Thursday 31 October 2013

NEWS: Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 - Special Edition Details

A new trailer has been released, showing what's available in the special edition version of the game.


Just 30,000 copies of the special edition will be released in the UK and will be a GAME exclusive, the actual name has been revealed as Dracula's Tomb Premium Edition.

Pre-order bonuses have also been revealed, which will vary depending on where you purchase the game, these include a "Dark Dracula" costume, a "Premium Dracula" costume, or a "Relic Rune Pack", giving players additional in-game items. Nothing was revealed about which stores are offering the bonuses.

The Premium Edition will include the following:
  • Collector's Editing Tomb Box
  • Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 Game
  • Four Exclusive 10cm Figures (Designed by Neil Googe)
  • Limited Edition Artbook
  • Steelbook

The information was revealed at the end of the newly released trailer, titled 'Dracula's Vengeance', showcasing series favourite Alucard and his involvement with Gabriel. Check it out below.

NEWS: Games With Gold November 2013 - A World of Keflings and Iron Brigade

Microsoft has revealed the next batch of free-to-download games as part of the Games With Gold scheme.



Starting November 1, A World of Keflings will be available for Xbox LIVE Gold members to download completely free of charge - the game uses your custom avatar and its the player's mission to gather various resources to help build the kingdom around them. The game usually retails at £6.75.

Later in the month, November 16 - users can download Iron Brigade, again free of charge. A fusion of tower defence and third-person shooting offers players exciting and destructive gameplay. £6.75 is the original price.

Both of the games will always be available to play for free as long as you download them before the promotion ends - Keflings will be November 15, whilst Iron Brigade will be November 30. Get 'em while you can.

NEWS: Resident Evil 5 Becomes Best Selling Capcom Game

Until now, Street Fighter II held the record for the best selling game within Capcom, however that has changed.



In a recent sales report, Resident Evil 5 has officially become Capcom's most sold game. Released back in 2009, the game was an instant success - carrying on the action-oriented gameplay of RE4, players took control of Chris Redfield to take on Umbrella Corporation once again. 

Since then, the game has sold 6.5 million copies - 200,000 more than the extremely popular SNES game; Street Fighter II.

Capcom Japan shows detailed stats of their best-selling games, including other titles such as Resident Evil 2 and Monster Hunter Freedom 2. See the top 10 most sold Capcom games below.                                  
  1. Resident Evil 5
  2. Street Fighter II
  3. Resident Evil 6
  4. Resident Evil 2
  5. Monster Hunter Freedom 3
  6. Street Fighter II Turbo
  7. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
  8. Resident Evil 3 Nemesis
  9. Street Fighter IV
  10. Monster Hunter 4


NEWS: Tony Hawk Wants His Games on Mobile

Veteran pro skateboarder Tony Hawk has revealed he'd like the Tony Hawk games to carry on through mobile devices.



In an interview with CNBC, Tony Hawk has stated he'd like do a mobile Tony Hawk's game, saying "I've been wanting to do a mobile game for a long time." - the first Pro Skater game was released back in 1999, and was a massive success, spanning many more, but its safe to say the series has declined in popularity over the last few years.

Hawk goes on to say that back then it was just Nintendo and PlayStation the games had to cater for:

"It used to just be Nintendo and PlayStation, and now it's all kind of devices. So you've got to learn to adapt what you know from the technology into those areas."

If a new mobile game starts development, Hawk believes the best way for the game to be a success is to initially release it for free, then start charging customers if they wanted access to content later in the game. 

REVIEW: Spec Ops: The Line

Not your typical run of the mill "army" game - Spec Ops will keep you guessing what's around the corner constantly.


Developer: Yager Development | Publisher: 2K Games | Genre: Third-Person Shooter



PS3 | Xbox 360 | Windows PC | Mac

One of the more interesting games of recent, Spec Ops: The Line will take you on an adventure through Hell and back, and will leave you with plenty of questions.

You play as Captain Martin Walker, who at first glance seems like your stereotypical American soldier, along with your team mates Lugo and Adams, you have been given the orders to save survivors in Dubai and bring them to safety - reasons being massive sandstorms have been regularly hitting the city, putting the citizens at a huge risk. Trust me though, this isn't the real problem.

The game's core gameplay contains tons of action - right from the start, you'll find yourself manning a minigun from a helicopter shooting at enemy 'copters, which sets the tone for the rest of the game; hectic and a whole lot of fun. There are a total of four difficulty settings, enabling both casual and hardcore gamers to enjoy what the game has to offer.

As soon as the game really begins, there's this instant feeling that something is very wrong, nothing ever feels like an actual army situation, instead something rather sinister and mysterious, and its because of this you'll find yourself wanting to keep on playing to reveal more of the story. There are numerous intelligence items throughout the game that aid in the narratives progression, if you want to know everything about what's going in, it's advised to go out of you way to collect all the intel.

Whilst the game may initially give you this impression that team-work is essential, there's the option to use Lugo and Adams to help certain combat situations, such as targeting a certain enemy, blinding a group of enemies with a stun grenade, or healing each other. The group will often hold very entertaining and funny dialogue throughout the game, showing you they are a tight-nit team who have known each other for a long time.

But when it comes down to it, team-work isn't the most important aspect at all, a lot of your own survival relies on using the environment to your advantage - taking cover behind certain surfaces so bullets can't penetrate through, timing the enemies shots to enable you to move to another part of the surroundings, and so on.

Most of the weapons available each come with an attachment or secondary firing option - the SCAR gives you the option to fire grenades, the P90 gives you the option to utilize laser-aiming, things like this add a little more gameplay in terms of how you tackle certain situations. Grenades also play a part in getting through the enemy, including frag, stun, and sticky - each are very useful depending on what kind of trouble you're in.

During all of the chaos of combat, you might forget how gorgeous the game looks, each environment is full of richness and has its own character, which immerses you in the game completely. The amount of detail combined with the completely atmospheric environments makes up for a really nice looking game.

Although there's much to be praised, the gameplay is at times very predictable and can be generic - the process of hiding, shooting, and rinsing becomes all too familiar, but there are entertaining aids to break it up a bit, you'll often have the chance to execute fallen enemies, showing a very brutal way of disposing an enemy, each time you get a headshot, the game will slow down giving you the chance to either bask in your shooting skills or use the delayed time to your advantage by taking out other enemies.

This game is complete action through and through, with a narrative that as it evolves will keep you wanting more, with a campaign of around eight or so hours, you'll be kept entertained enough, just don't expect spectacular gameplay - the real winner here is the way the narrative turns out, which you'll have to play for yourself to find out. REVIEW1

7/10

Wednesday 30 October 2013

NEWS: Steam Approves 100 Greenlight Games

Valve have revealed a total of 100 games have been approved via the Steam Greenlight program.


Alden of Valve has released a list of upcoming games as part of the Steam Greenlight scheme, which offers developers to get their game released by Valve themselves, in turn giving the game massive recognition. Some of the games include Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures, Half Life: Before, and Vanguard Princess.

A full list of the approved games can be seen below.

12TailsOnline
3079 - An Action RPG
99 Spirits
A Mass of Dead
A.N.N.E
After Reset RPG
ALLBenchmark Catzilla
Ballpoint Universe: Infinite
Battle Fortress Tortoise
Beast Boxing Turbo
Cannons Lasers Rockets
Cardinal Quest II
Castaway Paradise
Cloudbuilt
Colonies Online
Cornerstone, The song of Tyrim
Dead Sky
Deadly 30
Deckadance
Doctor Who: The Adventure Games
Drifter
Enamel
Epic Battle Fantasy 4
Eryi's Action
Eschalon: Book III
Estranged: Act I
Everworld Island
Fading Hearts
Festival of Magic
Finding Teddy
fistful of Frags
Flowstorm
Frozen Hearth
GoD Factory: Wingmen
Gun Disassembly 2
Half-Life: Before
Hero of the Kingdom
Holy Avatar vs. Maidens of the Dead
I Shall Remain
iRacing.com
Jacob Jones and the Bigfoot Mystery
Jets'n'Guns
Last Knight
Loren The Amazon Princess
Lost Saga
Luminesca
Magicite
Mines of Mars
Molten Sky
Montas
Nightrealm Tales
Nimble Quest
OddPlanet
Oozi: Earth Adventure
Orc Attack: Flatulent Rebellion
Our Darker Purpose
Paper Monsters
Parallax
Particulars
Pirate Galaxy
Platformines
Private Infiltrator
Probability 0
Pulse
Purge
Race To Mars
The Real Texas
Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages
Rogue's Tale
Rollers of the Realm
Savant - Ascent
Science Girls
Shaun the Sheep - Home Sheep Home 2
Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe
Spintires
StageLight
Sub Rosa
Suguri Collection (Suguri + Acceleration of Suguri X-Edition HD)
Survivor Squad
Tales of Maj'Eyal
The Escapists
The Mandate
The Red Solstice
The Somme
The Yawhg
Tom vs The Armies of Hell
Tower of Guns
Trash TV
Two Brothers
Vanguard Princess
Void Destroyer
Will To Survive
Wings of Vi
Worlds of Magic
WorldShift
XING: The Land Beyond
Xsyon: Prelude
You Are Not The Hero
Zigfrak
Zombeer

Each game will be released over the upcoming weeks and months - is there a game in that list you voted for? Or are there games you believe should be greenlit? Leave your comments below.

NEWS: Call of Duty: Ghosts - All Perks Revealed

A new perk system is taking over CoD: Ghosts, offering an "incredible level of customization."


Activision are changing the way perks are used in Ghosts, enabling for a huge amount of customization - there will now be in categories with different perks in each - every perk will have a point value attatched, and the player will use their points to assign the particular perks they wish to utilize. 

The official CoD website describes the new system in further detail:

"Each of the 35 available Perks is weighted with a point value of 1 through 5. Your loadouts naturally have a pool of 8 points to spend on Perks, up to a total of 12 depending on your loadout choices.

In addition to the initial 8 points, a single Perk point is tied to the Primary Weapon slot, Secondary Weapon slot, Lethal and Tactical. Take away any of these items for an additional Perk point, allowing a maximum of 12 points to spend. If you're a Perk fanatic, you're welcome to forego all the weapons equipment, starting each spawn with only a knife in hand and 12 points worth of Perks. It's your choice."

Essentially, perks with higher point values are often much more useful, but will take up a lot of your points to spend - so you could equip the highest perk under the speed category, and take advantage of what's to offer, or you could buy low-costing perks to make yourself an all-rounder; there really is room for lots of customization here. A look at the perks taken from the site can be seen below.

Speed
Outrun and outmaneuver enemy players. Speed Perks are all about getting the lead and staying ahead. Examples include:

  • Sleight of Hand: Faster reloading.
  • Stalker: Move faster while aiming.

Handling
Dexterity and control drives the Handling Perks, improving actions and accuracy. Examples include:

  • On the Go: Reload while sprinting.
  • Steady Aim: Increased hip fire accuracy.

Stealth
Stealth Perks aid you in staying out of sight, maintaining a low profile and engaging on your terms. Examples include:

  • Takedown: Kill enemies without revealing their death locations.
  • Incog: Resistance to targeting systems including: Recon, Thermal Scope, Tracker Sight and Motion Sensor. No name or red crosshairs when targeted.

Awareness
Keep in tune with your surroundings. Awareness Perks help you survey the environment and detect enemy players. Examples include:

  • SitRep: Detect enemy explosives and tactical equipment.
  • WireTap: Utilize all active enemy and friendly SAT COMs on the field.

Resistance
A hardened endurance reduces the effects of fatigue. Resistance Perks keep you going through tough engagements. Examples include:

  • Focus: Reduced weapon sway when aiming down sights and reduced flinch when hit.
  • Blast Shield: Increased resistance to explosive damage.

Equipment
Tacticians swear by their gear, and Equipment Perks ensure you have the best tools on hand. Examples include:

  • Extra Tactical: Additional Tactical equipment.
  • Extra Attachment: Extra attachment for your weapons.

Elite
Elite Perks offer special abilities that affect your loadouts in a variety of ways. Examples include:

  • Gambler: Spawn with a random Perk.
  • Ping: Activate a sonar ping upon killing an enemy, revealing nearby hostiles.

FEATURE: Homebrew Gaming

In a world addicted to the newest games, its easy to forget about the small guy producing some of the best (and worst) games of their own.



Firstly, let's distinguish the difference between homebrew games and hacked games - a homebrew game is the programming of new content for an existing system, mostly using that persons own content and possibly assets from an original game on that particular system. 

Homebrews are common on modern consoles i.e. programmers creating emulators to run on a PlayStation 3, Wii, and so forth, but people are still creating new content for the older systems such as the NES, and I personally find most to be very enjoyable, others simply ridiculous. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I'm here to discuss the good and bad of homebrew gaming. FEATURE1

As for a hacked game, this simply means the content within the code has been altered - these alterations can be as simple as changing a sprite in Super Mario Bros. or as diverse as completely changing the gameplay, level design, music, and even cut-scenes. In this post, I'll be looking through various homebrews and hacks to let you know what is actually worth playing and what is best left in a dark corner of the internet. 

Worth Playing: Battlekid - Fortress of Peril (NES Homebrew)

Download HERE

Battlekid - Fortress of Peril definitely reminds me of the earlier Mega Man games - difficult, ridiculous enemies and a whole lot of fun.

Before starting, the game allows you to choose from five difficulties, ranging from easy which gives the privileges of infinite continues and the password feature, on the other spectrum there's the unfair mode, which offers no help at all - no continues and no passwords, this mode should only be played if you know the game completely in and out, I do not so it was normal for me.

As soon as the game begins, this great 8-bit music plays that get's you instantly pumped to play. When I first played this, I died. A Lot. It seems that every enemy or obstacle kills you within 1 hit, there is no health bar, you have to rely on your memory to get around the patterns of enemies - a lot of trial and error takes place, but it's actually extremely fun even if you do find yourself constantly re-starting an area.

I get the impression Sivak Games intentionally made this homebrew difficult,  this could be a homage to the retro days where video-games did actually require a lot of time and effort to beat.

Avoid Playing: V.R. Fighter vs. Taken 2 (MegaDrive/Genesis Homebrew)

Download HERE

On the other hand, we have V.R. Fighter vs. Taken 2 - one of the strangest games I've ever played, this homebrew pits Virtua Fighter and Tekken 2 together, but I imagine due to copyright the game had to be called something different, which explains the strange name of the game.

The music is actually good, and so are the graphics - very impressive for the MegaDrive's hardware, but don't let that fool you, they are the only good things about this game, which proves once again if the gameplay isn't on par, graphics and other enhancement mean nothing.

You are able to choose from 12 characters, including fan favourites Heiachi, Kazuya, Akira, and Wolf - you essentially go through a number of stages like most fighting games, but its the gameplay itself that really lets the game down. 

The whole thing feels laggy, each time you go to attack the opponent, its almost a gamble whether your hit will contact them or not as the detection is often very random, giving you an impression that this game is really not fun at all to play and unfairly difficult. 

It's a real shame, this could have been one of the greatest homebrews to date, if more time was spent on the fighting itself instead of the visual aids, this game could have been really impressive.

There are plenty of homebrews out there waiting to be discovered, the majority are generally average in the sense they offer little to the gaming community, whilst others are complete gems, which could easily be mistaken for actual retail releases.

NEWS: SEGA 3D Classics Announced

A total of eight classic Sega games will be remade in 3D for the Nintendo 3DS, including fan favourites Streets of Rage and Sonic the Hedgehog.


It was announced on the official Sega blog that throughout November and December of this year, a number of memorable Sega games will be remade in 3D to cater for the Nintendo 3DS - Sega said the following:

"Today we are very excited to announce details on the highly anticipated 3D remake of iconic and arcade classics for the Nintendo 3DS."

A full list of games and the release date can be seen below.

3D Space Harrier - November 28 (originally released 1985)
3D Super Hang-On - November 28 (originally released 1987)
3D Sonic The Hedgehog - December 5 (originally released 1991)
3D Altered Beast - December 5 (originally released 1988)
3D Ecco The Dolphin - December 12 (originally released 1992)
3D Galaxy Force II - December 12 (originally released 1988)
3D Shinobi III - December 19 (originally released 1993)
3D Streets of Rage - December 19 (originally released 1991)

Each game will retail at $5.99, €4.99, and £4.49 - are there any other classic Sega games you'd like to see on the 3DS? Comment with your suggestions below.

NEWS: Uncharted 3 - New Multiplayer Map and Past DLC Maps Now Free

Previous DLC will now be completely free-of-charge, and a new map has also been unveiled.


Since its release 2 years ago, Naughty Dog are celebrating by making all the DLC multiplayer maps available to everyone, with no cost what so ever. Alongside this announcement, a new map titled Dry Docks has been revealed - set upon a very wet and slippery dock during the night.

Community Strategist at Naughty Dog praises the Uncharted community and fanbase, saying:

"It's been two years since Uncharted 3 was released. Our community is simply amazing, and we're looking to make it stronger than ever. To that end, we combed over a multitude of comments and forum posts to see what you wanted changed in the multiplayer game. We took the most highly-sought changes mentioned and made them happen. The list of those changes is below, and it's an epic patch that rivals patch 1.13"

You might remember Dry Docks in the beta gameplay videos released prior to Uncharted 3's release, but it never made it to the final version of the game - Naughty Dog are bringing that map pack with many improvements. 

There were various reasons the map never made the original cut, one of those being time investment:

"It made sense to prevent our art team from investing time into the multiplayer version of Dry Docks to match the level of quality we adhere to at Naughty Dog --- therefore the Dry Docks map was cut."
Heavy rain pollutes the docks, creating a hectic atmosphere.
A view of the map from a distance, displaying both the boat and dock area.
A full list of the new patch details can be seen below.

Maps

  • All DLC maps are now available to download for free! Go to the in-game store and download the Flashback Map Pack 1, 2, and Drake’s Deception Map Pack.
  • Dry Docks makes its triumphant debut and is available in all competitive playlists and custom games!

Co-op

  • Old Quarter map has been added to Co-op arena mode.
  • The drop rate for all co-op treasures has been increased.
  • Old Quarter has been removed from the Hunter Arena playlist.

Weapons

  • Hipfire accuracy has been greatly reduced on all weapons, along with the angle and distance at which the auto lock engages. But Blindfire from cover has not been changed.
  • Increased recoil on the M9.
  • Decreased recoil on FAL-SS.
  • Rate of Fire mod has been decreased on the M9, Arm Micro, and KAL-7.
  • The recoil of the last round fired in a G-MAL burst has been significantly reduced.
  • The burst delay and recoil have been reduced on the Raffica.
  • The accuracy mod on the Raffica has been slightly improved.
  • The recoil has been reduced on the Tau Sniper and the weapon does not automatically scope.
  • The rate of fire mod has increased effectiveness for the Tau Sniper.

Gameplay

  • Sprint maneuverability moderately reduced.
  • Mega Bombs and Cluster Bombs can no longer be thrown back (competitive mode only).
  • The Marked Man power play now occurs when a team is up 8 kills instead of 6.
  • The Exposed power play occurs when a team is up 10 kills instead of 8, and the range that player names appear has been reduced from 40 meters to 20.
  • The Double Damage power play now occurs when a team is up 15 kills instead of 10, and the damage the losing team does is only x1.5 instead of x2.
  • Deathmatch has been removed from Team Objective.
  • Increase score limit in three-team Deathmatch from 20 to 25.
  • Increase score limit of free-for-all from 15 to 20.
  • Multiple steps have been added during the matchmaking process to help find games with lower ping. Wait times to find matches during off peak hours may increase.

Medal Kickbacks

  • The Medal Kickback Creepy Crawler now costs 12 medals and lasts for 25 seconds.
  • Quick Boom now costs 12 medals and lasts for 12 seconds.
  • Explosives now costs 5 medals.

Boosters

  • Slot 1 now has Kickback Endurance, Ammo Award, Bargain, and Team Safe
  • Slot 2 now has Beast Mode, Regeneration, Explosive Expert, and Explosive Shell Expert.
  • Bargain paid booster cost increase from $100k to $250k.
  • PING paid booster cost increase from $100k to $250k.

New 3rd Buddy Boosters

  • Cutter — Cutter KAL-7 — Jade Para 9 — Sugar Buddy
  • Eddie — Eddie’s AK — Jade Para 9 — Booty Buddy
  • Draza — Draza’s Dragon — Jade Para 9 — Thanks Buddy
  • Flynn — Flynn’s G-MAL — Jade Para 9 — Explosive Buddy
  • Lazarevic — Lazarevic’s FAL-SS – Jade Para 9 — Stealth Buddy

Map Adjustments

  • Gate added to London Underground tunnel to block off dead end.
  • Plunders chests have been rebalanced on Syria and Museum.

Tuesday 29 October 2013

NEWS: Battlefield 4 China Rising DLC & Premium Member Details

Details have surfaced regarding the first Battlefield 4 DLC and what premium members have in-store.


With only a few days until its release (in the UK, at least), details have emerged regarding the advantages of taking part in the premium membership Battlefield 4 offers its players.

Premium members will have access to the China Rising DLC a whole two weeks before it's public release, allowing players to familiarise themselves with the 4 new maps and new vehicles.

The Battlefield UK website describes the DLC:

"Fight for dominance across the vast and majestic Chinese mainland in four massive maps, using all-new vehicles and high-tech military equipment."

Also detailed were periodically released bonuses for premium members, which will begin November 4 until December 23, with no further dates or planned content added. The list of what's on offer can be seen below.

November 4 - Gold Battlepack
November 11 - Premium Emblems and Soldier Portraits
November 18 - Premium Camo Paints
November 30 - Double XP
December 1 - Double XP
December 9 - Gold Battlepack
December 16 - Premium Dog Tags
December 23 - Premium Knife

Does any of this want to make you become a premium member? Leave your comments below.

Monday 28 October 2013

PREVIEW: Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD - New Screenshots

Square-Enix have released a fresh batch of screenshots showcasing various HD enhancements.


With still no release date set in America and Europe, Square Enix are still teasing fans with more HD-quality screenshots, showing off some of the games most memorable aspects - imagery of Ixion, Anima, and Bahamut, an up close and personal shot of Seymour, the first time we encounter Kimahri, and so fourth.

The game is scheduled to release in Japan December 26, whilst EU and US have just been given a date of winter 2013/2014. Check out some of the screenshots below, or click HERE to view all 24.

Wakka watches as Tidus emerges from the ocean.
One of the most powerful Aeons - Anima.
Rikku showing off the Gun Mage dressphere.

NEWS: Battlefield 4 - PC Pre-Loads Available This Week

PC gamers will have the chance to pre-load Battlefield this week, "at least 24 hours before launch".


EA are offering PC users who pre-ordered the game to pre-load Battlefield 4 a day before the game is released - the official Battlefield twitter said:

"Now accepting #BF4 preloads in Europe! Pre-order #BF4 for PC on Origin and you can preload the game immediately."

Although the tweet specifies Europe, a list of other countries eligible can be found on the EA website - the territories involved include East and Central Asia, North and South America, Russia, Australia, European Union, New Zealand, India, United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, and Japan.

PREVIEW: Call of Duty: Ghosts - 'Extinction' Trailer

A newly released trailer confirms the Extinction mode will in fact be a part of the upcoming CoD: Ghosts



Activision has released a new trailer showing off the new mode; Extinction - sort of like zombies from previous games, only this time you'll be fighting off aliens. Judging from the video, it looks to be very fast paced, providing hectic and exciting gameplay.

It's described as "Co-op survivial madness, with aliens.", according to the official Facebook page - further details can be read in the description on the video:

"Call of Duty: Ghosts introduces Extinction - an all-new 1-4 player cooperative game mode featuring a unique blend of fast-paced survival action, FPS base defense, scavenging and class leveling."

The video initially shows a squad member setting up a drill in order to destroy alien hives, which look a lot like the eggs from Alien. 

Obviously, it's not as simple as that as the aliens make their closer at a very rapid speed, we see an array of weapons being used against them including the standard chaingun right up to a rocket rain from the sky above.

Check out the trailer below - would you have preferred another zombies mode? Or is this a good direction to go?

Sunday 27 October 2013

FEATURE: Retro Showdown! - Duke Nukem 3D vs. DOOM

Blasting their way onto the scene during the early 90s, these games could definitely stand as two of the most important and iconic additions to the industry.

Welcome to the first Retro Showdown, a weekly feature that pits two games together and compares different aspects of each game - graphics, music/audio, and most importantly gameplay. It's all for fun and not to be taken too seriously.

VS.

Whilst Duke actually made his appearance much before "Doom Guy", the success of the Duke Nukem franchise didn't really take off until the release of Duke Nukem 3D (DN3D), which stands as one of the best first-person shooters ever - releasing three years after Doom, DN3D was an instant success, spawning various expansions and a massive fanbase. FEATURE1

However, lets not forget Doom - arguably the most influential game of the 90s, utilizing ID Software's own Doom Engine, the game gave players an experience they never had before, unless you included the likes of Wolfenstein 3D, which I like to think of as a "practice" version of Doom, with Doom being the product of everything that was great about Wolfenstein 3D, but one hundred times better.

Graphics

Doom always stood out to me and I'm sure many others as this extremely atmospheric game, and the graphics had a lot to do with that - each level was beautifully designed to coincide with the difficulty curve throughout, for example the first few levels of episode 1 were extremely easy to navigate, often taking only a minute or two to complete.

Whilst some of the later levels were quite complex, usually offering a challenging experience, and I believe that is down to the graphics and incredibly detailed level designs, amongst other things.

Also, the first episode's overall look was quite clean - in the sense that you were just running around a UAC installation base with no real illustrative threat. 

Inside the UAC facility, showing little danger aside the odd corpse here and there.
However, in episode 3 for example, we are taken to Hell, which is filled with skulls and demonic imagery on the walls, tons of lava pits, splattered blood - the sense that you were getting into bigger danger was definitely aided with graphical enhancements, and its just that which gives Doom a very unique sense of atmosphere, something I believe DN3D lacked at times.

For the time, the graphics were extremely impressive - each monster had its own look and identity, if you saw a big pink blob runnings towards you, you'd know straight away it was the "Demon" because of the distinguished graphics of that particular sprite.
Inside Hell, blood-red sky, dead trees - an unsettling atmosphere.
Duke Nukem 3D on the other hand had far better graphics, there's no point in avoiding the obvious, what with it being released 3 years later - technology had moved forward and DN3D took complete advantage of that.  
Outside the infamous movie theater, displaying lots of graphic detail.
The atmosphere isn't quite on par with Doom, but the world itself did look very 3D (its a good job it was called Duke Nukem 3D then...), giving players this exciting and vibrant environment that was extremely fun to navigate. 

The earlier levels set in the city look incredible - each part of every level is greatly detailed, creating a personality of their own, you'd instantly know you're in a movie theatre or an alien space ship simply by the graphics, and in a sense that can relate back to Doom in terms of atmosphere - whilst its true DN3D's levels were highly detailed, it still lacked the atmosphere players experienced in Doom.

Two Assault Troopers getting right in Duke's face.

All of the enemies looked amazing, I remember first seeing the Pig Cops and instantly recognising the police uniform and the fact it was holding a shotgun - all of this was obvious because of the graphics used.

Although Doom had a very illustrative atmosphere, DN3D had the better graphics in terms of sheer detail and vibrancy, there's no denying it.

DOOM - 0 | Duke Nukem 3D - 1

Music/Audio

This should be very interesting, both games contained some of the most iconic gaming music in history that can still be recognised today, Doom contained those catchy midi-files, the most memorable probably being "At Doom's Gate" - the songs were placed perfectly throughout the game to suit a certain levels theme or surroundings, and we have Bobby Prince to thank for that. Take a listen yourself:




DN3D had a much more cleaner and authentic sound, this is probably due to the advancement gaming had gone through since the release of Doom, in terms of sound quality - you must know "Grabbag", the song that defines DN3D in some respects; awesome, fun, and badass (yeah, I used that word...). Go down memory lane and listen to the song below.




Bobby Price was also responsible for an array of the soundtrack, so in a sense both games win. That's too easy of a conclusion though - in terms of memorability and quality, DN3D takes this one.

DOOM - 0 | Duke Nukem 3D - 2

Storyline

The narrative behind Doom is essentially the adventures of a lost space marine trying to rid earth and hell of various monsters, zombies, demons - whatever you wanna call them. The original instruction manual describes the story as follows.

"You are your buddies, the only combat troop for fifty million miles were sent up pronto to Phobos. You were ordered to secure the perimeter of the base while the rest of the team went inside. For several hours, your radio picked up the sounds of combat: guns firing, men yelling orders, screams, bones cracking, then finally, silence. Seems your buddies are dead."

With a game like this, the storyline doesn't matter too much as the gameplay takes center stage, and does so very well.

Duke's storyline doesn't really provoke imagination, the original guide simply says:

"Murderous aliens have landed in futuristic Los Angeles, and humans suddenly find themselves atop the endangered species list. The odds are a million-to-one, just the way Duke likes it!"

As mentioned earlier, the storylines in these 90s FPS games were nothing to shout about but they set the ground for what you were in for, and that's good enough. However, Doom takes the point here.

DOOM - 1 | Duke Nukem 3D - 2

Gameplay

Arguably the most important aspect is the gameplay - without it, a game wouldn't be....a game at all. Duke and Doom are both first-person shooters (I'd be worried if you didn't already know that) - both have extremely similar goals; fight a ton of enemies, fight the right keys for locked doors, and advance onto the next stage. 

So what distinguishes each game from the other? It can be a lot of things - the different weapons and enemies, level-designs, difficulty curves, and so forth. Doom offers players four episodes of monster-slaying action with some very unique weaponary, from your fist to the BFG (Big F-----g Gun) which is definitely the most memorable gun in the game, one shot will completely annihilate a room of enemies most of the time proving to be extremely useful.

A Cyberdemon shooting one of its deadly rockets.

The overall pace can be very fast or very slow, depending on how each player decides to go through the game, for example you could be up for a challenge by choosing the Ultra-Violent difficulty, enabling run, and trying to beat each level 100% whilst attaining a respectable time-par at the end. Or you could be the kind of player who wants to casually play - Don't Hurt Me difficulty would be most appropriate here, as there are less enemies and lots more ammo/health.

Each episode periodically increases in difficulty, regardless of difficulty - although the increase will be completely suitable for each chosen skill level, and that definitely lets you explore the gameplay on your own pace. 

Earlier levels start off with a few Zombiemen, Imps, and Demons here and there, which are very easy to kill, even with the basic weapons, however further down the line players will encounter much more difficult monsters including the infamous Cacodemon, Spiderdemon, and the baddest and biggest of them all; the Cyberdemon. Every enemy has their own attacks and techniques of hurting you, a simple Zombieman will fire his assault rifle shooting single pellets at a time, not causing any considerable amounts of damage, but the Cyberdemon on the other hand could easily kill you in one hit with the ginormous rockets it fires from its arm (well, its arm is essentially just a rocket launcher). The diverse range of enemies proves for interesting and encourages more strategy that you might think. 

A Blast from the BFG-9000 about to wipe out a room of enemies.

DN3D also has 4 episodes containing a ton of aliens complete with an arsenal of lucrative weapons, including the Freezethrower, which when comes into contact with the enemy, will turn them into ice - unable to move, allowing the player to either shoot them to pieces (literally) or kick them using the infamous Mighty Boot. Another notable weapon would be the Shrink Ray, which shrinks enemies into mouse-sized proportions, letting players squish them, resulting in hilarious and entertaining gameplay.

Like Doom, the difficulty will generally increase as the player progresses, providing practically perfect gameplay for both newcomers and veterans, the first batch of levels contain simple enemies such as the Assault Trooper or the Pig Cop - neither causing any major danger (although a room full of either type of enemy can prove deadly), as the game advances you'll face much tougher enemies including the Assault Enforcer, Assault Commander, and the Octobrain. However, they are definitely not the toughest to kill in the game, there are a total of 4 main bosses in the game, each coincide with the respectable episode - the easiest being the Battlelord, whilst the most difficult would be the Alien Queen. Of course, this is all my own opinion, you may very well think differently. 

One of the earlier bosses; Cycloid Emperer - possibly the most iconic in the series.
It's safe to say DN3D learnt a lot from Doom, whether it be the core-gameplay of getting through each stage whilst trying to survive, using whatever guns you have the ammo for, finding secret areas, and the occasional boss battle here and there. And because of that, Doom has to take the win here - it had to play a huge influence in the development of DN3D, and that is worth a lot - Doom has influenced so many FPS games from its initial release to this day, giving players an experience they never previously had.

DOOM - 2 | Duke Nukem 3D - 2


IT'S A TIE!