Come get some
I read a list this week which had the 15 most influential first person shooters of all time. I am not going to agree or disagree with the games included in this list but it’s just that one of these games brought back a lot of memories. The list is in chronological order and number 8 is Duke Nukem 3D. I am not sure how many of you played this PC, FPS game but whenever I remember Duke Nukem 3D I have a wide smile on my face. I think it was around 1996 (not sure) and it was the first game I ever played “online”.
Deathmatch
“Online”……In those days it was just dial-up internet, and it was WOW!! You just connected directly by calling another person’s phone line. It sounds simple enough but believe me, it wasn’t. A friend of mine and I were on the phone for a few hours (or was it days?) while figuring out how to set it up and after he did 90% of the work (thx Frixos!!!!!) we were on!
When we started playing it was like we were in a ghost map. It was a huge Duke Nukem level but without the CPU enemies. We weren’t even really sure we were on the same map. I knew that somewhere out there was just another all swearing, guns blazing Duke Nukem guy trying to find me and then shoot the shit out of me. Finally, we found each other and the shooting started. I was in awe and I was laughing with excitement at the same rate I was shooting. It was like a dream…..
Hail to the King, baby
There were no headsets in those days nor could you input text in the game. So unless we occupied our respective house’s second phone line, to talk while playing, there was no in game communication. Or so I thought….
While we were playing I suddenly heard one of Duke’s famous one liners. I can’t remember which one of course now. At first I was shocked as I didn’t realise where it actually came from. Then after I got killed a few more times, I got more sarcastic one liners like “It’s time to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I’m all out of gum” or “”Hmm… don’t have time to play with myself””. Of course then I realised that it was my friend doing this and I phoned him. He told me that “yes you can say these lines using the F-Keys on your keyboard”. How cool was that???
There were some other elements in the game as I recall like hiding under water in a fountain or shrinking the enemy with a gun and then trying to step over him. Also there were laser tripping mines which I used a lot. The game had a pretty interactive and destructible environment for a game in those days. You could switch on lights, interact with pool tables, you could destroy or flush toilets and so on.
I had some great times online with this game, and i even managed to download a few more maps as well. It was the beginning of something big……
What’s your first online gaming experience?