| Duke Nukem: Critical Mass | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Frontline Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Deep Silver Apogee Software, LLC |
| Series | Duke Nukem |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo DS |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Duke Nukem: Critical Mass is a shooter game developed by Frontline Studios and published by Deep Silver and Apogee Software, LLC for the Nintendo DS. A version for the PlayStation Portable began development, but it was never released. [1]
The Earth Defense Forces attempts to ensure the Earth's continued security by monitoring the future with the help of their own time machine, but both their agent and a special team sent there have been confirmed MIA. Knowing something is wrong, General Graves sends in the famous Duke Nukem.
Duke Nukem: Critical Mass is largely a run and gun shooter game, however, several different game modes are available throughout the game. There are first-person shooting sequences when the player picks up a sniper rifle, and several third-person and top-down shooting elements. The boss battles are presented in pure third-person shooter gameplay. The game includes about 36 levels, many different weapon types, enemies, and bosses.
In July 2008, license holder Apogee Software, LLC released a four-minute teaser trailer at E3 2008 for a planned Duke Nukem Trilogy for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) and Nintendo DS. The trailer had no gameplay footage, but rather a series of logos and game-related art. [2] A co-publishing deal was reached with Deep Silver to ensure wide distribution of the titles. [3] In March 2009, Apogee attended the Game Developers Conference and showed the game off to GameSpot , [4] which released a short video interview including some the gameplay for both versions recorded on a handheld camera. [5] Duke was seen running around a city landscape from a third-person perspective in the PSP version of the game, and platforming through an environment while confined to a side-scroller style path on the DS version. In the interview, the fall of 2009 was said to be the target release period for both versions of the game. This event was followed by several updates about the game's progress by Apogee on Twitter during the following months, including one in which the voice recording sessions for the game with Duke Nukem voice actor Jon St. John were confirmed to have finished successfully. [6]
The games announced to be included in the trilogy are Duke Nukem: Critical Mass, Duke Nukem: Chain Reaction, and Duke Nukem: Proving Grounds. The three games would have what Apogee calls "multi-mode", where players switch between third-person over the shoulder, first-person, isometric, and side-scrolling views. For Duke Nukem: Critical Mass, the DS and PSP versions were going to be unique games unified by the same basic story. [4]
On October 29, 2010, developer Frontline Studios released news that Critical Mass for both platforms would no longer carry the Duke Nukem license and be renamed "Extraction Point: Alien Shootout". [7] However, on March 23, 2011, Apogee Software announced that they never lost the license and would release Duke Nukem: Critical Mass for the Nintendo DS on April 8, 2011, in Europe. [8] The PSP version of Critical Mass, and the two sequels were not released.
The source code of the unreleased PSP version of Critical Mass was discovered in 2014 to be preserved at the Library of Congress. [9] [10] [11] It was later leaked to the public on April 4, 2022. [12]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 29/100 [13] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| GamesTM | 4/10 [14] |
| NGamer | 29% [15] |
| Official Nintendo Magazine | 29% [16] |
| Metro | 2/10 [17] |
Duke Nukem: Critical Mass received "generally unfavorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. [13]
Duke Nukem 3D is a first-person shooter video game developed by 3D Realms. It is a sequel to the platform games Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II, published by 3D Realms.
Duke Nukem Forever is a 2011 first-person shooter game developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. It is the fourth main installment in the Duke Nukem series and the sequel to Duke Nukem 3D (1996). Players control Duke Nukem as he comes out of retirement to battle an alien invasion. Like its predecessor, Duke Nukem Forever features pop culture references, toilet humor, and adult content.
Apogee Entertainment, formerly Apogee Software, LLC, is an American video game publisher based in Rowlett, Texas. The company was founded by Terry Nagy in 2008 after he licensed the rights to the name and logo from Scott Miller and his company, 3D Realms, which had used both previously. After reorganizing as Apogee Entertainment in 2021, it hired Miller for its publishing operations.
3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game Kingdom of Kroz. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the company popularized a distribution model where each game consists of three episodes, with the first given away free as shareware and the other two available for purchase. Duke Nukem was a major franchise created by Apogee to use this model, and Apogee published Commander Keen and Wolfenstein 3D the same way.
Duke Nukem II is a 1993 platform game developed and published by Apogee Software. The game consists of four episodes, the first available as shareware. It is the follow-up to 1991's Duke Nukem, and followed by Duke Nukem 3D in 1996. Todd Replogle was the primary designer of all three games.
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Duke Nukem Advance is a video game in the Duke Nukem series, released for the Game Boy Advance. Although it is a first-person shooter and many of the graphics and sounds have been ported from Duke Nukem 3D, the game has an original storyline and levels.
Duke Nukem Mobile is the name given to two different games in the Duke Nukem series developed by American studio MachineWorks Northwest and produced by 3D Realms.
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Duke Nukem is a media franchise named for its main character, Duke Nukem. Created by the company Apogee Software Ltd. as a series of video games for personal computers, the series expanded to games released for various consoles by third-party developers. The first two games in the main series were 2D platformers, while the later games have been a mix of first-person and third-person shooters.
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Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em up games also employ a third-person perspective, the TPS genre is distinguished by having the game presented with the player's avatar as a primary focus of the camera's view.
A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through the eyes of the main character. This genre shares multiple common traits with other shooter games, and in turn falls under the action games category. Since the genre's inception, advanced 3D and pseudo-3D graphics have proven fundamental to allow a reasonable level of immersion in the game world, and this type of game helped pushing technology progressively further, challenging hardware developers worldwide to introduce numerous innovations in the field of graphics processing units. Multiplayer gaming has been an integral part of the experience, and became even more prominent with the diffusion of internet connectivity in recent years.
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Duke Nukem is a fictional character and protagonist of the Duke Nukem video game series. The character first appeared in the 1991 video game Duke Nukem, developed by Apogee Software. He has since appeared in multiple sequels and spin-offs, as well appearing in various games not in the series. Most recently, he starred in Duke Nukem Forever, released by Gearbox Software, which now owns the intellectual property rights to the series and the character.
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A cache of recently acquired video games at the Library of Congress turned up a true find: the source code for unreleased PSP game Duke Nukem: Critical Mass.
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