Duke Nukem II: Escape From Alien Abductors! is a platform game developed by Apogee Software and released December 3, 1993. The game consists of four episodes, the first available as shareware. It is the follow-up to 1991's Duke Nukem, and followed by Duke Nukem 3D in 1996. Todd Replogle was the primary designer of all three games.
Plot
In 1998, the evil Rigelatins plan to enslave Earth, and they kidnap Duke Nukem, to use his brain to plot the attack for their forces. Duke breaks free to save the world again.
Gameplay
The player's goal is to proceed through the levels collecting items, destroying enemies to the level exit and at the final level, defeat the super alien boss. In one level of each episode Duke needs to destroy radar dishes to progress. Duke Nukem can pick up weapons along the way. There are four types of weapons: His regular default gun, the flamethrower, the laser and the rocket launcher. Duke can also get a rapid fire powerup. Health items can be collected to heal damage Duke receives or to boost score points at full health. Keycards need to be collected to access past the force fields and keys must be obtained to get past locked doors. A cloaking device makes Duke temporarily invincible and disables the super force fields. Movement through the levels mainly consists of jumping onto platforms, climbing ladders, operating elevators, using teleporters, hovering over blowing fans and climbing hand-over-hand across pipes or girders. At the end of every level, the player can receive up to seven 100,000 point bonuses, earned by making certain achievements in the level, such as destroying all cameras.
Development
The game uses VGA and EGA graphics and draws two backgrounds. The game took almost two years to create.
The Game Boy Color version of Duke Nukem II was titled Duke Nukem. It was released on September 10, 1999 in North America. Several of the backgrounds closely resemble those of the earlier DOS version of the game. However, the Rigelatins have been replaced with the Zorgonites, the arsenal of weapons and items have been modified and the levels, graphics, music, vehicles, enemies and bosses are brand new. Furthermore, Duke has the ability to hang onto the edge of platforms in the Game Boy Color game. The game features 21 levels of play and eight save game slots.
