Forgotten Gems: "Duke Nukem: Zero Hour" Quiz

Answer: His evil twin

Duke Nukem called present-day Duke from 19th century England. The gist of the message was that aliens have gone back in time and messed up the fabric of time and space. The past-Duke followed them through time but his time-machine was destroyed and so he warned present-day Duke about the invasion.

After the little conversation, the optional training mission began. If the player was confident in their abilities, the first mission began instead of the tutorial.

Answer: Future

After battling a room full of enemies in a heavily fortified Statue of Liberty, Duke was inadvertently sent through time. His first stop was New York City in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The first future level started off at the base of the destroyed Statue of Liberty. Duke's first line in the level was a tribute to a classic line from "Planet of the Apes", saying "damn you, damn you all!".

Answer: A robotic scorpion

Perhaps the most perplexing boss in the entire game was, in my opinion, the boss of the wild west section. I could never figure out what a robotic scorpion had to do with the wild west. The boss of the post-apocalyptic section was a giant hog in an army tank which made sense, because the boss battle took place in a military munitions hangar. Regardless, the scorpion was seen at the end of a fairly difficult stage taking place in a mine. Fighting against time, the player had to stop a nuclear missile from destroying the future, all while platform jumping and rail-shooting enemies from a mine-cart. Upon defeating the unusual boss, the player was taken to a new point in time.

Answer: They created a virus which raised the dead.

The 1888 section of the game proved to be rather difficult for the inexperienced gamer. Lots of enemies, zombies, and swimming sections made it something to scratch one's head at. Regardless, the Victorian England section, was one of my personal favorites of the game.

There were zeppelin rides, castle adventures, countless secrets, and even an encounter with the famed serial killer, Jack the Ripper. After defeating the final boss of the Victorian section, the player was transported back to the present day.

Answer: They were all Duke Nukems.

All of the mini-bosses of the level, aptly titled "The Brothers Nukem", were modeled after Duke Nukem. The only differences among them came from the fact that they were from different time periods. All of the evil-Dukes were corrupted by the space-time continuum, and thus, were no more human than the aliens.

The first Duke faced was the old west Duke. The second was a semi-futuristic one with an automatic weapon. The next one was the Victorian one with an electronic rifle. The fourth Duke was dressed in military clothing and carried a tri-rocket launcher.

The fifth looked exactly like the player and carried a sniper rifle. The final Duke was ultra-futuristic, complete with cybernetic limbs and weapons.

Answer: So he could fly into the alien mother-ship hovering above New York.

After fighting the evil Duke's, the player had to guide Duke to the top of a tall-building which housed Duke's ship. Using his ship, the player entered the alien mother-ship via a cinematic. The mother-ship mission was difficult, one of the toughest in the game.

The level contained every single enemy ever encountered in the game, spread throughout a large, difficult-to-survive labyrinth. The objective of the mission was to power down the ship and let it crash down to Earth. After powering down the crystals, late in the level, the game's final boss abandoned ship and prepared for its battle against Duke.

Answer: Zero

Zero, was the final boss of the game and obviously the reasoning for the game's title "Zero Hour". Zero was a giant flying alien who supposedly foresaw Earth's destruction in the stars. Regardless, Duke was not ready to let Zero destroy his beloved planet.

The final battle was a tough one, testing everything from jumping ability to ammo and health management. With a few strategic attacks Zero would fall and Earth would be reverted back to normal. After Zero's destruction, a fireworks celebration occurred and Duke waved to the player. During the credits, Duke could be seen holding a tablet that read Duke 4 Ever.

Interestingly enough, the unreleased sequel's name was supposed to be called "Duke Nukem Forever".

Answer: Yes

While the single player campaign was a long and difficult adventure, the multiplayer was a fun-filled way to enjoy Duke with friends. It is recommended to play multiplayer after the campaign is beaten. If one jumps right into multiplayer there would only be four playable characters.

After beating the game, the list would expand to more than twenty. The multiplayer maps were large, challenging and designed specially to cater to anyone's third-person killing desires.

Answer: A fast-food restaurant

Seen in all of the New York levels was Duke Nukem's own fast-food joint. It was aptly named "Duke Burger". In the first mission, one of the mission objectives involved meeting up with a handful of soldiers to discuss how to beat the aliens. The aliens raided the restaurant and Duke was forced to kill the aliens.

The soldiers were rather useless at that point, as they did nothing to help Duke.

Answer: By beating a boss, finding all secrets, finding all babes, or killing all enemies in a level.

All levels, other than boss battles, featured a multitude of criteria to complete. The main criteria was, of course, to get through the level. A side category was to kill all enemies. In some levels, simply doing that unlocked some cheats. Another criteria was to find all of the secrets in a level. Some were easy to locate, while others were truly a challenge. Finding the babes in a level also challenged one's patience, but the cheats rewarded never disappointed. Killing a boss usually, but not always, awarded a cheat to the player. The game did have two secret levels, but did not give the gamer cheats just for discovering them. The first one could be unlocked in the first post-apocalyptic level. Instead of activating the radio, the player could jump onto the top of a hidden building and proceed to a hidden water-level, an ultra frustrating one might I add. The second hidden level could be unlocked if the player located all of the scattered time machine parts before the 1888 Castle level.

Thanks for playing and if you have a Nintendo 64, try checking out this long-forgotten gem!