Duke Nukem Forever review

Nirad9er said:
Im a couple hours into the game and Im semi dissappinted. I find the humor somewhat entertaining, but the game feels like 1990s style, gameplay, and physics with modernized graphics. The bosses repeat the same thing over and over and seem to move in the same pattern. This has been one of the easiest games for being a "modern" FPS which also takes away from the fun. Was expecting way more and not worth $50 maybe $25 max.

Summary = way below todays standards!!
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The Duke doesn't conform to any standards... standards conform to Duke..

Think of the Duke as giving birth to Chuck Norris... that's how rad he is.
 
I thought that the Yahtzee/Zero Punctuation review over at The Escapist got it right. Playing DNF is like playing through the evolution of shooters since the late 90s until today. It makes for jarring transitions and many questionable design mix-ups. On top of that there's the lack of exploration as maps are still 2000-sized instead of the huge open environments we got in today's games.

To be frank I think that a remake or new version of Redneck Rampage would be more fun than DNF :)
 
Just finished playing it...

Yeah, the game seems frankensteined together with some of its pacing, and there are legitimate gripes regarding map size, gun limit, etc. That said, for the gun limit if I ever wanted to change up to something more appropriate for the level there was never a shortage of guns lying around to do so, so it was never really an issue.

The graphics are serviceable. Coming off of the Witcher 2, anything will look less than stellar, but I think DNF's are decent to not be a detriment. It's not the best-looking game of 2011 (or, honestly, 2010 or 2009) but they aren't horrible.

Content is thematically consistent with DN3D. Humor was hit and miss, but it was all in the same vein.

Some of the puzzles actually took a moment to think through and weren't obvious. This was a bit surprising and, honestly, a welcome change from modern "hold-your-hand" FPS. The "shrunken" levels are nice examples.

The game is a solid 7--maybe a 7.5--in a true 1-10 scale (not the fake 5-9.9 scale review sites use). Going in with no expectations, it was fun to play and it advanced quickly. I didn't mind the driving levels so much--they felt like a nice change from the closed-in foot levels.

Is it worth the 14 year gap? No. Is it absolute crap? Again, no. If you can score it for 30-35 or under, I'd say its worth getting--if just to cleanse your palate of the modern cookie-cutter FPS's that all look and play virtually identical. Being able to circle strafe a rocket spewing alien beast again put a smile on my face.
 
Duke Forever is the example of what frequently happens when expectations are hyped too high ... overrated... a shadow of its predecessor
 
OmegaAquinas said:
Just finished playing it...

Yeah, the game seems frankensteined together with some of its pacing, and there are legitimate gripes regarding map size, gun limit, etc. That said, for the gun limit if I ever wanted to change up to something more appropriate for the level there was never a shortage of guns lying around to do so, so it was never really an issue.

The graphics are serviceable. Coming off of the Witcher 2, anything will look less than stellar, but I think DNF's are decent to not be a detriment. It's not the best-looking game of 2011 (or, honestly, 2010 or 2009) but they aren't horrible.

Content is thematically consistent with DN3D. Humor was hit and miss, but it was all in the same vein.

Some of the puzzles actually took a moment to think through and weren't obvious. This was a bit surprising and, honestly, a welcome change from modern "hold-your-hand" FPS. The "shrunken" levels are nice examples.

The game is a solid 7--maybe a 7.5--in a true 1-10 scale (not the fake 5-9.9 scale review sites use). Going in with no expectations, it was fun to play and it advanced quickly. I didn't mind the driving levels so much--they felt like a nice change from the closed-in foot levels.

Is it worth the 14 year gap? No. Is it absolute crap? Again, no. If you can score it for 30-35 or under, I'd say its worth getting--if just to cleanse your palate of the modern cookie-cutter FPS's that all look and play virtually identical. Being able to circle strafe a rocket spewing alien beast again put a smile on my face.
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Agreed, just finished the steam demo last night, i'm thinking of going to a local store tomorrow and pick up the balls of steel edition, first level was mediocre, the boss fight was really underwhelming (aside from the ending, haha :D ) , but i REALLY liked what i saw in the second level, graphics are pretty good too, I expected the worst since it's using the unreal 2.5 engine, I expected it to look like postal 2, but they managed to make the graphics look more polished and impressive than killing floor ! Very good job considering the age of the engine imo.

AI and model animations are SUPPOSED to be terrible, it's Duke ffs, not half-life !

Mouse input is tolerable once you set precision and speed to 1 ( had zero problems hitting piggies with the railgun :D ) , fov is small but not too distracting on my 22" 16:10 screen, both issues can be easily fixed in the full version http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=125148


FYI I'm 22 years old, i've played quite abit of duke nukem 3d, mainly in jduke form and some more on the N64, ok there's no nuke button no secret areas ( or am i wrong ? ) no medkits but aside from these minor design flaws the game is still duke 3D, not another run of the mill shooter

/presses Q

"Maximum (flame) Armor Engaged" :D
 
Duke Nukem Forever Getting PC Exclusive Features

upcoming patch for the Windows version will add some features to address some complaints about the PC version including a new expanded inventory option that allows you to carry up to four weapons in the single-player campaign, Valve Anti-Cheat System (VAC) support, push-to-talk voice chat, the ability to adjust FOV plus other fixes and improvements that are still being tested

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-29-duke-nukem-pc-patch-increases-gun-slots
 
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polonyc2 said:
Duke Nukem Forever Getting PC Exclusive Features

upcoming patch for the Windows version will add some features to address some complaints about the PC version including a new expanded inventory option that allows you to carry up to four weapons in the single-player campaign, Valve Anti-Cheat System (VAC) support, push-to-talk voice chat, the ability to adjust FOV plus other fixes and improvements that are still being tested
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These things should have been there from day one. The fact that they weren't says a lot about where game developers heads are at. Beyond that I don't think anyone cares anymore. The game is certainly not worth a replay.
 
Dan_D said:
These things should have been there from day one. The fact that they weren't says a lot about where game developers heads are at. Beyond that I don't think anyone cares anymore. The game is certainly not worth a replay.
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I agree that it should have been there from Day 1 but the fact that we are seeing more and more companies release post-release PC exclusive features is a good sign (Crysis 2)...I'd rather get post-release support then no PC support at all which is how it used to be
 
polonyc2 said:
I agree that it should have been there from Day 1 but the fact that we are seeing more and more companies release post-release PC exclusive features is a good sign (Crysis 2)...I'd rather get post-release support then no PC support at all which is how it used to be
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I just wish developers would look at the common complaints about multiplatform games on the PC and put fourth the extra work up front.
 
Haven't played this game yet, will wait for this PC patch to come out, and buy the game on sale in the bargain bin then
 
Did the price for a copy of DNF drop below 30 bucks yet? :)
 
quadnad said:
It's not worth it at any price. If you enjoyed the original, just keep enjoying that feeling of nostalgia. Pretend the sequel never happened.
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lol over dramatic much? I'm still playing thru it, but so far it's worth 15 or 20 for a run through. People like you let the hype machine build up too much.
 
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