Does anyone else love Duke as much as I? I guess we'll have to check the sales figures for Manhattan Project, but I suspect there's at least a few of us out there who just love the Big Guy. Of course, we're all wanting to play Duke Nukem Forever... And we've been waiting Forever. (Hence the name... Get it? :) None the less, I got all excited when I learned a few months ago that a new Duke game was coming to PC after far, far too long. It's been 6 years actually, since the Duke Nukem 3D rocked my world, and over 10 years since the first one was released. Manhattan Project hearkens back to those heady days, when 2 dimensions were often enough. The graphics and music are of course much improved, but what we've got here is basically an old sk00l platform/side scroller type game. And you know what? It's an absolute blast! On with review!

Premise

For once, aliens aren't attacking earth and stealin' our babes. This time it's a home grown villain, a lad with an attitude by the name of Mech Morphix. He's taking over New York, enslaving the hot chicks and turning everyone else into bad ass mutant minions. Duke (of course) isn't about to stand for this sort of thing, and blasts into action to save the world. (Well, today New York, tomorrow the world.)

Gameplay

It's Duke. It's a side scroller. Collect guns and power ups, kill everything that gets in your way. Remember to stop along the way, smell the flowers, and stomp on the roaches.... After all, if they touch a puddle of G.L.O.P.P they're going to mutate into ten foot tall radioactive goo spraying monsters, and get their revenge for all those years of boots and newspapers. (And yes, this does happen in the game. Step on them, trust me!) Of course, you're also going to have to find the damned keycard to advance from one level to the next. I hate keycards, and Duke doesn't like them much either from his bitching. :) Unlike most console type games, you can save anywhere you want... Thank god.

Graphics

Very nicely done. The levels look excellent, Duke of course looks buff as hell. (But then again, he's always lookin' good.) Enemies look ubersweet. Weapon effects are great. Definitely the prettiest side scroller I've ever seen. Well, OK, so it's the only one I've seen in years... But it's still pretty. The team obviously put a lot of work into the game's visual style and appearance.

Sound and Music

Heh. I wondered how Duke would sound when he wasn't stealing lines from Bruce Campbell. Pretty good actually! Duke of course has a comment for every situation, which is one of the high points of the game. The music in the game is excellent, a combination of techno and heavy industrial. If you get stuck on the same level for too long the music does tend to get a little repetitive, but that goes for any game.

The sound effects are as well done as the music. I especially loved the "boom" of the shotty (including the hollow plastic noise as empty shells hit the ground!) and the squeal of the pig cops when they die.

Weapons and Power-Ups

Heh. There's a huge variety of weapons here, from your handy dandy Deagle, (Called a Gold Eagle here, no doubt to avoid getting sued by IMI, makers of the Desert Eagle.) full auto assault rifle, pump shotgun (Booyah!), Anti-G.L.O.P.P. gun, pipe bombs, rocket propelled grenade launchers and more. Interestingly, you have three generic types of ammunition, rather than ammo for each gun.

Normal weapons such as the pistol, rifle and shotgun all use standard ammo, although each one uses a different amount when fired. The pistol uses one round, the shotgun uses five. Needless to say, when you open up with the assault rifle and shotty, you can burn through your two hundred rounds pretty quickly. Luckily there's ammo lying all over the place in Mech's world, (Hah! The fool!) and you get ammo from many of the enemies you cap on your way through as well.

You'll also be picking up G.L.O.P.P. powered weapons, such as the lovely Anti-GLOPP ray that allows you to reverse mutate enemies... And then stomp on them, old sk00l Duke style. Explosive weapons use pipe bombs for ammunition... And lastly, you just wouldn't be Duke if you didn't have your size thirteen combat boots to call upon as a last resort. Boot to the head now.. NAH NAH!

You'll also collect various power ups as you journey throughout the game. The Double Damage does exactly what it sounds like it does. Oh yeah. There are 10 nuke symbols scattered through each level as well. Collect all 10, get increases to your max health and ammunition capacities. The Jetpack will allow you to cross areas that Duke normally couldn't traverse. Of course there's also tons of secret areas.