Final Score 90%

The Good: DNMP is old-school, side scrolling, addictive, ass kicking fun blended with spiffy modern graphics and exellent sound.

The Bad: Nothing new or innovate here. 

Reviewers Tilt: Make no mistake - this is side scroller, find the keycard game play and its not for everyone! If you can open up to some classic gameplay, lots of fun can be had here.

Avid Gamer Recommended System: 800 MHz or higher CPU, 256MB ram, and a 32mb video card. A game pad is recommended.

Ah, remember the good ol’ days of gaming, when side scrollers like Contra, Super Contra, Sunset Riders, and the Golden Axe series helped pass the time? None of the old school side scrollers were ever incredibly technical. Nor did any of them ever feature an enthralling storyline or revolution game play. But, their was something... addictively fun about them. ARUSH’s newest title, Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project, attempts to capture player’s attentions though this same method of simple-fun style of play. And they have succeeded!

Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project, while far from innovative, is very refreshing. Too many of today’s shooters are nothing more graphical updates of existing games. Developers simply follow the formulas of existing and successful games without deviating in any way. This style of developing results in a lot of the games that are basically the same thing with some graphical tweaks. For example, if I see one more of those poorly written counter terrorism games, I am pretty sure I am going to hunting certain game developers (and you know who you are)! But I regress; ARUSH has made its title into a breath of fresh air by deviating from this cycle. DNMP is neither serious nor technical, as most current shooters are, but instead is comical and fun. The game’s politically incorrect billboards, pop culture allusions, and Duke’s sayings will keep you laughing for the duration of the game.

The premise for the game is basically unchanged from the other Duke titles. Your goal is to save your fair city/planet (well, the babes on it anyway) from alien invaders (in this case your arch rival is Mech Morphix). You do this by finding babes in each level and defusing the bombs attached to them. All this must be done while dispatching of baddies of course. Duke’s arsenal in Manhattan Project is also similar to most of the past Duke titles. Albeit, that is not really a bad thing as the past Duke games had quite a diverse selection of arms. In DNMP you have everything from an assault rifle to a pulse cannon! The vast array of weaponry is needed too, as the game’s enemies are equally diverse. You face everything from the traditional pig cops to Mech Morphix in an attack chopper! Manhattan Project is spread across 8 superbly designed levels rendered in good (though not quite great) 3d. The game supports resolutions of up to 1024x768 in 32-bit color. My homebuilt 1.3GHz Athlon with 768mb RAM ran at this setting with all effects maxed without any slowdowns. I would have liked a few higher resolutions to be available for those of us with beefier machines (I think the game would have looked much better), but this is not a big problem as the graphics are definatly far from sub par at any available setting.

I used my Logitech Wingman Rumble Pad Pro in the game with few problems. The game detected my game pad without any problem and all the default controls seamed to be exactly where I wanted them. The only problem I had was, while the game identified my pad as having rumble support, it would not allow me to turn the rumble option on. However, this is a minor detail. If you are planning on getting DNMP (and I would plan on doing so as it is an excellent game) you should really look into a good game pad. A game pad seams to work really well with the title’s console like game mechanics.

It was honestly rather hard to find problems with Manhattan Project. One of the only real problems I could see with Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project is the, in true old-school style, it has brought back the familiar find the key style of play that many gamers detest. I personally did not find this to be a problem as most of the levels are a blast and you rarely, if ever, spent time backtracking for a keycard. However, if you absolutely hate find the key game play, DNMP is not for you. Another thing that may bother some gamers is the lack of story and innovation. A big story and huge is not typical in side-scrollers, shooters in general, or any Duke Nukem game so this should only be a minor issue.

Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project is overall an excellent title that, while it contains nothing really new, is an absolute blast. This game is pure addictive fun. I actually had to physically pry AG’s own Musashi off of my computer when I let him test this game out. Basically, if you are in the market for a good shooter, do yourself a favor and pick this title up instead of Counter-Strike Rip VII. You’ll be glad you did!