Duke Nukem Forever Review
- Thread starter Russ Pitts
- Start date
Preface: I have not finished the game yet, but apparently I'm pretty far along.
You know, I'm struck by a couple of things here:
- Russ seemed to enter into the experience with higher expectations than I think he should've. Now, I know this observation is very dependent upon my perspective, but when I started playing the game, I expected it to be total and utter shit: an amalgamation of ideas and work from 3? 4? different studios slapped together. I was actually somewhat pleasantly surprised with what the result was.
- people are talking about 'the hype'. I don't seem to recall much hype. This really struck me as Pitchford et. al. seeing an opportunity to make money with little investment. I imagine if they can push even 50k units, they will have a tidy profit on their hands.
My personal reveiw? It's not nearly as excrutiating to play as Russ makes it out. It has a lot of the old "Duke Nuke 'Em" feel, but somewhat updated (appropriately or inappropriately). Is it a revelatory experience? Hell no. But if you grew up playing Duke 3D, you'll find enough there to make you smile, and there are some generally fun gameplay elements (the shrunken areas were clever, for example; and the driving levels were a blast-- and both were substantially different from anything I've seen in recent FPS's) that are worth the ride. The puzzles aren't cakewalks, but neither are they brain-busters: probably the right amount of depth for a Duke game.
There are a ton of shout-outs to movies (I won't spoil them here, but I counted at least 7 different movies referenced, from Escape From New York to Old School), and a bunch of other little nods, both to the previous incarnation of Duke and other FPSs (Power Armor is for Pussies!) Certainly enough to encourage the player to keep his or her eyes open and perhaps investigate the world a little more closely than they normally would.
My breakdown?
-If you are a Duke fan, buy it. You'll get at least 10 hours worth of play out of it.
-If you're just an FPS fan, and you don't have any particular affinity for the Duke, wait for it to hit the bargain bin, or perhaps a Steam sale.
-If you're a very discriminating FPS player, or they're generally not your cup of tea unless they are truly a transcendent experience, skip it.
You know, I'm struck by a couple of things here:
- Russ seemed to enter into the experience with higher expectations than I think he should've. Now, I know this observation is very dependent upon my perspective, but when I started playing the game, I expected it to be total and utter shit: an amalgamation of ideas and work from 3? 4? different studios slapped together. I was actually somewhat pleasantly surprised with what the result was.
- people are talking about 'the hype'. I don't seem to recall much hype. This really struck me as Pitchford et. al. seeing an opportunity to make money with little investment. I imagine if they can push even 50k units, they will have a tidy profit on their hands.
My personal reveiw? It's not nearly as excrutiating to play as Russ makes it out. It has a lot of the old "Duke Nuke 'Em" feel, but somewhat updated (appropriately or inappropriately). Is it a revelatory experience? Hell no. But if you grew up playing Duke 3D, you'll find enough there to make you smile, and there are some generally fun gameplay elements (the shrunken areas were clever, for example; and the driving levels were a blast-- and both were substantially different from anything I've seen in recent FPS's) that are worth the ride. The puzzles aren't cakewalks, but neither are they brain-busters: probably the right amount of depth for a Duke game.
There are a ton of shout-outs to movies (I won't spoil them here, but I counted at least 7 different movies referenced, from Escape From New York to Old School), and a bunch of other little nods, both to the previous incarnation of Duke and other FPSs (Power Armor is for Pussies!) Certainly enough to encourage the player to keep his or her eyes open and perhaps investigate the world a little more closely than they normally would.
My breakdown?
-If you are a Duke fan, buy it. You'll get at least 10 hours worth of play out of it.
-If you're just an FPS fan, and you don't have any particular affinity for the Duke, wait for it to hit the bargain bin, or perhaps a Steam sale.
-If you're a very discriminating FPS player, or they're generally not your cup of tea unless they are truly a transcendent experience, skip it.
I find it both fun and challenging ?
And I chuckle every time the Duke throws a line.
It either makes me one immature 21 year old or one of the few left in the world who can enjoy the little things.
And since I've never been called out on immaturity it must be the little things.
Also, for bashing the immaturity, the reviewer drew a dick on the whiteboard, all his arguments are invalid in my honest opinion.
And I chuckle every time the Duke throws a line.
It either makes me one immature 21 year old or one of the few left in the world who can enjoy the little things.
And since I've never been called out on immaturity it must be the little things.
Also, for bashing the immaturity, the reviewer drew a dick on the whiteboard, all his arguments are invalid in my honest opinion.
Wait, why is the escapist still running the giant "Duke Nukem's crouch in your face" adds when you thought the game was awful?Russ Pitts said:
Okay, flinging poo and slapping tits?
Not even funny when I was twelve, because it's sooooo desperate for you to laugh at it.
And a dildo? Whoooooo!
Not even funny when I was twelve, because it's sooooo desperate for you to laugh at it.
And a dildo? Whoooooo!
The whole, "If I were 12 years old" thing? No I got that too, and it only furthers my belief that Russ Pitt is unfit to be a reviewer on a site such as this, who has such a large number of visitors and followers. Either do your job thoroughly or quit it. I expected more from this site. Lesson well leaned.Withard said:
Not quite.Pyro Paul said:
1. No redeeming qualities whatsoever. Avoid this game.
2. A bad game that only the die-hard fans need bother look at.
3. An okay game. It has some flaws, but overall it's okay.
4. A good game. Check it out.
5. A great game. Recommendable to everyone.
Fudge it I'm still buying it. You may need to wear a football helmet and ride on the short bus now Duke, but I still love ya
And its not worthy here how? Its a character that I grew up with and that I loved and now that I get to go back to and play. Its not the best game in the world, but its a game I fucking played the hell out of as a kid and I am glad to be able go back to that when I first started playing video games.bombadilillo said:
I expected a game in development for 12 years and being canceled once to suck and I was right. The worst part of this is that we need a new stupid joke to throw around the gaming community. I purpose replacing DNF with StarCraft: Ghost.
If your after a SEEERRRIIIIOOOOUUUUUSSSSSS review website then maybe the Guardian is more up your street. I mean...400+ Posts was for the lulz of course and obviously you dont enjoy the site because of its amusing reviews and you DEFINITELY dont enjoy ZeroPunctuation.endnuen said:
Also...you do realize he is the Content Director & Editor-in-Chief so im pretty sure YOUR idea on how to run a site is pretty much null and void.
And again I STILL dont think you understood the idea of the video.
Well said. It seems like every game journalist out there is jumping on the "we're too good for this game" bandwagon. There was a time where games weren't meant to be serious, story driven drama-fests that pull the heart strings and change how you think. I'd rather play this than another CoD clone ANY day of the week, and I'll take the skulls of whoever says otherwise for Khorne.Milo Windby said:
I give this my worse rating yet 4 thumbs up.
Seriously 2 stars? I don't really care but it's still odd.
Seriously 2 stars? I don't really care but it's still odd.
There was a reviewer on 1Up's website who admitted to enjoying parts of the game in his review, but he gave the game an F anyway. There are people who will hate this game just to hate it, it seems.TMM said:
The frame drops/crashes/bugs/glitches seem to happen to some people and not others, sounds like you just got unlucky. However, I hate when people complain about graphics. Duke Nukem Forever looks just fine; what about the graphics made this game worse?Stavros Dimou said:
Also, I've yet to hear anybody else complain about weapon carry over. You're the first person to do so, and having watched streams of gameplay, I can say that tis doen't appear to be an issue because people are able to push past with whatever weapons they happen to have.
KILL! MAIM! BURN! I'll take your skull for Khorne for such an insult of The Duke! @_@NKnight said:
"cause I'm not 12. And this game sucks."
Made me laugh, contrasting to the straight faced nature of the rest of the video.
Made me laugh, contrasting to the straight faced nature of the rest of the video.
Except he spent more bloody time harping in the written review on crap that isn't mentioned at all in the synopsis than is worthwhile. He spent the ENTIRE opening paragraph calling the game a grown-up child star that's not self-aware enough to evolve and realize how silly it looks trying to do the same tricks. The synopsis basically cuts out all of his whining. It's not that it wasn't as brilliant. It's that it's more of the same with some new bits tacked on. The point of the reviews he makes are, typically, to take a game where you know exactly what you're getting going into it and despising it for delivering on exactly what you expected.Slycne said:
This just in: Portal is about snarky voices and puzzle gaming. Probably easier if you've done the first, but still a nice chunk of play time. DNF? Yeah. It's Duke fucking Nukem. If you wanted a ground-breaking 15 hour thesis on the human condition, you're playing the wrong game. Then you harp on it for being what it is? It's like reviewing Postal 3 and being surprised at dated graphics and deliberately inflammatory exaggerations of everything ever.
If you don't like the basic premise and theme of a game, or a series of games, why bother? Give it to someone else, or make one brief paragraph. "This is not my kind of game. If the first Duke Nukem was not your cup of tea, this won't be either. Ask someone else."
The guy basically buys a ticket, goes into the circus, watches the clowns, then makes an article about how he dislikes clowns, despite having seen them before and knowing his opinion then.