Thirteen years of developement: Good Enough!
I've never been a fan of Duke Nukem. However, when a game has been in production for well over a decade, you can't help but take part in gaming history and pick up a copy. The game does have its share of problems, but for what it's worth I think it checks out just fine. It's simplistic, but fun. It's offensive, but hilarious. Is it the greatest game of all time? Hardly. Is it a nice, little distraction? You betcha!
Just as South Park rapes popular culture, Duke Nukem Forever makes fun of the fact that the big guy has been out of action for a while. Taking place 12 years after Duke Nukem 3D, Duke has been busy living the highlife. He's been making movies, climbing Mt. Everest, presenting musicals, and overall being the meat that every woman wants to wrap around. Minutes before he is scheduled to appear on a talk show (humorously known as "Damn, It's Late!") the city of Las Vegas is attacked by the same alien scum that he defeated a decade ago. In a pointless attempt to make peace with the invaders, the President forbids Duke to take action. However, when the aliens start attacking and taking Earth's women, Duke Nukem takes matters into his own hands!
After installing the game to the PS3, players are treated to a nice opening of Duke generally being a badass accompanied by heavy metal. Then the fun begins with the single-player campaign…unless you choose multiplayer. As with most games, you are given a tutorial on how to play. You'll mess with a few objects, watch soldiers die pointlessly, then battle a practice boss. After the tutorial, the action dies down, giving you the chance to interact with Duke's world. Before you know it, you'll be back to devastating Pigcops, Octobrains, and more!
Duke Nukem Forever plays like a standard First-Person Shooter. You're presented with simple controls, a health bar, an ammo indicator, and a plethora of baddies to kill! Weapons range from the average pistol and shotgun to the much more interesting shrink ray and freeze ray. Every few levels, Duke is given a vehicle to drive. The game keeps a good enough balance between guns and melee. After shooting up an enemy, he may fall to his knees, giving you the chance to run up and finish him off with a powerful, melee execution. If being up close and personal is your style, Duke has the use of steroids (Rage) and beer (Endurance) to pack that extra punch! Throwing items such as barrels also helps!
Players won't just run and gun the whole time. Duke is challenged with some puzzles…very easy puzzles. As stated above, the game is pretty simple. Even bosses won't have you screaming at your TV. They serve with some trial and error at times, but can be beaten without much effort. Duke Nukem Forever is a fairly easy game. Do not mistake easiness for boredom. There are some very intense battles throughout the game. I'm still gushing after the final boss, which I won't spoil.
Duke's health is his Ego. Ego is built up over the course of the game by interacting with certain objects. Ego caps range from visiting a glory hole and smoking a cigar to slapping alien, wall boobs and winning a game of Air Hockey. Manly/macho things overall. However, despite its name and worldly interaction, Ego is just health. It regenerates when not under fire, and Duke dies if it runs out.
The game's weakest point is its graphics. The environments, enemies, weapons, and other objects are well detailed, but have the polish of a game from 2006. Textures up close look like they've been painted on, making levels less visually pleasing than they should. Furthermore, NPCs seem to have the same character build. All the men look hunched and slightly muscular, while all the women have the body of a supermodel. The biggest problem with its graphics is that the game is plagued with pop-up textures. These are usually seen that the start of a level, but occasionally become known here and there. It's easy to look past these problems, but they can get annoying at times. This is 2011.
A main staple of Duke Nukem Forever is its adult humor. The game prides itself on its long list of offensive jokes, sexual or otherwise. Most are in the form of a cheesy, but funny phrase from Duke. Examples are "Those alien bastards drank all my beer!" and "Taste my size 14!". I personally get a laugh out of these lines among others, but will admit that some of the humor falls flat or is just too tasteless. Like the game itself, you'll either love it or hate it.
If you like a decent shooter and have some time on your hands, Duke Nukem Forever is your game. Yes, thirteen years of development could have made for better progress, but in my opinion Gearbox Software did what they could and that's good enough for me. At the end of the day, it's just a fun game, a distraction to relieve some stress. I can deal with graphical problems, and simplistic difficulty. I was going to give it a 7.5, but will be generous and give it an 8. Hail to the King, baby!