I have never played a Duke Nukem game before DN:F. I was never that into PC gaming/shooters in my teens so I never experienced that end of things and have no nostalgia for it. The only experience I had had before DN:F was playing all of Bulletstorm, some of Doom (via Doom 3 BFG edition) and CoD 4. I had heard that DN:F was a bad game. I tried to go in and enjoy myself. But I just couldn't.
Let's talk about the humour. There is none. This game is not funny in the slightest. I groaned at every joke and shook my head at every reference. It simply pointed at things and said "This is funny so you will laugh", but didn't try after that. It's as if DN:F knew what humour was but couldn't be bothered to try it out. So no, DN:F is not funny.
Then there is the story. Duke is the best evar! He is so strong that he can bench press 600 pounds (or so the loading screens told me). He can defeat the aliens! He can do it all! This is the most that the story will give you. It is no better than CoD, just replace terrorists with aliens and your sorted. There was a bit at the beginning where Duke was told not to get involved and then the President was angry that he did. And then the aliens take the "babes" so Duke has to rescue them. But he couldn't and then he needs to close the portal that are letting the aliens in. And then the President was being manipulated by the aliens and then you win. That is literally the story of DN:F, so spoilers I guess.
How about the gameplay though? Surely after all that work the gameplay was polished to a fault. It was not polished. It was competent, but nowhere near polished. The two weapon limit is a nuisance, as the bosses can only be damaged with rockets, stationary turrets or explosives, which means that you need to have a rocket weapon on you at all times. With hindsight most of the bosses had rocekt weapons nearby but for a first playthrough it was a right nuisance. The ability to reload and shoot when partially reloaded came in handy. So yeah, this is probably the best part of DN:F is that the shooting works.
But then the designers decided that DN:F needed to do more than just be a shooter. It needed to have first person platforming. It needed to have mini-games. It needed to have driving. Because no-one comes to an FPS wanting to just shoot things. During the driving section, I will admit that I almost found myself enjoying the game. But then the game would go "Oh bother, this is a shooting game isn't it? Right you are now out of petrol, go find some while shooting more things." and would do so three times. The platforming section was also a joy to behold, having to go back to the last checkpoint to redo something that would have been simple if it wasn't in first person. And the mini-games were decent, however the physics on some of the were janky as all get out (I'm looking at you pool mini-game), while the rest were just there for trophies and max ego increases. Which is complete and utter nonsense when two of those are completely random (poker and slots).
Speaking of max ego increases, some of those were quite fun. Admiring yourself in the mirror, winning the mini-games etc. But then there were the other ones. I am going to preface the next section with this statement: it is fine that within the context of the game Duke Nukem is a womaniser, a stud and that almost all female characters live solely to serve his whims. However, it does not make what happens during the game any better. When the aliens take the "babes" they are used to create more aliens by impregnating them. And the women are then used as a surprise monster spawner. But until then, they make distressed noises until they either explode or you kill them. Once again: within the context of the game it makes sense. I understand why that is the case, but it did not make me feel any better about it and in a game that is meant to be light-hearted and comedic it is horrible. No this is not misogyny, it was not (as far as I am aware) made because they hate women. It is a way to try and show that these are the bad guys, but it is not the sort of thing that you should have in this type of game. The other "misogynist" elements are just tasteless. In an age of easily accessed pornographic content, the tits are no longer titillating. Neither are they funny, they just serve to empower Duke, not the player.
Now what about those loading screens I mentioned. Well they are there and, much like a trip to the loo after a late night kebab, they never seem to end. This game is poorly optimised for the 90's, let alone the 2010's. The loading screens lasted at least a minute each. The game took about 8-9 minutes to install data before it had even begun. I stopped for a moment and looked at the shadow of a ceiling fan that stuttered it's way across the wall, but sped up as I got closer to it. The only actual cutscene chugging like it's last call. The rest of the game runs OK, there were a couple of moments of frame rate issues and there was the game of looking around a corner too quickly which caused the textures to pop in.
There are only two actual good points (and by that I mean they are not OK, they are actually good): Jon St. John is a good voice actor and the final boss fight was actually fun and intense and enjoyable. The voice of Duke captured the right frame of mind, even if the actual dialogue was terrible. And the final boss fight was really good. Having only a pistol and facing down the most terrifying enemy of the game was a rush, especially after the rest of the game. Having to constantly reload via killing other enemies made the fight a dash to find the other enemies while making sure you weren't hit by the boss.
So overall, if you liked the original games you might like this, I don't know. But for a first timer I would say don't bother. By the end I was bored of playing it, and that should not be the feeling that this sort of game should evoke.