Duke Nukem Forever

The reason why the sex, violence and one-liners are a problem in Duke Nukem Forever is that they are dated. The video game industry has matured since the last iteration of Duke Nukem. This isn’t to say that Duke is too crude for our refined tastes but that Duke Nukem Forever is pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable in the 90’s. Those boundary lines have been pushed much further today and I was expecting Duke Nukem to be just as controversial as it was when the character was still fresh.

Despite the lack of boundary pushing Duke Nukem that was expected, the one liners and humorous violence are enjoyable. As is Duke Nukem’s style, lines from popular movies have been borrowed by Duke and made his own. The fourteen year development cycle shows its age when movies from the early 2000s are being quoted, which may go above the heads of many younger gamers. The inherent problem when the humorous violence is that it is very repetitive. I can only find punching a giant boss enemy in the nuts amusing so many times.

Duke Nukem Forever is also a highly hypocritical game. Several times throughout, Duke will take pot-shots at popular shooters that have taken over since his last game. This meta humour is funny but at the same time Duke Nukem Forever adopts many of the same mechanics popularized by these games. Much like Halo, Duke can only carry two weapons. He now also has a recharging health bar like every other shooter. While on one hand I enjoy that Duke Nukem Forever kind of breaks the fourth wall to put down other games, the fact that it then uses mechanics from said games as opposed to classic Duke Nukem mechanics is off-putting.

Another example of this is when Duke is confronted with a puzzle that needs to be solved in order to advance. Duke will make a quip saying how he hates Valve or Gears puzzles, in reference to either game. Then the only way to proceed is to solve these puzzles. Why critise something about another game and then make the player do that exact action?

The purpose behind these puzzles is to try to break up the action sequences by slowing the player down. Duke Nukem Forever makes use of platforming areas to achieve the same goal. Several times throughout the game Duke will be shrunk to miniature size and will have to traverse through an area, pushing objects around and jumping on top of them to reach a switch. These sequences are done with varying degrees of success but ultimately they go on for too long and get old quickly.

The action sequences of Duke Nukem are fun to play though. The different weapons that are available are a lot of fun to use. Instead of the realistic military weapons prominent in shooters today, Duke Nukem Forever does indeed use inventive weapons like shooters used to in the 90’s. Weapons like the freeze ray or shrink ray add a twist to battles. Some weapons are so overpowered and destructive that they add a layer of humour to some battles. Seeing an enemy pigcop explode from a shotgun blast is always enjoyable. Each weapon will also act as a strength or weakness in Duke’s arsenal depending on which enemy he is facing. There are several races of alien enemies, each of which behave differently and will require new tactics to conquer.

One mechanic that Duke Nukem Forever borrows from modern shooters that I actually approve of is the frequent checkpoints. Going up against a new enemy type or a boss for the first time requires some trial and error. Thankfully Duke Nukem does have frequent checkpoints, so that you never lose too much of your progress.

While the abundance of checkpoints is good feature in this game, hopefully you won’t have to use too many. Each time you die and have to restart from a checkpoint you will be subjected to some insanely long loading screens. Whether it is restarting a checkpoint or entering a new level prepare to sit and wait a minute and a half to two minutes on average.

After such long loading times, Duke Nukem forever still suffers from texture pop-in and severe drops in frame rate. Both issues happen quite often and provide quite a distraction.

The multiplayer portion of Duke Nukem forever really feels like a blend between modern shooters and old school FPS from the 90’s. There are comprehensive statistics that keep track of everything you do online as well as a progressive levelling system. You level up by doing well in games and completing the various challenges set out by the developers. Levelling up unlocks new items that can be displayed in the player’s apartment as well as items to customize the appearance of their Duke Nukem.

Duke Nukem Forever feels like a 90’s shooter online because of the low res graphics and movement speed. I immediately reminisced to the days of playing quake but I quickly found myself craving the tight controls of a game like Call of Duty.

All of the weapons and items available in the campaign make their way into the multiplayer across the eleven maps that ship with the game.

After one of the longest development cycles in the video game industry Duke Nukem Forever has become something of a legend. Duke Nukem Forever tries to bring together modern day standards of shooters while maintaining its soul from the 90’s. What we get is a hypocritical game that feels dated. Now that Duke Nukem Forever is finally complete I’m interested to see where Gearbox takes the franchise now that they can start fresh without fourteen years of 3D realm’s work influencing the final product.

Hail to the King, Baby.