Yeah Duke 1 was nigh unplayable and really just an awful all-around platform shooter. I mean, you can play through it, but it really does suck.

It was Duke Nukem 2 where they really nailed his personality and the game played really well. Fun levels, good shooting, and great controls. Ironically, it could have stayed a 2D platformer and still probably would have become very successful had they anchored a third game on that concept, but I'm glad they bit the bullet and went big with Duke 3D, as it was a perfect way to challenge all the stale Doom clones that were saturating the market at the time.