I've got a few ideas for newsletters banked for this slow release period and had started to flesh out a few into something much more substantial when earlier this week the DUKE NUKEM FOREVER 2001 TRAILER BUILD somehow found its way onto the internet, so I've immediately dropped everything to bring you the hardcore Duke Nukem fan analysis that you deserve.

As weird as this may sound, there are SPOILERS for a leaked, unfinished build of a game from 2001 that never actually got released, so if you're a Duke fan and you're planning on playing it, I'd try it for yourself first then come back later. I'll be waiting, I'm not going anywhere.

Normal service will resume next week.

The Duke Nukem Forever '2001 Trailer Build' leak.

I can't quite believe it but another one of my videogaming 'White Whales' has appeared and I've had the chance to play it. Back in 2001, after already being in development for a long time by the standards of the time, the second main trailer for Duke Nukem Forever was released and it blew everyone away. A game that was already in a bit of apparent developmental hell popped its head above the parapet and reminded everyone that you should ALWAYS BET ON DUKE, BABY, before unceremoniously fucking off into the void for another decade, killing a company in the process and ending up in the utterly incompetent hands of Gearbox Software to coil out a turd of a game featuring the Duke Nukem Forever name.

Anyway, the '2001' build of Duke Nukem Forever has somehow made it onto the internet and you bet your arse I've been playing it. This is something I never thought I'd see, never mind actually get to play it for myself. Here's a quick breakdown of the good stuff, the bad stuff and the really ugly stuff I found in the Duke 2001 leak, speaking without any technical know-how but as a giant fan of all things Duke Nukem.

The GOOD.

Somehow this build of Duke Nukem Forever, despite being very much a completely unfinished vertical slice, designed to capture the footage used in the famous 2001 trailer, there's quite a bit here in regards to the game structure and plenty to poke about in. Despite there being largely no pickups and enemies in most of the maps, one thing is certain - this feels like a quality shooter from the time period. Movement is sharp, all the available weapons have that important sense of impact, there's creative sparks within the useable items and the overall arsenal that, for 2001, are actually quite ahead of the curve!

It has:

• Interactive terminals/touchscreens.

• Some really cool uses of pitch dark areas/limited light.

• A few basic physics puzzles.

• Literally the hacking minigame used in Bioshock.

• The Megadeth version of Grabbag aka the Duke Nukem Theme.

• Decent human enemy A.I.

• Parasitic enemies that look like the Necromorphs in Dead Space.

• A riot shield that you can pull up with the use key.

• DEDICATED PISS BUTTON (predating Postal 2!).

It also appeared to have a slightly different flow of levels than the Gearbox disaster that we finally got. The Lady Killer hotel and casino is in place, albeit quite different, as is the jaunt out into the surrounding Nevada desert and the strip club, before winding up on the Hoover Dam. However, there seems to be levels set in space, Area 51 and, amazingly, a full recreation of Hollywood Holocaust, the first level in Duke Nukem 3D! This blew my arse right off. I'm still recovering.

Although it no longer has unmistakable Build Engine vibe of looking like a real place on the outside but being packed with secrets hiding just under the surface, they've instead turned it into a Half Life-esque adventure that would have fit in nicely with the other major FPS titles released around '01-'03. Tonally it is also a bit less fucking rotten than the Gearbox game and feels a lot more in-line with Duke 3D and Time To Kill. Sure, there's still plenty of strippers and women being offed by the enemies and in setpieces but there isn't an entire level built around a deeply unfunny rape joke, so it is fair to say that's an improvement.

The leak also includes the source code and level editor, so there's plenty of stuff here for the average Duke Nukem fan to look at and there's a fair kick to be had by being IN those setpieces from that trailer and perhaps for the more technically sound members of the Duke Nukem community to - just maybe - finish some of the work that was started over TWO DECADES ago.

The BAD.

There's no way to get away from the fact that there's about a third of a completed game here. The first few levels are pretty fleshed out, full of setpieces, enemy encounters and items/weapons to collect throughout the maps. Once you're clear of the hotel/casino levels, however, it starts to slowly fall apart. Most of the levels here are completely empty and are just big, empty maps around one or two setpieces, likely used to capture those events for the 2001 trailer. The levels towards the end of the game are barely finished, with big gaps in structures and very little resembling something that would actually be playable - just a series of big test rooms. It is also, unsurprisingly, full of bugs and can crash if you so much as look at it funny.

The real tragedy of Duke Nukem Forever 2001 is that there is very clearly a good game here and 3D Realms were onto something. Who knows what they were (or, as the case may be, what they weren't) doing during the development period but in the segments where it is in a more 'finished' state this is a really solid early '00s shooter and one that I reckon we would remember fondly if it actually made it out the door.

The UGLY.

Why, pray tell, are there loads of barely legal softcore porn pictures all over this leaked Duke Nukem Forever build? Duke's 'Shades OS' which acts as the games HUD and menus can have a custom wallpaper added to it, which includes a stack of 'teen' images to plaster all over the screen. Now, obviously there's no way on Earth we could know who is responsible for inserting these images in to the build, so for now we'll just have to speculate as to who at 3D Realms was a total creep.

Here's a completely unrelated picture of Former 3D Realms employee turned Gearbox Software CEO and amateur magician Randy Pitchford.

THANKS FOR READING.

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