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Can anything ever be better at being Doom than Doom? Maybe...

Duke Nukem may be known by old people as a character from a rubbish Operation Wolf-style coin-op, but from now on he's going to be thought of as the man who took on Doom! The shareware version of Duke Nukem 3D has been available for quite a while now, and the programmers have constantly been adding new features at the request of the fans, meaning that the full, registered version is about as good as possible. And if you don't like something about it, just change it yourself! Using sprites instead of Quake's 3D items may sound like a silly idea, but it means that the game moves faster and smoother than any 3D shooter so far. Wow!

The official release of Duke Nukem 3D has got a BBFC rating of 18. The reason isn't just the large amount of blood and gore - it's partly down to there being lots of half-naked women in the game! If Duke gives money to these dancers in the disco, for example, they open their top and jiggle around for him! And when the projector in the cinema is activated, it plays a naughty film!

The multi-player versus mode of Nukem has been appropriately named "Dukematch", and it's one of the best multi-player PC games of all time! Like Rise Of The Triad, Duke Nukem 3D features loads of multi-player options to get the most out of the game, including the ability to record your own messages and play them to your enemies during the game!

Included on the Duke Nukem 3D CD-ROM are a number of applications. One of these is "Build", the level editor for Duke which enables players to make their own levels from scratch! Another cool program is WAD2MAP, which will convert any Doom level or PWAD into a Duke map! It's a fantastic feature, meaning that your favourite Doom Deathmatches can be played with new weapons, or your homemade Doom levels don't need to be rebuilt from scratch!

1. Mighty Foot Only worth using when totally out of ammo or when smashing TVs up. For extra damage when close to an enemy, Duke can kick at the same time as shooting! Not only does it make him look pretty hard, it can be useful for keeping aliens away when he's low on energy.

2. Pistol A surprisingly useful rapid-firing gun which needs to be reloaded every few seconds.

3. Shotgun A very powerful but slow-firing shotgun, which looks far cooler than it did in the early version.

4. Ripper A very, very fast firing machine gun which can clear whole rooms in seconds.

5. RPG The Rocket Propelled Grenade launcher which does massive amounts of damage.

6. Devastator A double-barrelled missile launcher which fires at a ludicrously high rate.

7. Freezer The early versions featured a flamethrower, but it's now a freezethrower! Once enemies are frozen, they can be smashed with one kick.

8. Pipe Bombs These are thrown and triggered manually. Duke can drop more than one and detonate them all at the same time.

9. Shrinker This strinks enemies for a few seconds - long enough for Duke to run up and stomp on them!

10. Tripbomb A tricky weapon to use well. Duke sticks it on a wall and, after a second or so, a red laser beam goes across to the opposite wall. When the beam is broken, the bomb is detonated.

1. Jetpack The jetpack enables Duke to fly to hidden areas, as well as making it easier to deal with flying enemies.

2. Night Vision Goggles The goggles make enemies stand out a mile in the dark, and they also reveal occasional hidden messages on walls.

3. Steroids These make Duke move much faster and kick harder for a few seconds. In multi-player mode, it's possible to see speed trails coming off the back of Duke.

4. Protective Boots These are carried and activated whenever Duke steps in a dangerous liquid.

5. Scuba Gear Though Duke can survive underwater for a limited period, the Scuba Gear means that he can stay under much longer.

6. Holoduke When activated, the Holoduke produces a lifelike image of Duke, fooling both aliens and Dukematch opponents a lot of the time.

Every time a 3D shooting game comes up for review, I mention how I think that PC Doom is one of the best games ever, and how it hasn't yet been bettered. Duke Nukem 3D is the first game to make me thing again.

First of all, the frame rate is incredible! On a Pentium P90, it runs at a steady 60 frames per second, occasionally going over 100! Even on a low-spec 486 DX2 66MHz it runs at around 15 fps, which is much better than Quake is expected to make.

By far the most incredible thing is the remarkable level design - each level is totally memorable. In Doom there are a few memorable levels (the one with the big, red upside-down cross; the one shaped like a hand) but Duke's are so imaginative that they're all unforgettable (the one on the movie set; the one in the tube station; the one in the cinema; the one in the underwater city).

The whole game is so versatile that it can be set up completely for anyone, and there are already level editors and game patches appearing, meaning that it's going to last as long as Doom!

The only bad thing about the game is that the enemies are a bit rubbish - they're not very imaginative and they look stupid, but the bosses make up for that. Anyhow, I can't find any reason not to totally recommend this to every PC owner over the age of 18. It's incredible!

One of the most exciting, imaginative and well thought out games for ages. And on top of that, it's gory, rude and fun! Awesome!