Duke Nukem: Critical Mass

 DS
User Score
3.5

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 30 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 30
  3. Negative: 18 out of 30
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  1. Wesker500
    Mar 13, 2012
    5
    Not a game for gamers but this game would simply be for someone who is collecting the Duke Nukem saga in case they want a game with Duke for their DS.
  2. Feitan
    Aug 14, 2019
    7
    Spent some time on this game when i was younger, it was a gift from my uncle along with the DS.
  3. TheQuietGamer
    Sep 25, 2021
    5
    Ask someone what the worst Duke Nukem game is and odds are they'll tell you it's Forever. That's because they haven't played this one. Released just a few days prior, Critical Mass actually has a very similar backstory in that it too spent some time in development hell. It's evident that Apogee Software and developer Frontline Studios had big plans for the title; intending for it to be theAsk someone what the worst Duke Nukem game is and odds are they'll tell you it's Forever. That's because they haven't played this one. Released just a few days prior, Critical Mass actually has a very similar backstory in that it too spent some time in development hell. It's evident that Apogee Software and developer Frontline Studios had big plans for the title; intending for it to be the start of its own trilogy and even having a more impressive PSP counterpart in development that you can find footage of online. The only thing that ever ended up seeing the light of day though was this shoddy DS version.

    Gameplay-wise it's a lot like Manhattan Project, which itself was a throwback to the first two Duke Nukem games on MS-DOS. So it's another action-platformer in the series where you blast your way through aliens in a 2D side-scrolling format. It's competent enough, but level design is often haphazard with side paths that weirdly enough sometimes don't lead to anything. Plus, the most effective way to avoid cheap deaths is to simply run forward while holding down the fire button, killing enemies before they appear onscreen. That way you don't have to fight off attacks from two directions at once when the stages decide to spawn in foes behind you. That's not really much fun. The devs tried to prevent things from getting too monotonous by including over the shoulder third-person shooting and first-person sniping segments, among others. These sequences get overused however, and the controls are usually awful so their novelty wears off pretty quick.

    A surprising amount of effort went into the storytelling aspect of all this. The cutscenes may look like pixelated garbage (and Duke somehow has the worst, least detailed character model in the game), but the voice work is undeniably high-quality with the titular hero himself even uttering more than just simple one liners. It kind of ends up being for naught though as the plot basically ends up going nowhere due to the abrupt cliffhanger ending that will never see a resolution, but I was still left fairly impressed. Also impressive is the amount of raunchy content they were able to slip in on Nintendo hardware. The franchise is well-known for its more adult oriented elements, and while this tame compared to most of its predecessors, there's more T'n'A here than you would expect.

    Overall, it has some creative and compelling ideas, but the lackluster execution really holds Critical Mass back. I could see myself revisiting it as a guilty pleasure to find the last of the collectibles or if I was on need of some mindless entertainment on a long trip or something. Yet, that doesn't change the fact that unless you're a hardcore Duke fan looking to complete your collection, this isn't worth seeking out.    … Expand
  4. Yojimbo2015
    Jun 1, 2023
    5
    Extremely mediocre 2D platformer with far too many flaws. Ugly graphics, blind jumps, off-screen enemies and a particularly poor sniping mode blight a game that reminded me of Demolition Man on the 16 BIT consoles...except worse.

Awards & Rankings

33
#33 Best DS Game of 2011
14
#14 Most Discussed DS Game of 2011
20
#20 Most Shared DS Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
29

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 12
  3. Negative: 12 out of 12
  1. GamingXP
    Jun 13, 2011
    35
    The name of the game is just wrong. It should be called Critical Disaster instead of Critical Mass.
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  2. Multiplayer.it
    May 26, 2011
    30
    Duke Nukem: Critical Mass is one of the worst Nintendo DS games ever. Clear and simple.
    Read full review
  3. Everyeye.it
    May 25, 2011
    20
    Simply one of the ugliest games for DS and for this generation of consoles.
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