Review: Duke Nukem Forever - 15 years wait for this?

Mike Bantick
Tuesday, 14 June 2011 09:29

Entertainment

No longer vapourware, Duke Nukem Forever is finally available on shelves, but rather than a catch-cry of 'Hail to the King', many purchasers will be decrying 'Fail to the King!'

Apart from this opening paragraph I will refrain from using the phrase 'in this day and age', but the reality is that you could tack the term in during many parts of this review, see if you can spot where. 

We have been waiting a long time (close on fifteen years) for the Duke to make a [proper] comeback after the seminal Duke Nukem 3D introduced us to Mr Nuekem's less than PC ways during a more innocent period of video game development.

Being and on-again, off-again project, the intervening time has been a mix of tragedy and triumph for the passionate people behind the project.  The games development has been hand-balled between teams, publishers and financiers and unfortunately, the end result seems to be tragedy.

It was the most likely outcome though; a game that began life where the character and game-play were well known, the elapsed time has seen the potential audience for the single tongue-in-cheek joke that is the Duke move on.  Fans of the original have matured, and quite frankly so has the tastes of the new generation legally allowed to buy Duke Nukem Forever.

Even with a nostalgic eye, it is hard not to be offended by Duke Nukem Forever.  We get the joke, we understand that we are not supposed to take this seriously, but it is more than the objectifying of women and toilet humour that - though providing a link to the Dukes heritage - lets the game down [insert phrase here].

DNF contains a number of game-play elements that just don't cut it [insert phrase here].  Graphically the game oscillates between ok and very bad.  Textures contain little to no detail, pop-in is evident constantly (Xbox 360 version), water effects are non-existent, enemy death animations are truly dragged from the beginning of the century and shadowing is atrocious. 

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