So the game that wouldn't ship has finally shipped and it may not have been worth the wait, at least not at full price. After spending roughly 12-15 hours playing the single player campaign you can see that this game had the potential to be at least a good game. But as the extra unlockable movies showcase, this game has gone thru a lot of incarnations in its 15 years of development and just never seems to have hit the right formula. The graphics are OK by the standards of PS2 graphics but Duke Nukem games were never really about the graphics to hardcore fans. The gameplay seems to suffer from pacing issues at times. Some levels seem to leave you aimlessly wandering toward your next objective without really much of anything to do besides play with the occasional vending machine. The combat is comparable to Duke Nukem 3D with little intelligence from the AI sprites, unless standing completely still and lobbing projectiles at you or running straight toward your gun fire is considered intelligent. The levels are varied as a whole but suffer from repetition in shorter doses. At times you wander thru mostly repetitive sections of building or street and again often with nothing to really do. Unfortunately, Duke can only carry two guns and two types of explosives at any one time. Even more unfortunate is that it seems like the game was designed to be played with Duke carrying his full loadout at any given time. The game includes a lot of platforming and minor puzzle solving that is reminiscent of DNF's predecessors. Moving objects so you can reach platforms, using remote switches to open doors, etc. This game is classic Duke when it comes to cheesy one liners and ridiculous situations that usually involve nudity and/or frat boy humor. There are a lot of objects to interact with throughout the game which give permanent raises to Duke's ego meter (basically his health bar), which can be fun and engaging but are either too infrequent at times or far too frequent without any combat to break them up. About 3/4 of the way thru the single player campaign you come across multiple levels in which you drive Duke's monster truck on your way to the Hoover Dam. These are mostly segments of driving from one jump to the next and occasionally leave you unsure of what to do exactly. They are broken up by a few times where you need to stop to find more gas, but these combat breaks only serve to put you back behind the wheel for more uninspired long segments of driving. The last few levels feature multiple segments of underwater areas that are more annoying than they are fun and would have been much better taken in small doses during the entire campaign rather than all crammed in together at the end of the game (much like the entire game feels). All that being said it's worth at least a play thru especially for diehard Duke fans, just not really worth the $60 asking price. Maybe find it in the bargain bin in a few months. If they would have paced the game better, given Duke access to any of his weapons at all times, and done something to fix the unforgiveably long load times between levels then this could have been more than a mediocre game. Looks like we'll have to wait for the next sequel... Assuming Gearbox will make the attempt.
After 14 years of development, and being pronounced dead 2 years ago, it's an absolute miracle this has been released. Whilst nothing could live up to over a decade of hype, Duke Nukem Forever is a raucous experience, an... Read Full Review
This game has gotten far to trashed in the professional review circles. I think this is exactly what I expected from Duke. The combat is good as is the puzzle solving and platforming sections. No, this is not a AAA tit... Read Full Review
