Duke Nukem Forever is one of those games where hype isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. Where hype can utterly destroy a games reputation, sometimes before a game is even released. Duke Nukem Forever is a victim of this and while the game as a whole isn’t terrible, you can’t help but notice that if it had a bit more care it would be perceived as a great redemption.
The game takes place several years after his success from previous adventures and as it turns out everything is being attacked by aliens again!. I will admit I’m not a huge fan of Duke but I had played the games previous and it is undeniable that it had charm like no other. Over a decade later and not much has changed from the prospective of Duke Nukem. He is still as macho and foul mouth as he was then. I personally like the charm and jokes that are within the game and in almost every corner has something new to say. When your either big or small (shrunk), there seems to be a wise crack around every corner.
The FPS mechanics are decent. All the normal options from today’s shooters are here like running and equipping multiple items with the directional pad. What we liked was all of the things thrown around the game like playing pool, shooting hoops or lifting weights which will increase your health bar (ego) so they are worth doing. The puzzle elements lend cues (if not takes them all together) from games seen in the past few years but can sometimes stump you for a good few minutes before realizing what to do. Bosses are some of the games biggest highlights and you even get moments to do sequence button pressing on occasions.
Online multiplayer has death match, team death match, capture the babe (Capture the Flag) and king of the hill. The gameplay seems faster here and with most things at your disposal including the jet pack, players get more bang in a match at play. Most of the time remembering the map and weapon spawns are all you really need to come out on the top.
Some of the games biggest problems has to do with its overall story telling. Nothing on the single player side ever really jells well enough to engage you. Pop ins are pretty persistent and the load times are about some of the worst I’ve seen and am not quite sure why it needs to reload after a death every time!?
This game is not for kids by any means, it is a mature rated game. It’s not even for people that get offended easily, some of the content in the game can seem sexist or just downright crude. From the very start though you know what your getting into and you’ll either want to see it to the end or not. Duke Nukem Forever wasn’t a bad game to me. The problem lies with its obviously long development problems in the past and something that could have been so much more now. The man needs a fresh start so hopefully it’ll be ten times of awesome the next go around.
