Duke Nukem: Time to Kill

Duke Nukem: Time To Kill is a third-person action/adventure PlayStation video game in the Duke Nukem series. The game is one of the many Duke titles released to satiate fans while Duke Nukem Forever was in production.

Gameplay
The gameplay and controls are very similar to those for Tomb Raider, a fact humourously referenced throughout the game. Time to Kill is best described as a fast-paced Tomb Raider II clone with limited puzzle solving and more of an emphasis on wit and explosions. Aside from Tomb Raider, The Evil Dead, Back to the Future series and the movie The Good, The Bad And The Ugly are also referenced to during the game.

Plot
The game opens with an introduction video sequence of Duke riding his motorbike towards the Bootylicious Club, only to find Pig Cops teleporting in to disrupt his fun. Duke takes out the Pig Cops and the game begins. The video sequence is accompanied by a soundtrack from Stabbing Westward.

The first stage of the game is a hub stage. It is an "inner city" comprised of the strip club, a subway, an apartment and manufacturing plant. On each visit to the hub stage, the appearance and enemies change slightly, and the dancers in the strip club change from women to mutated pigs and even men, resulting in humorous comments from a disgusted Duke Nukem. The objectives of the hub stages are to find 3 key crystals (hidden in a different location each time) and use them to operate a Time-Space Warp that Duke must use to travel to the Wild West, Medieval Europe and Ancient Rome. In each scenario, Nukem finds evidence of the aliens and pigs in period dress attempting to change history in their favor. Duke faces several levels of action before a final confrontation against an enormous end Boss. The game was remade for the Nintendo 64 as Duke Nukem: Zero Hour, although there are considerable differences.

There is also a multiplayer Deathmatch option, where 2 players can battle each other in environments loosely based on the single-player stages referring to the different time periods. These multiplayer stages can also be accessed in the single-player game by finding stopwatches or 'surprises'. If these hidden items are found, the player is given an opportunity to take on a horde of enemies in the multiplayer stages using an upgradeded version of a current weapon, with the prize for completion as the upgrade.

Duke's Arsenal
The weapons listed are provided in the order in which they are likely to be found in the game. This includes weapons found in secret areas. The Mighty Foot – Duke extends his foot in a kick. Useful for breaking open boxes or weak crates without wasting ammo.

Throwing Knife – A weak weapon by appearances, but a well thrown knife can take out an enemy in 1 or 2 hits. However, Duke can't find many of them at once, can't hold too many, and they don't have great range. Throwing Axe – This weapon can be fairly powerful in the right hands. Don't rely on them too much, though, because the amount you can hold is painfully small.

Pipe Bombs – One of Duke's more useful indirect weapons. Duke can toss one at a fair distance, depending on how long you hold down the Action button. Duke can then either pull out another Pipe Bomb (useful for setting up big explosions or multiple small explosions at once) or detonate them with a remote switch. There is no time limit, so Duke can wait until he's good and ready to set them off. Good for setting traps for the unwary. Be careful of the explosion, though. If you're too close, Duke can get injured or even blow himself up.

Holy Hand Grenade – "1, 2, 5! (Three, sir!) 3!" Straight out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, these explosives are far more useful than dynamite and pipe bombs for one good reason: the grenade will 'seek' out the nearest enemy and explode. If there's no enemies around, though, the grenade will bounce aimlessly and explode after a while on its own. Dynamite – A weapon similar to the Pipe Bomb, but lights immediately and should be tossed quickly. Be careful that you don't bounce it back into yourself! Crossbow – A long-range firing weapon, this is basically the medieval version of the Buffalo Rifle, it works much better, though. It has a wider range due to its ability to fire 3 bolts at a time (however, only consuming one unit of ammo).

Desert Eagle – Duke's trusty sidearm. A good, reliable piece when no other weapon is available. Its accuracy, high rate of fire and minimal loss of damage over distances make it a good sniping weapon. Super Version: The Super Eagle, same as Desert Eagle, but fires even faster than the normal version. Combat Shotgun – A powerful gun that can tear limbs apart, useful when wandering stages. It has an acceptable rate of fire. However, the bullets spread out, so damage is diminished at a distance. Super Version: The Super Shotgun, can fire 4 quick blasts in a row before reloading. Buffalo Rifle – A gun found in the Old West, this weapon can do some fairly good damage for long-range firing. Reload time on it is pretty bad. Gatling Gun – Another competent roaming weapon with an extremely high firing rate. It has low accuracy, especially at great distances. It also consumes ammo quite rapidly. Fortunately, Duke can carry large quantities of Gatling Gun ammo. Super Version: The Laser Gatling Gun, fires lasers instead of bullets which are more accurate and do more damage. Unfortunately, it holds only 250 rounds instead of 400.

RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade)) – One of the most powerful weapons Duke gains access to. Basically, it's a rocket launcher. One shot can reduce most enemies to mere bits or pieces of steaming meat. Unfortunately, Duke can only hold a very limited amount of ammo. Super Version: The Incendiary RPG, how this weapon can be more powerful is a surprise, but apparently it is. It also sets enemies on fire.

Flame Thrower – At short range, this weapon can roast any adversary,, but Pig Cops are probably the most susceptible. It has 2 disadvantages: You have to hold the weapon for a fairly long time on the target or they won't be toasted, and it burns ammo very quickly. Super Version: The Atomic Burner, roasts enemies faster than normal and emits a stronger blue flame.

Energy Zapper – A pretty neat addition to Duke's arsenal. This weapon fires a short-range 'claw' which can 'seek' out a nearby enemy, latch on, and holds them until they burn up. Great for Larval Necros. Super Version: The Super Zapper, shoots a much longer beam and has better seeking abilities. Eats ammo very quickly, though.

Freezer – Works exactly like the Freezethrower from Duke Nukem 3D. Point it at an enemy and shoot them until they turn into a frozen block. Shoot again (or run up to them if you want to save ammo) and they shatter. Best used for crowd control, where you can freeze some enemies, kill others with other weapons, then shatter the ice cubes. WARNING: Enemies will thaw after a few seconds. Also, beware of hitting yourself! Duke can also be frozen by his own bullets. If you happen to be up in the air when this occurs, you'll shatter upon hitting the ground.

Stages
Stage 1 - Present Time New L.A. - Above Ground: The major section of the hub stage that Duke explores throughout most of the start of the game before going back in time. The area mainly consists of the Bootylicious Club (a strip club and bar), a main street which connects to a backalley where there is a back-entrance into an apartment belonging to a dominatrix. There is also a large warehouse that is locked off and a factory as well. There is also an entrance to the subway station. Subway: This is where the teleporter is located that enables Duke to travel back in time to the various time-periods of which his ancestors existed. However, before he can use the time teleporter he must find the 3 key crystals that are scattered throughout this stage.
 * Mission: Time to Kill

Stage 2 - The Old West - Duke now wonders what the aliens are up to in the Old West. But, to find out, he needs to get inside the bank vault. Then, once he knows it, he can grab a key and storm the nearby garrison, where a mine shaft has been excavated. That shaft brings him to end. The important thing now, though, is to find the three pieces of paper scattered through the level that hold the combination to the bank vault.
 * Missions: Duke Hill, Miner 69er, Gold and Guns, The Reaper (Boss Stage)

Stage 3 - Alternative Future New L.A. - Welcome back, Duke. Unfortunately, instead of a hero's welcome, things are even worse than when he left. Like level 1, the idea here is to collect the crystals and warp back to another time. Unlike level 1, this time Duke enters an area he was unable to explore before: the warehouse. The whole of New L.A. seems to have been taken over by the alien race since the events in the second level.
 * Mission: Obey or Die

Stage 4 - Medieval Times - Duke starts this level standing across a moat from a castle owned by his long-gone ancestor Baron Von Nukem. He must now storm into the castle and recover all the pieces of his family's treasured jewels in order to return back to his time.
 * Missions: The Family Jewels, Resistance is Feudal, Holy Terror, Wing'ed Death (Boss Stage)

Stage 5 - 'Still Not Quite Right' Future New L.A. - As always upon return to the present, Duke is found in the small park right outside the bar (now called Danglers with male dancers). Obviously things are still not right, and Duke must go and fix it, in order to do so he must repair the time portal which has been flooded in and is also missing a piece for the orientation device. In order to recover this piece Duke needs to fight his way through the pig-infested factory.
 * Mission: Pig Factory

Stage 6 - Imperial Rome - Duke is now sporting a toga as he enters the Roman Era. He starts out in a small hallway overlooking a Roman bath holding some very fine looking Roman women. Here Duke must battle his way through the Roman bath house in search of a key and pass through an arena filled with nasty surprises which will eventually lead him to a labyrinth that will conclude in a Roman palace. However before Duke can finish in this time he must confront the unholy bloody bath house which hosts the final Boss.
 * Missions: Hog Heaven, Let the Games Begin, Blood Baths, Moloch the Gatekeeper(Boss Stage)

The Opposition
These are the following enemies which Duke has to battle against in Time to Kill, most are recurrent characters from past Nukem game titles:


 * Drak - The lesser, weaker grunts of the invading alien forces. They are reptilian in appearance. Not particularly bright, but persistent. Armed with small sidearms, and tend to drop pistol clips when killed. They sometimes drop small health packages as well.
 * Strengths - Numbers. When you see one Drak, most likely there at least few more around.  If they decide to join their comrade, you could be easily outnumbered.
 * Weaknesses - Can be easily killed with pretty much any weapon. Even a few quick shots from your Desert Eagle should be enough to put them down.


 * Pig Cop - For some reason, the aliens like taking L.A.'s police forces and mutating them into single-minded, loyal followers of the pig variety. They are armed with shotguns rather than small guns, and can do some pretty heavy damage to the unwary Duke. Sometimes they drop shotgun shells, shotguns, or somewhat used armor.
 * Strengths - Again, pig cops have numbers on their side. They also can be found in a multitude of forms. For example, in the Old West, they disguise themselves as cowboys. Some even go so far as to strap bombs to their chests and run at Duke, hoping to blow him up (and they usually succeed). Their weapons do more damage than Draks.
 * Weaknesses - Using their own weapon against them (i.e. the shotguns) is probably the weakest non-super weapon you should use on them. Anything above it should mow them down. Strafing while shooting helps, too.


 * Necro - A Necro is similar to the Octobrain found in an earlier Duke Nukem encounter. They float around and shoot fast-moving mental blasts at Duke.
 * Strengths - Necros tend to move pretty quickly when spooked. The mental blasts they shoot take a considerable chunk out of Duke's health. The fact that they can fly makes them harder to hit. Don't go at them with anything less than the Gatling Gun.
 * Weaknesses - Unlike bullets, you can see the blasts early enough to dodge out of their way. Necros are really at a disadvantage underwater, though. Not only is their maneuverability reduced, their mental blasts travel slower than a molasses covered turtle. They also don't appear in really large groups most of the time.


 * Bats - A bat is, well, a bat. Just your basic flying rodent that flies around and generally makes a nuisance of itself.
 * Strengths - Small, but other than that they're pushovers.
 * Weaknesses - Go down in a few hits.


 * Hellwing - Larger, more dangerous bats. These suckers shoot flaming balls at you and make an annoying screeching sound as they do so.
 * Strengths - Hard to hit, even when standing still. Fast-firing weapons work best.
 * Weaknesses - Tend to be loners, can't withstand much damage, and they can't hit you if you're underwater.


 * Heavy Drak - You'll know them when you see them. They're purple, bigger than their green cousins, and carry Gatling Guns.
 * Strengths - Definitely the gun. It's far more powerful than the guns the regular Draks carry. This creates the added tendency to avoid more than one at a time.
 * Weaknesses - Guns aside, these are Draks you're dealing with. Some well-placed shots should take them down easily.


 * Robot - Pretty nasty. Tank guns roam around and fire at you with a high-speed gun. Tripod guns don't move, but they have long range.
 * Strengths - Rapid-fire weapons means constant wear on your armor and health. Stay out of their gunfire if you can.
 * Weaknesses - Sniping at a distance with your Desert Eagle is great for tripod guns. A well-placed RPG blast does well with everything else. Also, they might not see you sneak up behind them...


 * Larval Necro - One of the most dangerous enemies of the game. From far away they're not so bad, but if they see you, they will jump on you and suck your life away.
 * Strengths - There are lots of them, and they won't let go once they find a nice hovering spot around you.
 * Weaknesses - Use the limited seeking capabilities of the Energy Weapon to deal with these monstrosities. Not much else works well enough (or fast enough).