Quantity over quality.
Back in '97, Duke Nukem 3D was ported to the Playstation by a company called Aardvark Software. PC-to-console ports have always been rather hit and miss regardless of the genre in my opinion. Duke Nukem 3D for the Playstation, or Duke Nukem Total Meltdown as it's known (simply just 'Duke Nukem' in Europe) is no exception.
It seems to me that Aardvark chose quantity over quality in this version of Duke. Everything from the PC original is there, plus an exclusive 4th chapter called Plug N' Pray, which is almost, but not quite, classic Duke. It adds a little more depth to the game to a certain degree, even if it does feel a bit unnecessary. Either way, fans of the series will definitely want to check it out purely for the fact that it is just more Duke Nukem 3D to beat.
Quantity asside, this is actually quite a sloppy port. The graphics for a start, are grainy and muddy, and could've been a lot clearer and smoother with a bit more effort from the developers. The Playstation was capable of a lot more, even if the Build engine that powers Duke was still fairly new technology back then. I must admit, the visuals weren't really that important to me personally, but it is quite obvious that more could have been done to make Duke a better looking game.
The worst aspect of the technical side of the game are not the visuals, but rather the frame-rate. It slows down often, even in rooms that aren't overly-complex and even when there aren't really a lot of enemies on-screen at once. On the other hand, I found that this game was still generally playable throughout, even with the frame-rate issues. Put it this way, i've seen much worse (the Playstation version of Hexen comes to mind). There is an option to turn off shadows, which speeds things up ever so slightly, but really the first thing that pops into my head first is 'laziness from the developers'.
The sound effects and music are actually one of the strongest points here - the music has been completely re-arranged, and the overall quality is excellent, maybe better than that of the PC original. The sound effects are the same, and Duke himself still gives those same humurous one-liners. Although this isn't exactly the most important aspect of Duke, it is at least good to know that not all of this port was rushed.
One rather annoying factor of Duke is the controls. I mean, seriously, what is up with the control schemes here. You can chose between 3 schemes, the first 2 being completely unplayable. The third is known as the 'Doomed' set-up, and is loosely based on the controls that the Playstation port of Doom used, only not as good due to the fact that there is more you can do in Duke Nukem 3D. This set-up is still pretty tricky to master at first, and will require several plays first.
On the plus side, this version of Duke lets you save whenever you like, without taking up too many blocks on your memory card. This is crucial really, as Duke will always be a challenging game. Had there been a password system, it really would've brought this game down.
This port offers a multiplayer mode which may sound promising, but don't even go there. The game requires a Playstation link meaning that 2 consoles are required. The Playstation port of Doom had this pointless function too, and it really makes you wonder why the developers even bothered with a multiplayer option. Had it been split-screen, it could've been excellent due to the game's fast and frantic gameplay, and of course, awesome arsenal.
What really gets me most though, is that even if it was impossible to speed this game up frame-rate-wise, why did they not at least make a few odd sacrifices to it? The Saturn port had various sacrifices made to it, and as a result was 100% smooth throughout while still having enough content to satisfy gamers. Sometimes ditching a few factors can pay off.
I know I given this game little praise. So why the 7.5 score? Because it features EVERYTHING that the PC version had, so really, everything here is presented in it's original context. While the technical issues will disappoint, and there are better PC-to-Playstation ports out there (Doom), there are also many that are worse. Duke Nukem Total Meltdown is worth playing if there is no possible way for you to play the PC original, and if you are a die-hard fan of the series, go find a copy on eBay and bid on it for the exclusive levels.