Duke Nukem Forever Updated Preview

While we've already seen previews detailing the exploits of the gun-toting sexist egomaniac in his latest adventure, this week saw Asia get a special treat direct from Gearbox Software. CEO Randy Pitchford and vice president Steve Gibson showed Singaporean media the latest build of the game during a Duke Nukem Forever media event last Thursday.

The hands-off demo started off with the main man climbing atop a high-rise platform overlooking the Duke Burger tower restaurant which, according to Gearbox, was formerly the Stratosphere Casino in this fictional universe. Duke was immediately assaulted by a roaming alien fighter jet, which he picked off easily with a nearby Devastator missile launcher next to a crate of ammo that helped make this a one-sided fight for him. He was then bombarded by a couple of jetpack-strapped aliens.

Taking them down yielded a quick-time event where Duke grabbed hold of an alien, beat its head off, and then rode its body all the way to the 25th floor of the Duke Burger tower restaurant. Whether there would be a section where Duke can manually use an alien's jetpack without its carcass intact had yet to be revealed.

After entering the restroom of the restaurant, Duke had to shrink himself via the conveniently placed shrinkpad to enter the ventilation shaft, while also turning off the power so that he could get onto a section of the restroom without electrocuting himself in the process. Duke also had to navigate through an amusement centre filled with hoop-shoots machines and arcade machines (of Duke Nukem 3D, naturally) while being assaulted by miniature pig aliens hiding under plastic cups. And yes, Duke could jump into said basketball hoops to score Ego points while he navigated through the shelves and tables.

As he proceeded to the kitchen, Duke had to help a woman stranded atop a floating chair on electrocuted water. Duke had to make his way around the kitchen to turn off the power so that she could help open the door that was barring his progress. Our hero had to use broom handles as makeshift bridges, mustard and ketchup cans as cover against other mini-pig aliens, and burger buns as platforms. Serving as obstacles were grills, active stoves that light up in a pattern, and mousetraps. The demo ended when Duke managed to navigate high and low to turn off the power switch that was making the water hazardous to cross. We had to confess that the stage itself tickled our fancy, with the typical kitchen environment transformed into an alien-infested warzone when you're shrunk down to the size of a rat and the fact that Duke's vocal chords were akin to a chipmunk speaking.

The weapons highlighted for the hands-off demo were the Ripper machine gun and pipe bombs, also staples of Duke Nukem 3D. The former was self-explanatory (high firing rate, empties out clips fast), while the latter had a great blast radius. Duke could throw multiple pipe bombs and simultaneously detonate them, though the maximum number of bombs that can be onscreen had yet to be disclosed.

While humorous at times, we're still wondering if the game had anything else to offer other than its intentionally juvenile humor and nostalgic hits. Sure, there wasn't any emphasis on cover, and it wasn't shy on showing off its decade-old action-slash-exploration roots, but until we check out the final build of the game (with its touted multiplayer mode), we'll hold off final judgment on this long-in-the-making sequel.