VictoriaViper here. Typically, I don't play a lotta mods for Doom. I think the classic Doom gameplay is sacred, and I don't like to mess with it very much. On the other hand, I also really love Duke Nukem 3D. When I found out there was a mod that mixes the two together, I just had to check it out.


Duke It Out in Doom (click to download)

Screenshots (now with captions!)

INFO: Requires 3DGE v2.0.4 Final and any official Doom IWAD.

RECOMMENDED?: YES!


In Short: A few questionable design decisions and a couple of sloppily-designed weapons sour the experience slightly, and the addition of a few more Duke-themed features would've been great. However, a wide variety of classic Duke one-liners and weapons make this a worthy play for any DN fan, and the slightly-tougher gameplay results in exciting new challenges.


At Length: Duke It Out in Doom, as the title might suggest, allows you to play as the eternally bubblegum-deficient butt-kicker, Duke Nukem, as he fights demons in whatever 3DGE-compatible Doom levels you choose.

Not surprisingly, his infamous Duke Talk is here too, and it's really amazing just how much of it has been amassed for this WAD -- nearly 200 distinct one-liners by my count. There's a couple of stinkers amongst them (I was quick to replace "bazinga!" with something else), but the variety is impressive. They're pleasantly reactive too, with Duke having specific quips for defeating enemies with melee attacks, for taking damage, for freezing enemies, for headshot kills, for picking up weapons, and more.

Really, my only complaint with the Duke Talk is that it triggers perhaps a bit too often. It's not annoying, but I think it'd have a bit more impact if you had to wait a little for it, instead of Duke mouthing off at almost every opportunity.

Duke's quips aside, the other big feature of the mod is that most of Duke's arsenal of weapons is here too. You've got the FPS staples like the pistol, shotgun and RPG, but also several of Duke's more unique weapons, like the remote-detonating pipe bombs, the bouncy freezethrower, and the body-warping shrinker/expander. Even the plasma cannon, exclusive to Duke Nukem 64, is here (and boy does it pack a punch). And yes, the Mighty Foot has returned as well, although only as an alt-fire for certain weapons.

Most of these handle as you expect and get the job done. The plasma cannon is particularly devastating, and the shrink ray is just as effective as you'd hope, zapping most baddies down to bite-size pieces and letting you stomp them into paste. A lot of the weapons have handy alternate-fire modes too, like the semi-auto mode for the shotgun, or the burst-fire mode for the ripper that makes it more effective at range.

Some weapons kinda miss the mark, however, like the incinerator. Instead of acting like it did in Duke 3D: World Tour, where it was a great area-denial tool that paralyzed most enemies, it's now a basic flamethrower. Doesn't do very much damage however, making it most useful against groups of fodder enemies like imps and zombies. Problem is, when you set them alight, they start charging towards you, usually catching you on fire in the process. Worse still, Duke seems to travel faster than the fire stream he shoots, meaning he can easily run into his own incinerator fire as he's firing it, causing a lot of accidental self-damage. It's coded quite horribly.

The railgun from Duke Nukem Forever is here too, and I can't remember how effective it was in DNF, but at least in this mod, it's probably the worst railgun I've ever used. For one thing, the projectile it fires is slow, behaving nothing at all like a railgun slug should. Even with the added scope for magnification, it's hard to effectively target enemies at range since it takes so long for the projectile to actually reach them. Plus, the scope isn't even always accurate, and the rail shots will veer off at odd angles at times, especially when looking up or down. The only saving grace for the railgun is that you can dual-wield it, which makes it somewhat useful as a mid-range power weapon.

One other issue with the weapons is that scrolling through them with the mousewheel is pretty much completely broken. There's no rhyme or reason to the ordering of the many weapons, and I eventually just had to bind my favorites to hotkeys for easier access.

Most items have all been replaced with Duke-themed equivalents too. They're pretty fun to use and are nice twists on the classic Doom pickups, particularly the night-vision goggles, which can be toggled on and off at any time like in Duke 3D, rather than being a temporary power-up. However, I fear some of these changes run the risk of breaking certain maps. In particular, invulnerability spheres are now replaced with an item that gives you an unlimited-ammo Devastator for 30 seconds. Certainly handy, but if the map requires you to be invulnerable for a certain period of time, you're screwed. On the other hand, steroids now replace berserk packs, and steroids do make you invulnerable, meaning some sections will end up much easier than the mapper probably intended.

Also, while I know it'd break maps even worse if it was included, it still kinda hurts that the jetpack isn't here. It's an iconic Duke item, and being able to fly everywhere is just inherently awesome. XD

The last notable feature of this mod are a few slight alterations to enemy behavior, usually boiling down to the baddies firing more projectiles simultaneously than usual, or moving faster. They're not significant changes, but they do make a few enemies a bit more threatening (especially cacodemons). I do wish there'd been a mode that would allow you to outright replace Doom's bestiary with Duke 3D enemies though, or even better, randomly mix them together.

So yeah, it's not perfect and left me wanting more. Still, if you can stomach the somewhat creaky 3DGE engine, and wanna play Doom while Jon St. John says derogatory things about the demons you're shooting, this is a great way to go about it. XD