Page 127 - PC Gamer - UK (February 2020)
P. 127
E X TR A LIFE
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N OW P L A Y I N G U P D A T E H OW T O I MOD S P O T L I GH T I D I A R Y R E IN ST A LL W H Y I L O V E M U S T P L A Y
M y dad was the kind of DUKE TALK “BLOW IT OUT
man who would let
me be in the room
with him while he
watched TV if I didn’t ReferencesI100% YOUR ASS!”
gotasachild
breathe too heavily. If I asked a
question, he’d ignore me. If I
giggled, he’d tell me to shut up. It
wasn’t what I called bonding time, “HAIL TO THE “BORN TO
but he was the reason I fell in love KING, BABY!” BE WILD.”
with videogames at a young age.
When I wasn’t watching Star Trek:
The Next Generation as he snored
loudly on the couch, I was stood “WE MEET AGAIN, “GO AHEAD.
silently next to him as he played DOCTOR JONES.” MAKE MY DAY.”
‘kid-appropriate’ games like Leisure
Suit Larry and Freddy Pharkas:
Frontier Pharmacist until my mum
told me to get ready for bed.
grab a pistol, shoot the yellow barrels “How’d you get there?” he asked. I
Oh sure, I had a few actual age- by the ventilation shaft, drop down. turned, smiled, then restarted from
appropriate games that I played to Immediately turn to the right, shoot the beginning of Toxic Dump to
help me improve my sub-par math an assault trooper. Jump on the show him how to get to the secret
skills, but no game enamoured me billboard ledge behind you, grab the exit. Now he was silently watching
more than watching my dad play rocket launcher and then blow out me play. For the first time he was
Duke Nukem 3D, a game about a the side wall to the theatre’s ticket seeing how fast I could go through
roided-out protagonist with a booth at the end of the street. each level, and all the secret places I
buzzcut who kicks ass and would discovered without the help of a
chew bubble gum if he had any. That FAMILY SECRETS guidebook or him. When I punched
was the game my dad and I bonded I ended up memorising my dad’s the button at the secret exit and
over more than anything else when gameplay so thoroughly that when he loaded into Launch Facility, I paused
he was alive. Now, the parental lock the game to look at my dad, who
was on the whole time, so I never simply nodded and said, “Interesting.
saw the excess gore and strippers HE WAS THEREASON I FELL Have you seen the zoo level?”
flashing their boobs in dimly lit bars I shook my head, then my dad
as a child, but that game was the IN LOVE WITHVIDEOGAMES showed me how to get into the demo
reason we bonded at all. AT A YOUNGAGE level, which was basically multiple
It was the first FPS he brought cages filled with enemies. He
home. Moving through a 3D space directed me to the end, to a cage
like that for the first time was finally decided to give me a turn at packed with Battlelords, and told me
entrancing for us both. I memorised the keyboard, not only did I start to open it. They all rushed out
how he pressed the keys, the way he beating his best times, but I started towards me, screeching and firing
moved around the map. Every secret finding secret places he hadn’t yet. their chainguns. My dad and I both
door. Every ammo location. Every After about a month or so of us shouted and laughed at the screen as
enemy spawn. I even memorised playing Duke Nukem 3D, my dad I frantically tried to take out one
every time he would switch weapons, brought home the official guidebook, before the rest left me in a bloody
whether it was to conserve ammo or a massive 318-page ‘bible’ of every heap. “Try it again like this,” my dad
take out a wild pack of pig cops. I cheat, secret location, map, and said, giving me tips on where to aim
memorised all these things for strategy. It was after school on a and what weapons to use.
dozens of levels: take a step back, Friday, and my dad jetted out of work For many years after that my dad
early to pick up the guidebook, but would stop and watch me play a
NEED TO KNOW when he got home, I was already on videogame if he happened to pass
his computer, blasting my way through the family room. He didn’t
RELEASED EXPECT TO PAY
January 29, 1996 £20 through the secret Launch Facility always ask me questions about the
level. He was annoyed with me at game, but he cared enough to stop
OUR REVIEW LINK first, but then he realised he didn’t what he was doing to see what I
93% dukenukem.com
recognise the level I was playing. was playing.
LEFT: It all looked
mind-blowingly
modern at the time.
FEBRUARY 2020 127
