Late to the party.
DNF has everything modern shooters have. basic cover system, various weapons, side scenarios (the mighty foot). It has everything COD does. I can stand shoulder to shoulder with them. The bad part about this is we have all done this before. If DNF came out in say... 2002 then it would have blown the gaming world away. As it is it's just another shooter in an over saturated market. FOr 14 years in development there is no excuse for the ending, were talking Sopranos bad.
on to the nitty gritty.
Graphics 7.5/10
The game does look good. Its not cutting edge but its good. Has a lot of "unreal" moments, by that i mean very low textures waiting to load the hi res. You see it a lot. Anyone who has played a game on the unreal engine knows exactly what i mean.
Sound 6/10
Dukes one liners sorry to say are stale and boring. Some are funny and i did smile when he said some classic lines but for the most part its just... boring. Music and gunfire are ok i guess but i heard a lot of generic weapon sounds like the shotgun reload and cock i swear i've heard in 10000 other games.
Story 5/10
Its not bad as shooters go but still very shallow. Alien invade earth again after 12 years (ironic isnt it) and of course Duke must stop them. There is almost no plot build up its basically the same story throughout, Duke must go to A to B to C all whole thwarting the aliens plans at each location.
Gameplay 6/10
Standard shooter fare, nothing special here. there are several gimmicky parts of the game that get annoying quick (ill give you a hint it rhymes with "mink". I also despise the decision to go from traditional health packs to a regenerating health bar. thats just not in the spirit of Duke.
All in all its a solid game and can stand up to COD and the like. However it's development debacle and the sheer anticipation are what killed DNF. There is NO WAY any game could live up to the hype. DNF is a victim of its own mystique. Its nostalgic, its fun for the most part but the King has fallen a mighty long way.