![]() Limiting Duke's arsenal to just two weapons is a bizarre choice, especially when you're always given the necessary guns ahead of a specific combat encounter. What's most disappointing is how the game compromises its own raucous sensibilities in order to meet modern game concessions. Blowing a pig into pieces using the game's brutal shotgun is a genuine high-point in a game marred by mundane combat. There are flashes of satisfaction in Forever's gunplay, but they are rare. The side-activities actually become a welcome respite from the action itself. Playing Whack-A-Mole, pinball and basketball sure is stupid, but it's crazy to think the developers put so much attention into these side-activities. It's in the periphery activities that Duke Nukem is at its craziest, and potentially most fun. The surprisingly long narrative is punctuated by numerous filler sections, including platforming, racing and underwater segments - none of which map naturally to the game engine. It's down to Duke to send those, er, you-know-whats straight back to Hell.įor such a bombastic premise, Duke Nukem Forever actually boasts quite a slow campaign. ![]() An alien rift has appeared above the Hoover Dam, and aliens are terrorising the world. The plot's certainly not going to win any Oscars. Sadly these moments are few and far between. There are moments in Duke Nukem Forever where you understand why the game took so long to develop. ![]() Navigating Duke's mansion at the start of the game is a rare and short-lived treat, as you can literally taste the designers' sweat and tears in every corner of Duke's abode. Hail to the king baby, indeed.ĭuke Nukem Forever is at its best when its not a first-person shooter. Weak sound effects, poor hit-detection and timid animation only compound the problem. The gun-play feels locked in a bygone era, with a hokey targeting mechanic leaving the game's artillery feeling flat at best. Duke Nukem Forever is not a good first-person shooter. Well, we've beaten the game and we still don't get it. When we previewed Duke Nukem Forever earlier in the year, we were criticised for raising some concerns over the game's shooting mechanics. There's the glint of a good idea in some of Forever's periphery activities, and the whole campaign is punctuated by some pretty impressive set-pieces - but Duke Nukem Forever is perhaps best experienced as a curiosity because, while fun in places, the game does little to live up to the fifteen years worth of hype. For my money, the comparison is a fair one.The game feels caught between two opposing design sensibilities, never fully encompassing a throw-back feel because of its modern concessions. We even saw an unreleased build of it (opens in new tab) earlier this year that bore little resemblance to the Duke Nukem we got in 2011. To be honest, though, a quick scan through the many and varied trailers that came out for Duke Nukem Forever (opens in new tab) over the years shows a game that kept shifting in size, scope, and staff. Heck, the game had already been in development for a year or so when that trailer dropped, so it's actually been even longer.Ī few people have pointed out that the original description and trailer for BG&E 2 bear little resemblance to the version of the game that trailered at E3 2018 (opens in new tab), suggesting the comparison with Duke Nukem might be unfair. BG&E 2's first trailer (opens in new tab) came out on May 30, 2008: 5,239 days ago. As originally pointed out by editor Brendan Sinclair (opens in new tab), the painful labour that brought us Duke Nukem Forever lasted 5,156 days. Well, actually, BG&E2 officially crossed that threshold about a hundred days ago, it's just taken us all this long to notice.
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