Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project Preview

By Ron Dulin, GameSpotPosted Apr 9, 2002 4:55 pm PT

The king is back! It's not exactly Duke Nukem Forever, but the next best thing is almost here.

Duke Nukem will return sooner than you think. While the world waits for Duke Nukem Forever, a small development company called Sunstorm Interactive (creator of the recent Carnivores: Cityscape) has been building Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project. In this new chapter in the Duke saga, everyone's favorite red-tank-topped Übermensch is enlisted to defeat a new foe named Mech Morphix, who is infesting New York City with a toxic substance called GLOPP (gluon liquid omega phased plasma). Duke must explore the Big Apple from its rooftops to its subways to rid the city of Mech Morphix and once again make the earth safe for exotic dancers. He'll have an arsenal of weapons and snappy one-liners at his disposal. The only catch? Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project will be a return to the series' side-scrolling action game roots.

Duke will once again have to make the world safe for strippers.

Following the success of 1990's Commander Keen (the first game from id Software), Apogee released the first Duke Nukem game in April 1991. Like Commander Keen, the game was a colorful side-scroller inspired by games on the SNES and Sega Genesis. Duke Nukem was a relative success, and a sequel followed in 1992. But it wasn't until the third game in the series, Duke Nukem 3D, that Duke became a household name. Flush from the success of Duke Nukem 3D, Apogee slowly transformed into 3D Realms, and Duke Nukem Forever went into its infinite development cycle. But Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project is almost here, and it may tide fans of the series over until 3D Realms declares its long-awaited sequel "done."

GameSpot was given a nine-level press version of Manhattan Project for the purposes of this preview. The demo shows off the first three episodes of the game: a series of skyscrapers, Chinatown, and a set of mutant-infested subway tunnels. And though Duke has appeared in a series of mediocre spin-offs, Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project promises to be more than just another in the long line of Duke Nukem-licensed games. It's a good-looking modern update of the genre, with enough bells and whistles to make you forget that you're basically playing a high-tech version of Elevator Action.

Key cards. You'll have to find lots of key cards.

The first level serves as an easy introduction to Manhattan Project. You begin with just a pistol, and you'll immediately be up against the mutant pigcops that will be familiar to any Duke fan. You run to the right, jump from fire escape to fire escape, and grab power-ups to make your job easier. Power-ups include a double damage upgrade, a force field, and a jetpack that lets you zoom up and over to hard-to-reach ledges. There are secret areas to find, and you'll have to free imprisoned strippers and grab "nuke" symbols that act sort of like the coins in Sonic the Hedgehog or the bananas in Donkey Kong Country--get all 10 in a level and you'll get a special surprise. And, in keeping with age-old side-scroller tradition, each episode ends with a boss showdown.

As you progress, you'll find new weapons and monsters. There's a whip-wielding mechanical dominatrix, a monkeylike acrobat, and huge cockroaches than grow from GLOPP. Duke will pick up the typical first-person shooter weapons--a shotgun, a machine gun, and remotely detonated pipe bombs. There's also the GLOPP gun, which fires a blast of green energy at enemies and shrinks them to an adolescent form. Pigcops will become little tusked piglets, and the mutants will become insects. After shrinking them, Duke can stomp on them, resulting in a satisfying squish. Though not present in the demo, the game will also include a rocket launcher and a pulse cannon.

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