The character wasn't just in the level design. It had Duke's goofy monologue, toilet humor, hookers, and some semblance of plot. It had an attitude factor that played well to a lot of people in the time of No Fear t-shirts, eXtreme sports, and the WWF/WWE Attitude Era.
Quake was more of a technical marvel, but was aimed at a more alternative aesthetic that saw it use vague murky levels, Nine Inch Nails collab, and a Lovecraftian end boss.
Yeah, I find Quake boring, as an European Quake's environment is something not to far from a Iberian village, or the old town from any major city. It looks like a "slice of life" in Summer holydays plus monsters.
OFC not so "bricky" and "stoney", but Roman/Gothic walls, gates, doors and such architecture items can be found everywhere, in any remote village, town or the old part of cities, so it was, indeed, mundane.
And yes, for Americans these oldish environments are astounding and marvellous, I agree.
To me, the American urban environment was more exotic and "alive", something like a Hollywood movie with cops, cars, buildings and so on. That's why I loved every bit of DN3D, and most of highly detailled and interactive urban games.
> Quake was more of a technical marvel, but was aimed at a more alternative aesthetic that saw it use vague murky levels, Nine Inch Nails collab, and a Lovecraftian end boss.
That was pretty much the whole genre back then, which is what gave Duke 3D's level design the aforementioned "character", as it was one of the very few examples trying to depict more realistic environments vs the usual Doom mazes with very fictionalized settings/visuals.
Quake was more of a technical marvel, but was aimed at a more alternative aesthetic that saw it use vague murky levels, Nine Inch Nails collab, and a Lovecraftian end boss.