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Duke Nukem Forever
Fourteen years is a long time to wait for a game. Especially if it is a sequel to one of the best first person shooters of 1996. Of course people seem to forget that Duke Nukem has been around long before his first 3D outing and starred in quite a few titles after it. What matters, however, is thanks to Gearbox Software stepping in, Duke Nukem Forever has finally gone from vapourware to playable. Of course fourteen years of hype is impossible to live up to, but when all the dust have settled, is this game worth your time and money?
We meet up with a semi-retired Duke, kicking back in the penthouse suite of his casino in Las Vegas. Duke is surrounded by the trophies and accolades from all his earth saving adventures and is also dating pop starlets, the Holsom twins. Life is good apart from the giant alien spaceship hovering above the city. Since the president is busy with peace talks, Duke is forbidden to kick any more alien ass, but as expected it doesn’t take long for the invaders to return to their babe abducting ways. Its not much of a story, but then again the only excuse Duke needed way back was that the alien bastards shot up his ride. Bad news first, if you were expecting Duke Nukem Forever to look like something that was lovingly polished to perfection for the last twelve years or so, then you are in for a huge disappointment. The game has had a very timeless development cycle and nowhere is it more evident than in the visuals. Duke’s mission takes him through a casino, alien hive, dessert and even the hoover dam, but it almost looks like each area was made in a different year (which may well have been the case). The textures appear quite low-res, even on the highest settings and overall the quality on display is very uneven. It is not the unbearable mess that some people would want you to believe, but it is certainly no Crysis 2. It does have its moments and its cool that you can actually see Duke’s limbs. All the classic Duke Nukem 3D enemies have returned, even the pig cops who are now mutated EDF soldiers. Duke also gets shrunk down in a few sections where you get to experience the gameworld from a whole new perspective. Battling enemies on a restaurant shelf while taking cover behind tin cans is a blast. Duke even hops behind the wheel of a RC car early in the game. Then there’s Duke’s trip through the dessert in his monster truck, the “Mighty Foot.” Loads of fun, even with all the stops to scavenge gas. Then there's the obligatory stripclub level where Duke can chill and ogle a few babes. Its just a pity that the human character models are some of the worst I’ve seen in recent years. The level design in Duke Nukem Forever is pretty linear, which will definitely upset a few fans. The level progression is also quite disjointed, which is another side effect of the protracted development, I guess. Secrets have mostly been replaced with interactive objects that boost Duke’s ego. This is easily my favorite part of the game and fits in perfectly with the character. Duke’s ego acts as his shield, so it is in your best interest to seek out objects to extend this bar. Admiring himself in a mirror, playing some pinball or even doing a few bench presses will all draw a remark from Duke and boost his ego. When injured, his ego bar will drop, requiring players to take cover until it refills. This means no more medi-kit hunting, which is a plus in my books. All the classic Duke Nukem weapons like shrink-ray and freezer make a comeback with the difference that the man can now only carry two at a time. This didn’t bother me too much as floors were usually littered with weapons after a battle allowing me to take my pick. The new sniper rifle and alien laser weapons were amongst my least favorite. Fans will be happy to hear that all the goodies, such as pipebombs, trip wires, holo-devices and steroids are also still available. The boss battles were a bit of a letdown and while the game is quite challenging overall, these were a walk in the park. I was happy to hear that John St. John has returned as the voice of Duke Nukem. No Duke game would be the same without his legendary vocals. There’s plenty of classic one-liners and while some of the comments sound really dated, there’s still plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. There’s plenty of corny references to other games like Halo and even Dead Space. The humor is just as juvenile as ever although I have noticed a bit more profanity creeping in. The music is good, but the best tune is still the classic Duke Nukem theme song. You’ll be hearing it in various forms throughout the game. The other tracks aren’t bad, but not very memorable either. Sound effects suffer a similar fate of being adequate but not exceptional. Since this is a multiformat release, the controls have the usual amount of console elements shoehorned in. There’s a little too much spacebar tapping to perform feats of strength for my liking. The on rails turret shooting sections also feel a bit out of place in a Duke Nukem game. The always unwelcome checkpoint-based save system also makes an appearance. Last but not least, what happened to Duke’s mighty boot? Performing a boring melee attack is not half as much fun. So in the end, Duke Nukem forever didn’t turn out to be the uber game that everyone was expecting. For what it is, though, I still had a lot of fun playing it. The game was longer than average, which is always a plus and there are some good ideas packed in there as well. I could have done without al the murky underwater scenes, but while annoying, it didn’t ruin the game for me. Bottom line is if you approach this game with the mindset that it is going to suck, then it obviously will. If, on the other hand, you take it for what it is, a fun, but flawed shooter, then you’ll have a good time. The important thing is to try it for yourself and form your own opinion and not just jump on the game bashing band wagon.
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System Requirements
TAGS: Duke Nukem, Alien Invasion, Las Vegas, First Person Shooter, Ego, Pig Cops, Cycloid Emperor
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