 3D has so much cutting edge interactivity and destructible props, but the cameras are one of the few things you can't destroy.

I didn't have a PC back then. Somewhat of a blessing, since it forced me to improve my coding skills on some old computers that didn't play addictive and nauseating newschool games... But Duke Nukem 3D.. It was so cool, in basically all aspects: technical, gameplay wise, artistically, and in terms of humor.. I just dreamed of owning a PC because of that. I was much less impressed with Doom, Quake or Descent.. I was less impressed with even Unreal or Halo. All of those were stand-out FPS, but when it comes to the whole package, I think Duke Nukem 3D is one of the best FPS of all time. Hell, even when Quake came along and took the technical crown... my class mates went back to Duke Nuke after a while to settle their LAN death matches. Enough said. A great detailed retrospective. Thank you!

I use to work for AOL in 96. I would bring disks to work to use there t3 connection to download all that I wanted for duke and doom. It was fine as long as what ever you get is from their severs. I was working IT so it was all good. Those were the days.

LGR finally reviews Duke Nukem 3D? *INSTANT LIKE*

Oh crap! That duke outro voice got me! I thought it's the original voice actor! Damn, you're sounding good!

What a great review, and trip down memory lane. I myself am actually a game developer, and this game was critical to that happening. Sure, Doom got me into PC gaming, but it was Duke that got me into MP and mods. Thanks for the great video

This review just screams ME. Man I also love this game to DEATH. One of the best FPS games EVER MADE.

I’ll always have fond memories playing this game and I loved just exploring the game.

This was the very first game I ever created mods for, adding a 'nuke' weapon, custom textures and designing levels which made copious use of the shrink gun to miniaturise yourself. It's one of those games which still holds up today.

*I'll never forget the first time playing this and my friend was like "hit space bar when your close to the stripper" .... HOLY SHIT!! haha ahhh the good'ol days!*

Oh man... memories :) Some teens were chasing chicks, I was rocking Duke Nukem 3D. NO REGRETS!!! :)

This was a ground-breaking game for so many reasons. Yup! I too was a level designer.

1:29 can't believe they didn't included Ken Silverman, the father of Build Engine without him DN3D wouldn't never existed.

Officially the best Duke review on the internet

This game grabbed me by the balls when I first encountered its Atomic Edition at a friend's house, and I spent my very next allowance purchasing it. Didn't stop playing every day after school until I'd beaten it, too. A near flawless title, in my opinion.

Duke Nukem 3D was a game that my dad played when it came out in the late 90's and when I was 7 he showed it to me and taught me how to play it (with adult content off). I certainly agree that is the best pc game of the 90's and even the early 2000's. I still play it often on my PS3 and pc and still a fun game to play.

Great review! I like when you slip in and out of having a Duke voice.

This review put a big ol' smile on my face. Thank you, Clint! Oh, liked how you kept the music in Sound Blaster 16 FM.

And for anyone that hasn't actually played the game yet, yes, he actually starts the second boss battle by proclaiming "I'm gonna rip your head off and shit down your neck!" With notably more success than the original user of that particular line.

The Octobrains still give me the chills every time. Especially when wearing headphones.

Oh the memories... My mom getting crazy with the loud explosions, shotguns, and Duke pain scream noises when I was playing through modem connection with my friends... Still my top fav game, and I'm still playing and working in endless map projects... Great review, man!

I've been a subscriber since your Duke Nukem retrospective years ago and it's great to see a vastly expanded review for this amazing game. May I suggest doing an addendum video that compares all the different ways to play Duke Nukem 3D on the market today? I've been meaning to replay the game, however I lost my copy and it's a tad overwhelming to decide between EDuke32, picking up the Atomic Edition again and playing it straight, using the High Resolution Pack, or buying the Megaton Edition. I know you reviewed Duke: Nuclear Winter way back too, but I would love to see reviews of Duke It Out In D.C., Duke Caribbean: Life's a Beach, Duke - It's Zero Hour, Duke!ZONE I & II, Duke Xtreme, Duke Assault, Duke Nukem's Penthouse Paradise, and even some of the unofficial add-ons if possible. Here's to more of the king on LGR in the future! (Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find a copy of The Duke Nukem 3D Level Design Handbook simply for curiosity's sake.)

Best all around atmosphere of any 90s shooter. The humor, violence, and arsenal were top notch.

Bought this when it came out. Logged many many hours playing via modem against a friend. One of the best games of all time for sure. Fond memories!

Your love for Duke has rubbed off on me and I haven't even played it yet. Love the character

I love the Duke games. Yes...even Forever.

"Damn! Those alien bastards are gonna pay for shooting up my ride!" is easily one of the most iconic opening lines in video game history. Unsurprisingly, as John Saint John is a phenomenal voice actor that really brings the "egotistical action movie hero" out in every line Duke says.

After watching this ever time I watch one of your videos I can’t help but hear that duke impression

I discovered your channel a couple hours ago, been on a nostalgia trip ever since. Duke Nukem 3D was the first proper video game I ever played. I was 10. My dad recommended it. Good man.

Oh now this brings back memories! I loved this game! My husband figured out how to get into the files and make yourself invincible, so that's how I always played (I was prone to getting squished or blowing myself up and that kept the frustration down). :D I guess the only problem to that was that I could play way longer at a time than I normally could and would have dreams involving Pig Cops and Octobrains. O_O I think we had the Kill-A-Ton collection. I also liked Duke 1 and 2. ;D

Man, I love those pipebombs, best FPS weapon ever.

Man, this takes me back. Way back in the day, the mid to late 90s lol, the computer teacher at my high school allowed us to put Duke Nukem on every computer in the computer lab. After school, we'd all gather in the lab and have massive Dukematch battle royals. No way a school would allow that today lol. The joy of seeing your friend lose his mind when you hit him with rocket number 20 from a secret hiding spot was pure gold. Best game ever. lol

Dude, that's an amazing Duke impression. Subbed.

I used to do quake modding back in high school and used a program called Worldcraft to make maps. Those textures you flashed over looked very similar to the quake ones haha. Have you ever used Worldcraft/Hammer Clint?

"You're an inspiration for birth control"...this was an all time favorite, too bad the 360 was so bland in comparison.

Wolfenstein, Xwing, Doom 1+2, Heretic/Hexen, Secret of Monkey Island, C&C, Duke3d, Shadow Warrior, Warcraft 1, Descent, among others. Such a classic era for PC gaming. Now there's tens of thousands of games to sort through.

Your video are thoughtful and informative. Quite frankly, I think you are one of the best game reviewers.

So after watching - to be honest, bullet holes didn't become a standard until, idk, 2007?, and I can't remember a single other game with animated blood splatters that streak down the wall, it usually is a static texture. Especially since many game designers have forgotten concept of "immersion", as contextual controls with over-the-top 3rd person animations (often for instant melee kills, that have also crept to DOOM via Brutal Doom and DOOM 4) that take you out of the game and remind you that it's just this, a game, became fashionable for.. some reason.

I sure played a lot of this in 1996....but, several months later...I was introduced to ...Quake!

Back in the day, i got a frantic call from my buddy. All i could hear at first was guns blazing and things dying, then his voice: DO YOU HEAR THIS? CAN YOU TELL WHAT IT IS!!? I dared but dream, could it be? Did his parents bestow upon him an upgrade for his holy shrine? That was indeed the case, i got off the phone, left my 386 behind, hopped on my bike and blew like the wind over to his house. The next hours were spent in amazement. Good times.

Those feels when you can't tell if the ending narration is actually Jon St. John or just LGR's spot-on impression.

Wow, after all these years I didn't realize there was an editor and online part of the game.

I aws only able to play Duke Nukem 3D on the N64, but still was fun. Also with the splitscreen you could play 4 players deathmatch, the stadium was the best satge for that since it was the more simple.

I'd just like to say that your Duke impression is fucking perfect.

The greatest thing about the editor was, after spending ages working with it I bought a level CD in a store, played a few and deemed the majority of the levels to be utter shit. I remember it so clearly. Discovering tricks like light sources casting directed lighting, texture trickery, then printing out the entire help file as reference and bringing life into the game. To this day there are still many songs from the 90s that I directly connect to using the build editor because I used to listen to the CDs while I worked at it.

Your Duke voice is sick!