Duke Nukem: Zero Hour

Lore & Background

The plot revolves around time traveling aliens attempting to alter the course of history by eliminating Duke's ancestors. Duke is called into action by the government as aliens have once again landed and are wreaking havoc. He battles through New York, uncovers the aliens' plan to travel back in time, and is teleported to a future where the aliens have won. There, resistance fighters inform him that the aliens are tampering with history, creating alternate futures. Duke is sent via time machine to the Old West, where aliens have taken control and plan to detonate a bomb in Earth's core. After preventing the bomb, he travels to Victorian London, faces alien-created biological weapons, and defeats Jack the Ripper. He destroys a castle and the alien general—a giant brain. The aliens cause a rift in the space-time continuum, flooding New York with aliens from various points in history. Duke enters the alien mothership, battles the mastermind Zero, and restores the timeline.

In Their Own Story

The chrono-watch hums on Duke's wrist as he steps through a shimmering portal into the heart of a Wild West town. Dust devils swirl around him, and the saloon doors creak open to reveal a posse of aliens wearing cowboy hats. Duke grins, cocks his shotgun, and says, 'Looks like you varmints need a lesson in hospitality.' The time stream shudders as he fires the first round, altering the course of history with every shell.

Reader's Guide

The game's locations, weapons, items, and clothing correspond to the time period Duke is in. In the Old West, Duke faces technical difficulties that force him to rely mostly on period-appropriate weapons, though a few modern weapons are sent by allies. The game uses a relatively large 32 megabyte cartridge and can use the Expansion Pak to improve graphics, though this slows down the frame rate. Multiplayer is a 4-player split-screen mode using a first-person view.

Did You Know?

• The game incorporates more mature plot elements than the comically over-the-top tone of most of the series, such as an encounter with Jack the Ripper near the still-fresh murder scene of Mary Jane Kelly in Victorian Engl
• The final boss is named Zero.
• The game received mixed reviews, with an aggregate score of 67% on GameRankings based on an unrepresentative sample.