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I’ve finally played Duke Nukem Forever.
And when I write “finally” that’s no understatement. I, like many other gamers, was a big fan of Duke Nukem 3D (as well as Duke Nukem back from the Apogee days) so this game has been a long time coming. I truly gave up hope for Forever after reading Wired’s excellent piece back in December 2009. Well, Randy Pitchford and company had different plans and now Duke Nukem Forever will actually ship on May 3, 2011.
I got to play about an hour of the game, from a full (but not final) version. The test run started off with the PAX demo from last year but included a few more levels and a deeper look at the trouble Duke would be getting himself into (or getting the world out of, depending on your perspective).
DNF (an unfortunate abbreviation for anyone familiar with racing) takes place 12 years after Duke 3D, at a time when Duke is a wealthy hero fully enjoying the fruits of his labor. He’s like Rocky in Rocky IV–a bit older, a lot richer, and surrounded by trophies of past victories, but underneath all that is a man who simply wants to kick some ass. And within a few minutes of the aliens returning, Duke is right back at it.
Having not played the game before I was half expecting something like Serious Sam. That is to say a clearly old-school game, with sarcasm to spare and lots of action, but not much else. I was happy to find out that DNF has a story (obviously not a very serious one), characters that fight alongside you, detailed enemies, and other things you’d expect from a modern FPS game. These graphics look up-to-date (though don’t expect to be blown away) and in most respects this is a 2011 game.
DNF does retain a number of features that you’d expect from a less than modern FPS game including the ability to carry just two weapons at once (not including explosives) and no iron-sight shooting. Each of these were explained as design decisions that were kept by choice. The dual weapon system may have originally been implemented because of technical limitations but it was kept so the developers could better tailor sections of the game and get players to experience all the weapons, not just the one they felt they were best with. The lack of iron sights was easier to explain away: Duke is too macho to aim, that alien-killer shoots from the hip.
The jumping is the sort of up quick up-and-down movement you’ll remember from back in the day and when you pass by a mirror and jump Duke’s arms stay at his side. The are both very minor points but serve as a reminder that this is a game that has been around for a while and lacks some of the trappings of a (fully) modern title. Some of the levels feel this way as well–the textures and objects looked fine, but there is just less stuff going on and less detail than something like Black Ops.
But Forever is not about the technology or the graphics. It’s going to offer up two things in spades: action and humor. So if you aren’t playing for those, this a game to avoid. And I actually did find the game amusing at points. Sure, it had me cringing too, but just walking around Duke’s penthouse with the statue of him as Atlus holding up the world reminded me of what I liked about the character. So for all the crassness there are slightly more subtle jokes that don’t involve cursing or bodily fluids. And, just like with 3D, it’s a game for tinkerers. You can throw most objects and you can play pool or pinball minigames if you want to put off the next firefight for a few minutes. You’ll always be rewarded with some sort of amusing Duke-ism.
As for the game’s M rating–sure there are jokes that won’t be appropriate for younger gamers, but it’s all very light stuff. Nothing I heard was offensive or aimed at anyone in particular. It’s just a ridiculous character, in a very different world than ours, being ridiculous.
So the game looks like it will be fun enough, though nothing revolutionary–more Bad Boys thanInception if you want to look at it through the lens of action movies. But is there room for Duke Nukem in the world of Bulletstorm and Serious Sam HD re-releases? I might have said “no” a few weeks ago, figuring people would only be interested in the game for nostalgia’s sake or some sort of curiousity stemming from the most famous piece of vaporware in history being released, but I’m less sure that this will be the case now.
I legitimately laughed during my play time (more times than I cringed) and the crassness isn’t as painfully childish as I feared. There is no getting around the fact that Duke’s world is one engineered by the mind of a 14-year-old boy, and while it’s not a place I’d like to live it looks like it’ll be a fun place to visit for a few hours.
