Game Spotlight: Duke Nukem Forever

There are very few people who thought this game would ever be released, and apparently there are plenty of people who never wanted this game to be released ever. Generally, the reviews posted about Duke Nukem Forever have been extremely negative, however I find it a little strange that some of the reviews I’ve read are talking about Duke Nukem being offensive in terms of his lack of political correctness rather than focusing on the flaws present within the gameplay itself.

With that in mind, I’m going to attempt to write-up my own views of the game as a fan of Duke Nukem and as someone who has being enjoying video games over a period of 20+ years. Did Gearbox Software do the right thing in bringing Duke Nukem Forever back from the brink of death? How does Duke Nukem Forever hold up against Duke Nukem 3D? Will we see more of Duke or was this a one-off event? Can I stop asking one question after another like an idiot?…

First and foremost, the release of this game seems to be, more than anything else, a form of closure for the folks of 3D Realms which is now extinct. When I went in to play this game, I wasn’t expecting 14 years of development amounting to the greatest game ever made. I’m sure most of us know the long and horrid history of the game by now… so what were we all expecting? For me, I just wanted to enjoy a game that didn’t take itself seriously and would cause me to laugh… a lot. Luckily for me, that’s exactly what I got, however there are quite a few things wrong with this game… most of which amount to its gameplay.

Power armour is for pussies!

Fans of Duke Nukem 3D will instantly see that DNF takes out a lot of the elements that made that game so popular. For example, while the level designs in DN3D were linear in their own way, they were still filled lots of little secret areas and even alternate exits that led to secret levels. You also didn’t feel that you were being led down a straight path the way Duke Nukem Forever felt through most of the game. A lot of fans have also hated the two gun limit, however for me this really wasn’t that much of a concern.

Overall, the two gun system worked with DNF and there was never a feeling of missing a certain kind of weapon during certain parts of the game. You’d always be able to find the weapons you needed to do the job or find ways of using the ones you had to do some major ass kicking. It’s a little tough to figure out where in the line a lot of these design choices factored in, however it does feel like some of them may have occurred when it was decided to port the game over to consoles… though I may be wrong considering the turbulent development history of the game. In any case, along with your set of two guns you also have quick access to your pipe bombs and trip mines, each of which have their own good uses.

The weapons and shoot-outs with the alien bastards themselves worked very well and there were plenty of moments where I did feel like I was kicking some serious ass… especially with those famous one liners coming from Jon St. John, the voice of Duke Nukem. The enemies themselves have been upgraded in some nice ways, particularly the Pig Cops who like to get up close and personal and are a lot more agile. The Enforcers differ greatly from their older DN3D counterparts as they’re carrying some extra thick armour that have slowed them down and pack some serious fire-power. However, out of all of the basic aliens, it’s the Octabrains that can end up being quite the pain in the ass.

Of course, when you have enemies like those you needs guns like the Ripper, the Shrink Ray and the good ol’ Shotgun to take ’em out. Every weapon in the game felt just right with the exception of the Freeze Ray. I dunno, I just didn’t find the Freeze Ray anywhere near as useful as it was in DN3D. It’s very tough to use on agile targets such as Pig Cops as well, though maybe I just suck at using the Freeze Ray. You really have to make good use of your weapons and items, especially in boss battles, though I do find it annoying that bosses are only hurt by explosives and turrets. I also find it annoying that there are convenient ammo crates during boss battles… or ammo crates anywhere in the game for that matter. It’s always more fun to go exploring on your own to try to find hidden ammo stashes somewhere around a level like in the old days.

The game still does have a lot of the oldskool charm I’ve come to like about Duke Nukem and much of it came from the ability to interact with different items in the game. There are very few games that will let you microwave your own popcorn… in fact, as far as I know this really is the only game that will let you do that. It does seem like really trivial and pointless stuff to do, but in some strange way it’s really fun… and that really is the key factor of DNF that saves it from being a completely terrible game for me.

It’s a game that is clearly unfinished and has a lot of stuff cut out from what was actually planned, though I’m sure we’ll end up seeing some of that content come out through future downloadable content (…if anyone even wants to buy the DLC to begin with). As flawed as this game is and as outdated as it seems to most people, it really is a fun game to play. I had a lot of laughs and felt satisfied at the end that one of the more unique video game characters wasn’t gone forever like I had thought he was.

I guess in many ways I can compare my feelings toward Duke Nukem Forever to how I feel about a game like No More Heroes. It’s just an unapologetic box of politically incorrect fun that targets everyone and every thing including itself. I’m certainly glad that the game did get released despite the view some people have of Duke as being a character that doesn’t belong in today’s day and age of gritty hardcore serious business shooters with supposedly epic stories that deal with real life human problems, yada, yada, yada… Yeah, well that’s all great, I like those games too, but I also like Duke Nukem and his hedonistic ways.

It’s down to you and me, you one-eyed freak!

I rarely score games even though I have a scoring system set up… but let’s whip it out and measure just how great Duke Nukem Forever really is…

So there you have it, a 3 out of 5. Most people would say that the correct answer would be a 0 out of 5 and that this game should never have been made. Others may think it’s only rent worthy for the curious while there are some folks who actually did enjoy themselves and may have given the game a 4. This game definitely is not a 5 and even though I’m a fan of Duke Nukem, I struggled to justify a 4, so 3 is as high as I’ll reach with this one.

I’ve got balls of steel!

So, what now for Duke Nukem? Gearbox Software now holds the full licensing rights to the Duke Nukem franchise so it’s really up to them as to whether any more Duke Nukem games will be made. Right now Gearbox is focusing on Aliens: Colonial Marines and the Borderlands sequel, so they’ve got plenty of time to mull it over. However, I do think that despite what people think of Duke Nukem Forever, another Duke Nukem game is definitely coming some time in the future and that it will most likely turn out a lot better than how DNF turned out after all these years. I look forward to seeing where Duke goes from here and I’m sure in my gut that the franchise being with Gearbox Software is the best place it would’ve ended up.

That said, the next Duke Nukem game is going to have to shed a lot of what Duke Nukem Forever brought to the table such as the 2 weapon limit, regenerative health, linear progression maps and focus more on the elements that made Duke Nukem 3D so damn good. Of course, there are still some elements that Duke Nukem Forever brought to the table that can easily crossover to a sequel such as the various item interactions in the game… especially wall titties. Before I played Duke Nukem Forever, I have never contemplated the idea of actually slapping a pair of breasts before… what a sheltered life I’ve led.

Now that I’ve gotten that out-of-the-way, I really do need to get back to working on my E3 mega entry that I started working on before this entry. It doesn’t help that I’ve been sick as a dog for the last few days, but I’ll try to get it up as soon as I can.