The Aliens are back and have taken control of the earth once again, and Duke has been timewarped back to the future to help kick some big uglie’s butt. Oh boy, here we go again! With a lot of bigger and uglier rats and apes armed to the teeth, Duke must drive the aliens off Earth and restore control to the United Babe Resistance (UBR), if he can. The usual assortment of baddies, pigs, goons, bats, sharks and other monsters are here for Duke to mow down, and then listen as they squeal. And don’t forget Duke’s ego, which is even bigger than this game (so be sure to keep it powered up at all times).

The weapons’ locker is stocked full with your favorite assortment with every tool of the trade. You will find them all in there and some have even been upgraded a little since Duke’s last adventure. The weapons include laser blasters, shotguns, gatling guns, pipe bombs, torpedo launchers, sniper rifle, grenade launcher, flame thrower, freezer, the shrink ray and many others. The gadget list is a wee bit short this time around, with only four selections to choose from: jetpack, bulletproof vest, nightvision goggles, biomask and the oxygen tank for underwater wet work. Ah, the Duke does like his work!

The single–player missions are about the same. Get your instructions, go wack some aliens and have yourself a brew, a stogie and a couple of babes on the side. Work your way slowly, slowly I said, through each level and quit bothering the babes (they have enough to worry about without some macho BS getting in their way). Use the training levels to tune yourself up for the main event. There are only two difficulty levels: Come Get Some or Death Wish. Duke strolls through most of these levels with no problem, simply blasting away at anything that doesn’t have a pair of boobs. The alien AI is just a little too dumb for a real challenge and Duke’s auto aim lock–on lets him clear a room with ease. The game play slows to a crawl when too many baddies are on the screen at once, which makes the game seem to drag on longer than normal. Even so, you still have to do in the bosses like the Silverback Ape thing (who can be taken care of with a hard stare). Not too hard is it? Had enough? I thought not!

In multiplayer Dukematch, it’s just like all the other deathmatches that we’ve seen come and go. You start at one end of an arena or dungeon, while your opponent begins at the opposite side. The object is to pick up all the weapons you can find and wack the snot out of each other. The winner lives and the LOSER DIES! What’s so hard about that? It’s way too easy to kill each other, or in other words, it’s pretty boring.

Graphically, the look and feel of this game was too dark. On my big screen, it’s sometimes hard to even see the bad guys hiding in the shadows. I had to run the game on a smaller, yet brighter screen or else I couldn’t play at all. The enemies weren’t rendered that well either, but it was hilarious the way they died at times. The cut scenes were really bad to watch, so it’s best to bypass them all together (unless you like watching really bad vids).

After hearing the tunes that accompany Duke during his adventures, and listening to him babble on with the same boring chatter, level after level, you will be driven to use this game disc as a drink coaster and find yourself playing Tomb Raider just to get rid of the bad taste lingering in your mouth. I had to listen to some other CDs while playing this game so it wouldn’t be so boring. And Duke’s theme song definitely needs to be retired for good. The babes in the game don’t really have much to say except for the Gal at the Babe Resistance who calls Duke through his funky shades and gives him instructions and tips for beating the aliens. (She’s a real blabbermouth!)

This game was a big waste of time and energy, after working through a level only to say, "Is that all there is?" Unless you’re a hardcore Duke fan, I think you might like it, but even then, it just doesn’t live up to the big guys rep! This title is definitely on my top 10 list of bad games.

Pass on by, and go get something else — you’ll be a lot happier!