The original Duke Nukem 3D came out on January 29th, 1996, and was an instant success. The game featured some of the most interactive environments ever seen in a game, beautiful graphics, tons of enemies, and one kick-ass protagonist. The game is considered to be a classic, and it's hard to find a top shooters list that doesn't have the game on it. But the question is, does the gameplay still hold up today? The answer is an enthusiastic "Yes!" Thanks largely to great level design and explosive shooter mechanics, Duke Nukem 3D is a ton of violent throwback fun.

The story of DN3D is a simple one: While Duke was away kicking ass in space, aliens came to earth to kidnap all the babes. Duke's only option is to fight those alien bastards across 39 levels featuring settings such as Hollywood, Los Angeles, a moon base, and alien spacecraft. The level design is really what holds the game together. Every level is extremely creative, filled with enemies, items, and secrets. Despite the game not having a story, you still feel the desire to press on, if only to see where you will be going next.

The gunplay is lightning quick and has aged beautifully. It really makes you realize how little the shooter genre has changed over the years when a game this old still plays so well. Your arsenal of guns includes old favorites such as machine guns, shotguns, and rocket launchers, but there are some interesting ones thrown in as well. The Pipe Bombs, laser Trip Bombs, and freeze ray give the game some tactical depth. A personal favorite of mine, the Shrink Ray, allows you to miniaturize enemies before squashing them under your boot, what a mess! The only real complaint here is that some may find the game a bit too difficult at times. Duke Nukem 3D comes from an era of shooters where developers tried to kick your ass, so you will want to work on your reflexes.

Aside from weapons, Duke also has an inventory of various gadgets. A portable medkit allows players to heal themselves whenever they choose to. Steroids speed up player movement making transit through hostile territory easier. Nightvision goggles allow players to see enemies in the dark. The "HoloDuke" device projects a hologram of Duke that can be used to distract enemies. Protective boots allow the player to cross dangerously hot or toxic terrain. Scuba gear allows the player to take longer trips underwater. Perhaps most impressively, Duke's trademark jetpack allows the player to range fully in 3D, often to reach hidden weapons caches or extra health.

But all of this equipment is nothing without enemies, and Duke Nukem 3D has a good variety of them. Enemies range from mutated humans to aliens, with a few boss fights thrown in for good measure. While the AI is pretty basic, the enemies do provide a good level of challenge, and the different enemies require different strategies to defeat. This keeps the combat in the game interesting throughout the entire experience.

Once you have finished with the single player campaign, Duke Nukem 3D supports online play over Xbox Live. Options include playing Deathmatch or the entire campaign co-op with up to eight players. The online play is not as deep as a game like Halo, but once again the great level design and frenetic action make it enjoyable. However, the online games are occasionally hit with terrible lag, making the match unplayable.

In addition to the Xbox Live play, this version of the game includes some other new features/enhancements. While playing (either solo or online), the game records a video clip of your session, allowing you to post them online for others to check out. What's even more interesting is that if you die, you can rewind the clip of the game you were just playing, and take control at any point. This feature eliminates the need to save your game (although you can still save at any point if you chose to). Other updates include controller vibration, bilinear filtering, motion blur, and a slight quality upgrade to the music. If there is one real weakness about the game's presentation then it's the fact that the game does not fill up your entire screen. The game has borders on the sides in order to keep the game in the original aspect ratio.

Those who were hoping for a good port of the classic are going to be extremely pleased. The original game is completely intact, and the new additions make this the best version of the game yet. While those who never got the chance to experience the original now have a great reason to check it out.

When Valve originally announced their plans to deliver the next part of the Half-Life story in episodic form everyone was pretty excited. Instead of waiting years for a full sequel, fans expected to get episode sized pieces every six months or so. Unfortunately, things didn't go exactly as planned. Episode 1 ended up getting delayed, and when it did come out it was a bit disappointing.

Episode 1 ended up feeling like more of the same. There were no new weapons or vehicles, and the game even took place in the same locations you visited the first time around. This really gave the game a sense of déjà vu while you were fighting the same enemies (except for one) with the same weapons in the same location. Add to that the fact that not much really happened in Episode 1 to move the plot along, and what you end up with is a game that, while fun, was ultimately disappointing.

Luckily, Episode 2 fixes a lot of the problems that Episode 1 had, making it a truly enjoyable game without any reservations. While Episode 1's weakest point was the plot, the opposite is true this time around. Episode 2 starts where you left off, with Gordon Freeman and Alyx the run from the Combine. Your goal is to make it across the countryside surrounding the outskirts of City 17 and deliver the data packet that you stole to a resistance base called White Forest. The Combine know that you took it, and will be stalking you relentlessly the entire way, making your journey (which should take between 4-5 hours) pretty exciting. Along the way you will meet quite a few new characters, engage in some pretty cool combat, and learn quite a bit of backstory. Of course actually getting there is easier said then done, and you won't believe some of the places that you end up at along the way.

These new locations mark a big change from the typical linear urban and industrial environments of the previous games, opening the game up to some new gameplay possibilities. Many of the environments are a lot more open ended then those in the previous games, giving you much more freedom this time around. A new vehicle is introduced, and you will end up keeping it for quite a long time (while getting upgrades). This vehicle adds new gameplay elements that work great with the open environments. For example, at one point in the game you will be racing around to different locations in order to protect them from a huge strider and hunter attack. To say this segment is frantic would be an understatement.

Besides new locations and gameplay, the game also features a few new enemy types. The biggest of which is the Hunter. These flechette shooting creatures usually appear in packs, and can be pretty lethal if you don't work fast to take them out. There are also two new forms of Antlions. The first is the Worker Antlion that likes to keep its distance and lob acid at you. They can also fly; making them pretty fast and mobile. Lastly, there are the Antlion Grubs. These pretty much function as health kits and light up the underground tunnels.

There really isn't much in the way of new weapons. There is the "Magnusson Device", a sticky bomb of sorts that you attack to striders by launching it with the gravity gun. Still, the Half-Life arsenal already had pretty much every weapon category covered, so the lack of new content here is not much of an issue.

The only category that Episode 2 does disappoint a bit is graphics. The Source Engine is starting to show its age. But Valve did make some new enhancements to it that should help it last a bit longer. The most impressive addition is the cinematic physics system which supports very large interactions that blend physics events with key frame animation. Examples include a house exploding or a bridge collapsing. There is also a new dynamic lighting and shadowing system, which allows the player's flashlight to cast dynamic shadows. Lastly, there is an updated particle system as well as new effects such as motion blur.

Overall, Episode 2 is a good game. It addresses all of Episode 1's shortcomings, and actually surpasses Half-Life 2 in some aspects. After Episode 1, I was a bit worried that the rest of the episodes wouldn't live up to my expectations. But Episode 2 has renewed my faith in Valve, and is absolutely worth a purchase.

After The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion's release last year, Bethesda Softworks has been slowly releasing little nuggets of new content via Xbox Live Marketplace. Most of this content, while cheap, didn't add much to the game. Unlike the previous downloads, the Shivering Isles is an expansion pack filled with content, adding roughly 20-40 hours of new gameplay for those still running around Cyrodiil.

The expansion begins when you hear news about a strange island that has sprouted up in the middle of Niben Bay. Upon inspecting the island, you are greeted by a soldier standing guard outside of a strange doorway. Apparently everyone that has entered the portal has either come back out insane, or has simply not come back at all. Being the brave adventurer you are, you enter to find that you have arrived at the Shivering Isles, the realm of Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness. He has put a call out for a champion to help him stop the Greymarch; a sort of cleaning that happens at the end of every era.

The world of the Shivering Isles is divided into two regions: Mania to the Northeast and Dementia to the Southwest. Both areas are visually stunning and look absolutely nothing like anything that you have seen in Cyrodiil. Mania is very bright, vibrant, and oversaturated with plants like tall trees and large colorful mushrooms. On the other hand, Dementia is a very dark, foggy, and washed out swampland. The main city, New Sheoth, is also divided into two sections called Bliss and Crucible. The entire size of the Isles is about a quarter of the size of Cyrodiil, and is packed with tons of stuff to explore.

The main quest is pretty epic in scope and is easily on par with the one in the main game. The quests, of which many are memorable, will take you all over the Shivering Isles to complete various tasks. Your first job upon entering the realm of Sheogorath is to defeat the Gatekeeper. He is an extremely large and powerful enemy that is guarding the Gates of Madness, which is the only exit from the Fringe (a holding area of sorts that prevents those unworthy from entering the actual Isles). You can face him as is, but innovative players will find ways to tip the battle in their favor.

Another one of the early quests involves you reactivating Xedilian, which is an old dungeon that was used to deal with unwanted adventurers before the Gatekeeper was created. Once activated, the dungeon magically draws any visitors to it, at which point you can either kill or play tricks on the NPCs that find their way into its chambers.

Besides the main quest, the game offers a lot of interesting side quests, many of which are just as crazy as the people who reside in the Isles. One of the citizens of Bliss will explain to you that while he has perfected getting boats to float on the water, he has had less success in forcing the water to fly through air. Logically, a boat carried by flying water becomes a Skyboat. So he tasks you with searching everywhere for calipers and tongs to achieve the effect of keeping water airborne, and pays you gold for each caliper or tong you bring him. Another resident is afraid to sleep inside because he believes the walls will fall on top of him. So he asks you to find a safe place for him to sleep outside.

In addition to the new quests, the expansion also includes new weapons and armor, some of which you can craft from raw materials found in various dungeons throughout the Shivering Isles. Players will also get some new spells along the way, the most interesting of which are a few summons. Also, those who like to create their own potions will find a huge amount of new ingredients to experiment with.

Overall, the Shivering Isles is pretty good. It features all of the stuff that you would expect from an expansion pack: an interesting plot, a good amount of quests, new weapons, armor, ect. Not to mention that this expansion offers more hours of gameplay then other full priced retail games, making the Shivering Isles a convincing reason to revisit an already excellent game.