Duke Nukem Forever

Being a big Duke Nukem fan while growing up, I have to say this was a big letdown for me. And I'm far from the only one. While I don't consider it terrible, it isn't good either.

Twelve years after Duke Nukem 3D, our cool, wise-cracking, and hypermasculine, womanizing hero is living like a king in Las Vegas. Then, unsurprisingly, the alien scum return and it's up to Duke to once again kick ass and save the world.

Thanks to a very troubled development, the graphics and animation were outdated and looked average at best for the time. All the levels looked plain and barren, and there's inadequate lighting everywhere. Some of the enemy models were decent, but the NPC models were as unimpressive as the graphics, looking more like lifeless animatronics. The performance was sluggish, the loading screens were irritatingly long, and the multiplayer was chock full of bugs and lagging that made it nigh unplayable.

For the most part, the gameplay was routine and predictable, mostly involving running around, killing aliens, rescuing civilians, spouting one-liners, etc. Sure, it's par the course, but nothing new innovative for Duke Nukem or any other game for that matter. At least the armament was extensive and included classic weapons like Dukes trademark gold-plated handgun, pipe bombs, a freeze ray, and others. You'll fight classic enemies, like Pig Cops and Octobrains, bringing a bit of nostalgia to the game. And finally, Jon St. John is as entertaining as ever voicing the titular hero, so there's at least a few highlights.

Clearly the developers were trying to ride on Halo's coattails by copying its formula; like giving Duke access to vehicles, having regenerating health called EGO, and being able to only wield two weapons at a time, but this just made the game feel warped and jarring. Plus, there were annoying and difficult minigames that felt completely out of place. If they included more traditional Duke Nukem features, like exploring and discovering secret areas and captured babes, or including more gadgets in single player, like Duke's night vision goggles or his ever-trusty jet pack. This could have been better.

There's unwanted gross out humor everywhere, like pissing, belching, and throwing crap. Ugh! Seriously? This could have been better if the developers tried to keep up with the times but instead stuck with outdated and immature humor involving innuendo, swearing, and rampant chauvinism that really made Duke look like a sad, washed-up has-been who should have retired years ago. Yes, I know that's his character, but it just didn't belong in the 21st century, and it was so overdone, it made you cringe.

In the end, this game was mediocre at best and would only be enjoyed by die-hard Duke Nukem fans or bored gamers stuck at home on a rainy day. Still, it probably would have been best if it stayed in development hell instead of becoming one of the biggest let-downs in video game history.

I just have played this game quite a lot, still haven't finished it yet but I have already killed the three or four first bosses which means I'm fairly long into the game. (I have no idea how long this game really is.)

Anyways, on with the bad things first: Okay, I do understand that games usually force you to watch the first intro videos et cetera because it took them a lot of time to do and they want to show it to you, but even so you usually are able to Esc them away the second time. Well in DNF it seems like you are forced to watch every single cut-scene, intro, character introductions and so on every single time. This game isn't Final Fantasy so it really kills the game a bit. Even in Max Payne you can actually fast-forward the cut scenes or press Enter to quit them instantly.

Second bad thing is that I haven't found any way to save your progress, you simply ONLY have save check-points, which is stupid. My brother first played the game for about the second boss, then I wanted to start a new 'game' and had to play from the beginning all the way to the part where my brother left it off at. Let's say we are in the final boss and then someone starts a new game... well you just got f'ked. And you have to play through the whole game again.

Things like these really kill the re-playability, I REALLY don't think I can bother playing this game over one more time, because whenever a cut scene comes in, I would probably just go take a dumb or something to wait over the time...

However, the good parts, well they are all there, plenty of them. Finally we got a game for people who like to explore and goof around, basically after every action scene you will come into a room filled with games (maybe as a reward?), and you can gain your Ego boost bonuses by playing mini-games; beat the high-score in Pinball, clean a table of Pool, throw a basketball into the net, lift weight, beat a guy in air-hockey etc. I probably wasted 20 hours or something just on these silly mini-games, really love them. But of course, there's also plenty of Shoot 'em up moments, and half-naked girls.

Another fun thing is how the environment affects the gameplay, like you can shut down the lights and the poor girls will get afraid of the darkness... though, if you are that guy who likes to SPEED-RUN through games then you will probably miss out 80 % of the fun.

I will give this game a solid 7 because it really is super fun to play this through, the 3 numbers away from a 10 is because of the re-playability, why screw a otherwise good game over with non-skip-able scenes.

3D works quite well to the point where you don't have to download any patches a la Helix or others. NVidia (sorry I don't do A.M.D)suggest you go to advanced video options and turn off "post special effects". Though 3D is great it isn't superb like some earlier games like Crysis 3 with full area 3D. Depending on the game not only is your hand piece - (that with which you kill enemies) at the front of the screen and quite pleasantly 3D to the point where it protrudes out from your monitor and hangs above your keyboard! but you can look out into the distance quite literally in full 3D!Like you are standing in a hallway and looking way down into it. OK that's enough for my attempt at 3D worthiness. Sadly you only get partial 3D depth as to distance perspective. Graphically the Devs have done well to present shiny textures and lots of fun via nude X rated CGI. AS to the story and re-playability well, This is definitely worth playing once only for the length of time waited since Duke version one. There are plenty of gags, tits, and puns but nothing to make the mature gamer want to come back for more.

Email me if you would like a game reviewed for its 3d worthiness - ratcat17@hotmail.com

I don't even know who Duke Nukem really is back then as a kid but I saw this game from an old magazine that I read. Once I bought this game I decide to try it out.

To be honest I really absolutely fun on playing this game. As usual I did alot of the shooting and I get to trigger short kill animations. It's pretty fun to do about the many ways to kill. But the story in this game is absolutely absurd. I thought the Saints Row or Postal has weird over-the-top stories, but I didn't expect this game to be that much. And I did not expect to have nudity appear out of nowhere. Plus one thing that frustrated me is the animation which one evidence is the drawing scene for a plan and signing autographs.

Duke Nukem Forever did not make me hail to king for him and Duke may act like a rude guy for no reason but this game is still fun to play.

I have remarked that critics have been quite negative towards this game because it is bound to be compared to recent 2011 shooting games which is a shame as it has been suggested it would've been appreciated more if it was released sooner . Needless to say that doesn't take away from the fact that the game can still prove to be enjoyable.Due to the timing of the game's release; critics cannot really help you to decide whether or not to buy it as only your own opinion can help you here as the bulk of the reviews more less compare it to more up to date games which really isn't very helpful when picking a game to be honest. Aren't people forgetting that this would've been out a few years back were it not for the issues 3D realms ran into? I cannot deny that it seems dated compared to recent games but I don't care; graphics are not everything besides what were people expecting when Gearbox was polishing up what 3D realms started; it's not like they were going to start from scratch again? This game is not unlike shooters of the late 1990s and early 2000s; some people will find favour with this while others won't.

If you enjoy Duke's style in humour then the humour in this certainly will not disappoint you as it's very much like Duke Nukem 3D's ; but obviously it's not for everyone. Honestly I don't really understand why some critics call Duke's humour unfunny but yet praise humour in games that is mediocre at best. As for critics that question Dukes character; I really hope they are joking. I can accept various opinions on Duke Nukem Games but to question the protagonist that makes the franchise so unique and enjoyable definitely raises questions as Duke Nukem is a gaming icon that still has an appeal;even today and is a nice change from the typical serious heroes you see in a lot of recent games.

Oh and don't worry about all the controversy this game has sparked off for all it's mature content; we all knew it was bound to do that if it was going to be a follow up to Duke Nukem 3D which was also quite controversial at the time. If the game was watered down to appease some critics; it just wouldn't be a Duke Nukem game would it?

The game is not without it's flaws but it has interesting elements and very interactive environments. The enemies and bosses are pretty cool and challenging.The only things I don't really like about this game is the linearity in levels, a checkpoint system, only carrying two weapons, strength tests and the new Health system. This game will not have the replay value of Duke Nukem 3D but really what game does these days? Aren't all shooting games nowadays pretty much linear? It's a trend this game regretfully followed but luckily it has things that make it worth checking out.

Now that Gearbox owns the rights to Duke Nukem; I imagine things will go a lot smoother in later games as 3D realms was biting of more than they could chew trying to keep up with the times as they just didn't have the numbers or resources to pull it off while Gearbox is a much bigger company which has been something the Duke franchise has been in need of. It's a safe bet Duke will have more adventures to come; always bet on Duke ;)