Duke Nukem Forever

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.

Going into this game with low expectations, I expected a first-person shooter game with, of course, the man himself Duke. What I actually found while playing this game is that it reminded me of Half-Life a lot more than any of the classic 90's shooter games. While the combat can feel a bit clunky at times (like Half-Life), and sometimes the puzzles can be too tricky to solve without referring to a guide (like Half-Life), I have so far enjoyed playing this game, with the Duke Nukem humor being one of my favorite aspects.

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.

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

Its true, Duke Nuke is back in this computer game on the Xbox 360.

So this game is quite a long playthrough and I suppose that is a good thing because people complained about a game such as Splinter Cell: Conviction as being too short.

This game is R18 because partly it has some of the most profound nudity I have seen in a computer game ever but that is just Duke Nukem for you. Duke Nukem is a real American badass and that is how you explain it.

One gripe is that there are so many boss levels in this game it can become quite frustrating because after so long such as an all nighter you just want the game to finally end and give you achievement points. But on the plus side, a lot of them are reasonably easy to defeat if you know how. I completed the game on hard but it really isn't all that hard so I recommend that is what you should do to get those points.

So add another to your collection. Considering this was developed in 2011 it will be cheap as chips by now. You will probably have to buy online because a place such as EB Games only have so many titles and they can double up.

Good luck.