Serious Duke 3D Review

Introduction
Did you ever wish Duke Nukem 3D was in real 3D style? The game that I am going to review today is the first episode of Duke Nukem 3D in real 3D. This game is called Serious Duke 3D and it is made with the Serious Sam engine, this is also why you need Serious Sam 3 BFE if you want to play this game but I can assure you that this game is worth it! Not only does the game transform the complete game into 3D there are also expanded areas and new weapons to find. I have only found two flaws with this mod/fangame, only episode one is available. The other issues also come with a pro, there are also cutscenes but the models are a little stiff sometimes. You will also find the character from Ion Fury.

What did I think before playing Serious Duke 3D?
I came across this game by chance when just scrolling through some Facebook posts, I was immediately excited and started to look around for information.
I started to look up information on how to play this game and what I needed for the installation, I found out I need Serious Sam 3 BFE, that was no problem since I have already reviewed that game!
The trailers that I saw enticed me to quickly start up this game to kick some aliens, I also noticed there are many new secrets and places to explore.
Any new Duke adventure is a, yes please, for me. There are some minor flaws that I noticed when I was looking up trailers and information.

I rate Serious Duke 3D with an 8.0 before playing.
The idea of a new Duke Adventure looks promising but I did not know what to expect exactly but nonetheless, I was ready to re-visit some iconic places in 3D

Story
I was quite glad to see some cutscenes in the story, the story is not much different from the original Duke Nukem 3D. Duke returns after beating the rigelatins and Duke finds out that aliens have taken the babes. Nobody steals our chicks and lives! Track down the leader of the aliens and kill him! Sadly, the story ends rather quickly due to this only being episode one of Duke Nukem 3D.

I rate the story of Serious Duke 3D with a 7.0.
My biggest flaw was that only episode one was featured, I tried to reach out to Syndroid, the maker of Serious Duke 3d to ask if other episodes are planned. I did not get any response but I would play the other episodes in a heartbeat!

Gameplay
In this game it is, of course, your goal to destroy all those pesky aliens but what is the best way to kill those pesky aliens? There is a plethora of ways to kill the aliens and as you progress through the levels you will find new weapons.
There is no gun with infinite ammo but you do have your mighty foot, you can smash bones with the mighty foot of Duke. You will need to keep your health bar high when shooting those aliens otherwise you will die, the save system works the same as in Serious Sam which means that you have an easy to access save and reload for when you die. My deaths are most commonly from falling of stuff, this is a problem that still persists after many years.

As you progress through the levels while killing aliens you will find keycards, you will need these keycards to continue through the levels. There are also places where you need to defeat waves of aliens before you can use the key card. There was enough ammo to go around and also enough health pickups, I needed these health pickups badly in the toxic dump, this level hates me!

There are also a few bosses to find like a giant octabrain, you cannot just blast the giant octabrain but you need a certain strategy to win, don’t think you can kill all those minions and that they stay away! There are also some new enemies to defeat like a lizard man or a pig cop riding a tank instead of a flying machine. There are also a few humans which made the game more realistic to me, even though those puny humans cannot do what Duke does, they still need to acts as if there is an actual alien invasion!

I rate the gameplay of Serious Duke 3D with an 8.0.
The gameplay is very fun even though the first episode only lasts about 2 hours, the new expansions in the levels make it worth to play through episode 1 in 3D!

Sound and graphics
The graphics are very good, but you can see that Syndroid with help from some other people recreated the world of Duke Nukem 3D in a splendid 3D way. The expansions are great and make it refreshing to play through if you have played Duke Nukem too much and know the levels inside out. There are some assets that have been taken from other Duke Nukem games but that was not a big issue for me.
There are some cutscenes with lines taken from many Duke Nukem games but it was done awesome but the models are stiff. The animations are laggy but nonetheless, Syndroid did a wonderful job of making cutscenes even though they are not perfect. I like the idea! The secrets have also been overhauled to look great in 3D!

The soundtracks sound just like I remember from Duke Nukem, nothing special to mention here. The sound effects and voice acting was performed great, many different lines from the Duke series make a comeback. Somehow, I found a non-playable character which I did not recognize at first, it turns out this character is from Ion Fury which 3D realms created. This nod to 3D realms is very appreciated! The character from Ion Fury uses catchy lines as well but I like Duke Nukem much more. In the end, you team up in a giant battle which was more fun than I had anticipated.

I rate the sound and graphics of Serious Duke 3D with an 8.0
Even though the models and animations are very stiff I am still giving the sound and graphics a rating of 8.0. It is amazing what Syndroid managed to achieve in an engine created for Serious Sam, I can only hope that the other episodes will follow!

What did I think of Serious Duke 3D after playing?
Before I started playing Serious Duke 3D I did not know what I was getting into, this game did not run fluently as I did have crashes.
I did have a lot of fun playing, exploring the new areas was fun and well thought out, the cutscenes were a nice touch even though they might need some work.
The new enemies and bosses are designed well and they explode very well, I am still bad at jumping in Duke Nukem games.
The new shrink ray area in the second level was my least favorite but it was still a very good idea from Syndroid.
Everyone that loves Duke Nukem will have a great time while playing this game, we finally get a great 3D duke game but alas there is only one episode.
Serious Duke 3D did exceed my expectations and this game was easy to install, the only backfire is that you need Serious Sam 3 BFE.

Video with a full walkthrough coming soon, the video is huge and the upload process has stopped midway through a few times.

I rate Serious Duke 3D with an 8.0 after playing.
Even though the game exceeded my expectations there are still some problems like the missing episodes or that you need Serious Sam 3 BFE to play.
The cutscenes are a fun touch and they add a lot to the experience but they still need some touching up before they are fully functional.

Personal Rating
Wait, do you still need to hear my personal rating? I always have a blast when kicking aliens and blowing out their brains. I had an awesome epic kill on the endgame boss with a shotgun in his face!

My personal rating of Serious Duke 3D is 9.5.
Duke rules forever!

Pros
– Duke has finally gone into full-fledged 3D in the old school style.
– The levels are expanded and lets you explore new areas.
– New enemies and bosses await some ass-kicking from you.
– There is a new alien shotgun that you can use, time for dealing out some karma shotgun!
– Serious Duke 3D is crafted with the engine of Serious Sam.
– Big scale battles with hordes of aliens to blow up. (Serious Sam flashbacks anyone?)
– There are many more secrets for you to find.
– I can read the menu at the Duke Burger. (not uninterrupted though, those pesky aliens want to shoot me!)

Cons
– The cutscenes and animations are stiff.
– Toxic dump hates me, even more, this time around.
– I had loads of crashes when playing this game, in my walkthrough I crashed around five times per playthrough.
– Only episode one is fully recreated without the secret levels.

I had a lot of fun when playing Serious Duke 3D and I expect anyone that loves the Duke Nukem franchise will also love this game! Somebody is going to pay me for making me find all those key cards!
The final rating of Serious Duke 3D is…Drumroll…

7.8

Let me know what you think about this game in the comments.
I hope you liked reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!