Duke Nukem 3D's lighting may be unrealistically bright, at least in the outdoor environments, but it has a special quality to it that is hard to replicate.
Back in '99 3DR managed to increase the nighttime realism while retaining a certain warmth and colour brilliance despite the added darkness, but I don't see that in any of the post-2001 material, either in their own work or in the various mod creations.
Interestingly though, CryTek themselves got closer without trying:
![Posted Image](http://level-design.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/timesquare1_full-1024x445.jpg)
Still more like how I would have wanted Deus Ex: HR to look rather than DNF or a D3D remake, but definitely closer.