Well, I still seem to be in a “Duke Nukem 3D” kind of mood at the moment, so I thought that I’d check out a rather interesting set of levels called “Infestation In Time Revisited TC“.
Although, at the time of writing, the ModDB page refers to an earlier version of “Infestation In Time”, the download page only includes the new version – which I will be reviewing.
In order to play “Infestation In Time Revisited TC”, you’ll need to download the “eDuke32” source port for “Duke Nukem 3D”. Then copy the ‘Duke3D.grp’ and ‘Duke.rts’ files from your copy of “Duke Nukem 3D” into the “eDuke 32” folder. After this, just follow the instructions that are included in the readme file for “Infestation In Time Revisited TC”. Once you’ve done this, use the dedicated “IITC” batch file to start the game (don’t just use the default “eDuke32” launcher!)
Anyway, let’s take a look at “Infestation In Time Revisited TC”:
“Infestation In Time Revisited TC” contains 14 levels (spread over two episodes), some secret & multiplayer levels, new monsters, new weapons, new textures, 3D models, new gameplay mechanics, new music and new sounds.
As the title suggests, it’s a total conversion – and yet it still looks very much like a “Duke Nukem” game, albeit with a hint of “Serious Sam”.
The basic plot is that Duke is relaxing at home when *shock horror* the aliens decide to invade again. After battling them in Los Angeles, he travels to an EDF base in the Antarctic where he learns that the aliens are using a time machine of some kind….
Yes, Duke REALLY will get medieval on their asses. Literally!
This is my BOOMSTICK!
Although this mod tells a story, it mostly contains the kind of classic non-linear level design that you would expect from a real FPS game, even in the obligatory train level.
In fact, the only truly linear level in the game is still surprisingly interesting for the simple reason that you spend literally all of it trying to outrun a series of fast-moving explosions.
This level does what it says on the tin.
One really cool thing about the level design in this mod is that there’s a large variety of locations to explore – from a secret Russian base, to the streets of LA, to the middle ages, to Ancient Egyptian catacombs, to – my personal favourite – a gothic realm that exists beyond the limits of space and time:
Complete with “Harry Potter”-style dementors too 🙂 This is so cool 🙂 … Well, apart from the puzzle near the end of the level.
Yay! This is just like “Stargate” and “Serious Sam” 🙂
The maker of this mod is also a huge fan of switch puzzles too and, although most of them aren’t too bad – the first level contains a puzzle with nine switches! Yes, there’s probably a solution hidden somewhere in the level but, after a lot of trial, error and fruitless searching, I had to resort to cheats in order to progress:
Of course, the REAL code you need to use here is “DNCLIP” (or typing “noclip” in the eDuke32 command prompt).
Likewise, level five of the first episode contains a switch puzzle… where the switches are spread out across a large level! Again, for the sake of my sanity, I had to use a cheat code or two.
There’s fun difficulty and then there’s cheap difficulty. Cheats are useful for the latter.
Still, the mod includes some rather innovative new gameplay features. One of these is a cash system where Duke can find $5 bills lying around levels that can be used to buy weapons in several weapon shops that are spread out around the game. There are also ladders that Duke can climb and a rudimentary physics system that has to be used to solve several puzzles:
This isn’t actually the solution to the puzzle in question, but it was fun to do.
As for the weapons, “Infestation In Time Revisited TC” includes some fairly cool ones. Some of the guns now even have 3D models too.
Interestingly, Duke now has two pistols – a “Golden pistol” which is fairly similar to the standard “Duke 3D” pistol and a “realistic” pistol which fires more rapidly (and uses a different ammo type). The shotgun, RPG and tripmines also have new textures, but are basically the same. There’s a slightly useless grenade launcher, a Devastator-style plasma weapon and a flamethrower too 🙂
It’s like the freezethrower… but with FIRE!
As for the new monsters, there are almost too many to mention. This is one of those really cool mods where you’ll never get bored with the monsters for the simple reason that there are just so many different types! But, most surprisingly of all, this game also includes an unused monster from the original “Duke 3D” too:
During my limited experiments with the Build editor when I was a kid, I saw these things in the sprite files and I could never work out what they were supposed to be. But, now I know!
Musically, this mod includes both traditional 1990s style music (in the medieval levels) and a classic rock/hard rock soundtrack. Personally, I’ve always thought that Duke would be more of a heavy metal fan, but it’s cool nonetheless. Plus, in true “Serious Sam” fashion, the final boss battle in the second episode does include some epic metal music in the background:
The music is really cool, but this boss battle is actually easier than the episode one boss battle for the simple reason that there’s a circular arena and no extra monsters.
All in all, this is a really fun mod. Yes, it might be a bit too puzzle-heavy and some parts of it may be a little clunky, but it’s still ridiculously impressive when you consider that it’s based on a game from 1996 🙂 If you’re a “Duke 3D” fan, this mod is well worth checking out 🙂
If I had to give it a rating out of five, it would get a four at least.
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