Duke Nukem: Time to Kill

Duke Nukem: Time to Kill

Travel through various time-periods as Duke Nukem, blasting your way through countless eras of Pig Cops and Motherbrains, and get a little R&R along the way.

Overview

Duke Nukem: Time To Kill is a Playstation exclusive third-person shooter and was the first third-person 3D Duke Nukem game. Time To Kill features recognizable enemies that appeared in the classic Duke Nukem 3D, new environments, weapons and a new story revolving around Duke trying to stop the aliens from altering history. As Duke attempts to stop the alien menace he must travel through time which leads to the inclusion of many classic settings as levels, such as a Wild West level and a level set in Roman times.

As the first third-person Duke Nukem game, the game borrowed elements from games such as Tomb Raider in an attempt to connect with the PlayStation audience and refresh the gameplay. Although this was successful to some degree and provided a new challenge, the gameplay was not as smooth and functional as some people would have liked and had some similar flaws to the games which it borrowed ideas from. The fact that the seminal 3D game had built up such a cult reputation did not help the switch from First-Person perspective to third.

Time To Kill features a 28 mission single-player campaign and also features a 2-player competitive deathmatch mode.

Plot

In Time To Kill, the intro video starts out with Duke arriving at a bar where the infamous Pig Cops make their appearance via teleportation. The Pigs turn Duke's macho motorcycle into a small pink bicycle which subsequently leads Duke to demolish them.

In the first level (a hub stage for teleporting to new levels), Duke learns that the aliens are planning to travel through time to alter the history of the planet to suit their needs. Duke quickly realizes he needs to acquire 3 special crystals to power a time machine will which will allow him to track the aliens wherever they tread and do what Duke does best. As Duke follows the aliens, he is taken to classic settings from history such as a Medieval setting with the large castle and a Roman theme which has Duke sporting a fantastic toga.

Duke will return to the first level on several occasions after completing the altered history levels, where once again he must acquire the 3 crystals to activate the machine once more and progress.

Gameplay

Duke Nukem: Time To Kill controlled and played very similarly to Tomb Raider, with a behind-the-character view that stuck always to Duke's back. The game was very action-focused, with some semi-acrobatic environmental exploration and mild puzzles. The game also contained Duke's trademark sense of humor to a good degree although some of the jokes weren't received as well as some of the more memorable ones from Duke Nukem 3D. There were also environmental references and parodies of several films and games, some of which Duke himself comments on throughout the game.

Levels

  • Mission 1: Time to Kill
  • Mission 2: Duke Hill
  • Mission 3: Miner 69er
  • Mission 4: Gold And Guns
  • Mission 5: The Reaper
  • Mission 6: Obey Or Die
  • Mission 7: The Family Jewels
  • Mission 8: Resistance Is Feudal
  • Mission 9: Holy Terror
  • Mission 10: Wing'ed Death
  • Mission 11: Pig Factory
  • Mission 12: Hog Heaven
  • Mission 13: Let The Games Begin
  • Mission 14: Blood Baths
  • Mission 15: Moloch The Gatekeeper

Weapons

  • Mighty Boot

Duke's melee attack, a good kick to the face.

A new weapon featured in Time To Kill, the throwing axe was a fairly novel weapon although ultimately not super useful.

Another new weapon, the Crossbow is fairly useful at certain points in the game.

Duke's standard sidearm, a large Desert Eagle. Found in the first level of the game, the Desert Eagle provides some reasonable firepower early in the game and plentiful ammo, but as expected at later stages of the game you will require something with a bit more firepower.

  • Combat Shotgun

The Combat Shotgun is also found in the first level, a good weapon for narrow spaces and close quarters, the shotgun offers pretty decent firepower, especially at point blank.

The Buffalo Rifle is as expected pretty powerful, but only used in certain situations. Makes it's first appearance in the Wild West themed level.

The Gatling Gun is an excellent weapon for tougher foes and bosses, and also is fun for mowing down Pig Cops in no time.

The RPG (or Rocket Propelled Grenade) is a very powerful weapon that mounts on dukes head with the twin launchers across each shoulder. Excellent for boss fights and tougher enemies, and with plentiful ammo can be used for grunts too.

The Flamethrower is a novel weapon that is pretty powerful too, but obviously only in close quarters. Good for setting enemies on fire but only used scarcely, much more fun in split-screen deathmatch.

  • Energy Weapon

The Energy Weapon is found at specific points in the game and in multiplayer. A surprisingly useful weapon that looks cool to use, spewing out tentacle-like beams of green energy that fries grunts in no time, and occasionally your split-screen opponent.

  • The Freezer

A weapon with a history in the Duke Nukem franchise, the freezer returns in Time To Kill, and still works very much as expected, freeze the enemy and then either quickly shoot him or bash kick him in the face with the Mighty Boot.

  • Pipe Bomb

Again, another returning weapon from the franchise, the Pipe Bomb is a remotely detonated explosive which duke can throw into position and detonate when an unsuspecting (or more likely chasing) enemy comes waltzing along.

Dynamite is a new weapon added to Time To Kill, and is another weapon that ties in with the theme of history and time. Found first in the Wild West level, Duke soon learns how to fling dynamite at his foes as makeshift grenades. Quite powerful and good for groups of enemies, but is on a set timer so requires player to do some planning.

The ultimate in grenade technology, and the ultimate in referential weaponry, the Holy Hand Grenade is a supremely powerful grenade which when properly used can cause some pretty serious damage. Can be difficult to always be accurate with, but when used in split-screen the Holy Hand Grenade is a pretty good laugh.

Gadgets

The Jet Pack allows Duke to, as you might expect, fly. Does not last forever but can be very useful for quickly getting to difficult areas of a level or finding secrets.

The Bio Mask is only used at certain points in the game when the environment can be hazardous to Duke's health, like poison gas.

Goggles are Duke's night vision, and provide relatively decent viewing in dark areas of the game.

Makes Duke run faster, kick harder and generally gives him a great adrenaline rush.

The Medkit is found and restores Duke's health, is stored in the inventory until used. The Medkit comes in small and large varieties.

Keys are used to unlock doors and areas in the game otherwise inaccessible. The keys and access cards can be found just in the game world and sometimes on enemies corpses.

The time portals that Duke must use need these Crystals to be activated.

Gives Duke a pretty big health boost, allowing his health to exceed 100%.

As expected the Armour gives Duke a little bit more protection from firepower and other attack.

There are many varieties of ammo for each weapon and they give you more rounds to fire or more fuel to burn or energy to blast.

Enemies

  • Drak

The Drak is the standard alien grunt, you will encounter many of the reptilians as Duke battles his way through the ages.

  • Heavy Drak

Bulkier and tougher than their smaller cousins, they are also armed with a Gatling Rifle. A fairly formidable foe.

The Pig Cops have a long history with the Duke Nukem series, and return again in Time To Kill. They do not pose a huge threat although they can be nasty in groups.

  • Bat

Bats are only found in certain areas, namely caves, and can be quite irritating - and difficult to shoot.

  • Hellwing

Resembles a large bat, but shoots fireballs from it's mouth at Duke.

  • Necrobrain

Once again a returning monster from the franchise, the Necrobrain is a formiddable foe who can take a fair bit of punishment. It uses it's powerful brain to fire orbs of mental energy as a weapon.

  • Larval Necrobrain

The babies of the bigger Necrobrains, the larval stage of the alien cannot fire balls of energy but instead envelop themselves in a deadly plasma field.

Robots are arguably the toughest non-boss enemies in the game. Armed with proximity mines, autocannons or missible launchers, they are tough and relentless.

Reaper is a pretty gnarly dude.
Reaper is a pretty gnarly dude.
  • Reaper (Boss)

A massive tank-like robot that rocks around on tank treads packing some pretty serious firepower.

The Dragon is a huge creature that can, of course, blast Duke with a pretty mean fire breath attack.

  • Moloch (Boss)

Moloch is the greatest of all Drak warriors. He is a behemoth compared to Duke and armed with some pretty serious firepower. Moloch rules the Draks with an iron fist.