Duke Nukem: Zero Hour

Nintendo exclusive

He's all that stands between us and a Time-Spanning Alien invasion. He's Duke Nukem. Gaming's Greatest Action Hero. And this is his finest hour!

Released: 1 August 1999
Platforms: Nintendo 64
Genres: Shooter Third-person shooter
Developers: Eurocom
Publishers: Atari, Inc.
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Third person
Themes: Action Science fiction Thriller Comedy
Country: United Kingdom
Age ratings: ESRB M CLASS_IND 18
Languages: English, French
Composers: Lee Jackson

About

Duke Nukem: Zero Hour is a 1999 third-person shooter game in the Duke Nukem series, developed by Eurocom and published by GT Interactive for the Nintendo 64. The game uses a relatively large 32 megabyte cartridge and can also use the Expansion Pak to improve graphics, though this slows down the frame rate. It features a 4-player split-screen multiplayer mode that uses a first-person view.

The plot revolves around time traveling aliens attempting to alter the course of history by eliminating Duke's ancestors. Locations, weapons, items, and clothing correspond to the time period Duke is in. Compared to the comically over-the-top tone used throughout most of the series, this game incorporates more mature plot elements, such as an encounter with Jack the Ripper near the still-fresh murder scene of Mary Jane Kelly in Victorian England and a serious depiction of a future New York devastated by atomic warfare.

Keywords

aliens
post-apocalyptic
bloody
time travel
run and gun
futuristic
hand-to-hand combat
backtracking
portals
artificial intelligence
tank
alien invasion

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Story

Duke is called into action by the government as aliens have once again landed and are wreaking havoc. Duke battles the alien menace through the streets of New York with the help of some Marines and eventually gains access to the Statue of Liberty. There, Duke uncovers the aliens' true plan: to travel back in time and alter historical events, ensuring Earth becomes a world they can easily conquer. However, during the fight, Duke is teleported to the future, where the aliens have won, and humans are on the brink of extinction.

In this future, Duke battles new alien breeds and the zombified corpses of those who didn't survive the fallout. S. Army headquarters in New York. The resistance informs Duke that the aliens are tampering with history, creating alternate futures.

Reception

Zero Hour received moderate review scores when originally released. The review aggregation website GameRankings places its aggregate at 67%, indicating mixed reviews, however this score is based on an unrepresentative sample of reviews.

Nintendo Power, IGN, Game Informer, and Gamepro gave it favorable reviews, commending the game's control, environments and multiplayer features, with Nintendo Power also highlighting the game's imaginative weapons. while Jeff Lundrigan of Next Generation advised that the game should be avoided "like radioactive bat droppings." and EGM criticised the game for being unoriginal.