Duke Nukem himself is a veteran of PC gaming. He made his screen debut way back in the 80s, when EGA was considered cutting edge technology, in a series of thoroughly enjoyable platform games. (If you wish to discover more of these then you may adjourn to our Flashback page at the back of the magazine. But don't dally too long, we'd hate for you to get lost. Or something.) However, having proved his worth in the two-dimensional world of platforming, Duke has realised he is now ready to make the big journey - the journey into 3D.

The game is divided into three sections. The first, LA Meltdown, takes Duke from the sleazy, backstreets of Los Angeles to a hightech security compound, through extensive cave networks, giant warehouses, sewers, mountains, and cool underwater bits. Tiberius Station finds Duke travelling through space, exploring moonbases, crawling along maze like air-conditioning ducts, and greeting space stations infested with slimy green aliens. The final chapter returns to the city, only this time Duke begins outside a Japanese Sushi restaurant, and it is even more fiendish than the first two combined.

Basically, Duke seems like someone has extracted all the best scenes from all your favourite sci-fi/action flicks (from Die Hard to Total Recall to Alien) and then got the legendary John Woo to direct and shape them back into something coherent. Yes, unbelievably, it is THAT good.

Just like those films, it is the extraordinary set-pieces that makes Duke such a thrilling game. Sometimes it can simply leave you breathless. There's this brilliant bit, for instance, where you slip and slide down a swiftly-flowing waterfall. It spews you out in a huge cylindrical room and into a great pool at the bottom. Whilst underwater you have to take out several unspeakable tentacled beasts, before surfacing in an alcove, destroying several more of their wailing friends, and finally racing up a twisting flight of stairs to kill the guys who were shooting at you from a lookout point the whole time. Or the bit where you enter an apparently innocuous corridor, only to walk halfway down and find the walls explode and half a dozen lizard-like creatures wielding chain-guns jump from their hiding places to open fire upon your startled, helpless self. Or you can create your own, like when you reach the pair of giant mid-episode bosses during Tiberius Station. Scatter around twenty or so pipe bombs in front of the door to their lair, then open it and run like hell. One of them will be lured forward to investigate, at which time you trigger the last bomb you laid and the resulting devastating chain reaction will give him no chance.

Speaking of pipebombs, the arsenal that Duke packs is easily the most satisfying in a shoot 'em up yet. You begin with the humble pistol, then graduate to the timelessly classic shotgun (slow, but very effective), and the rapid-firing chain-gun (fast, but less effective). Even better is the brutal, shoulder-mounted RPG. More unusual, and more rewarding, is the Shrinker (you fire it, then have the pleasure of squashing your victim underfoot). The Freezer is a bit of a novelty (it's similar to the Shrinker, except it freezes the bad guys instead of shrinking them (obviously) and it also doesn't seem to work nearly as well). While the wall-mounted lasers are excellent fun, but only really useful in a multi-player game. Best of all is the aptly named Devastator. You can almost feel the recoil and I distinctly remember wincing several times in sympathy for the poor unfortunate that I had only just slain.