Duke Nukem Forever

[selbie]

Excellent article Yahtzee. I have to say, if Just Cause 2 was made as a FPS, with loads and loads of weaponry, ammo and vehicles (albeit much more quickly accessible), with a slightly smaller map to trade off with some variety in "levels" I would be in shooter heaven. I think DNF will be an average, yet thoroughly enjoyable FPS, but I think the more eccentric FPS games should now move on from linear-path gameplay and become more open ended either in player progression, or in the physical world map.

As for chest high walls and pop-n-go combat, they should remain firmly in the tactical combat area where you are more likely to need an invincible wall to replenish health.

 

[duchaked]

90s style machoism + guns + aliens = stonkin' great tits achievements!

 

[cooperace27]

At least someone agreed with me about how the Wolfenstien review didn't even make the second round.

 

[Partezan]

What would make the game worth it for me is a heap of easter eggs and jokes. NEeds to pay out scientology in some way

 

[cerebus23]

Hmm...this is something to think about. On one hand, I feel like hiding behind a barely concealing and constantly decaying object as bullets go whizzing by your head provides a great sense of tension and anxiety. I also feel that the realism of shooting games is one of the things that makes them so popular and immersive. On the other hand, an arcade style shooter that has you constantly weaving in between incoming projectiles Space Invaders style while firing shots of your own seems like an incredibly fast paced and fun concept- especially in multiplayer. In the end, I think it comes down to what your looking for in a game. One is a test of strategy and patience, while the other is more a test of reaction time and precision controlling.

except things in most games do not decay they are constant bullet shields.

add to that the invention of the regenerating health system, which oddly they invented but only works when you are crouched behind something removes any and all tension in 80% of fights where you not fighting some super fast boss mob that can flank you in the blink of an eye.

i thought the cover system was the most lame ass mechanic i ever seen in gears of bore, and every game that has come out since processed to copy it.

now if you had to hunt for med kits and health packs and stim stations and were crouching behind that wall with your health down to a sliver and 10 bad guys bearing down on you, that would involve some tension. as it it in current games it wont matter cause all i do is sit here with my head down for 10 seconds and boom ready to fight again.

games need to decide if they they want to be "real" and gritty regen health needs to go and get back to basics, yea magic health kits are not technically real, but they sure as hell more real than +250% magic health regen when you sit behind a box somehow.

or we need to give us health regen, open up combat with less cover have that regen work all the time and throw a billion enemies at you so you had to run and gun ditch into cover on occasion then run and blast 100 more mobs before you needed a quick breather, lest that would really be adrenlin pumping, most shooters today are the exact opposite.

 

[Electrogecko]

Hmm...this is something to think about. On one hand, I feel like hiding behind a barely concealing and constantly decaying object as bullets go whizzing by your head provides a great sense of tension and anxiety. I also feel that the realism of shooting games is one of the things that makes them so popular and immersive. On the other hand, an arcade style shooter that has you constantly weaving in between incoming projectiles Space Invaders style while firing shots of your own seems like an incredibly fast paced and fun concept- especially in multiplayer. In the end, I think it comes down to what your looking for in a game. One is a test of strategy and patience, while the other is more a test of reaction time and precision controlling.

except things in most games do not decay they are constant bullet shields.

add to that the invention of the regenerating health system, which oddly they invented but only works when you are crouched behind something removes any and all tension in 80% of fights where you not fighting some super fast boss mob that can flank you in the blink of an eye.

i thought the cover system was the most lame ass mechanic i ever seen in gears of bore, and every game that has come out since processed to copy it.

now if you had to hunt for med kits and health packs and stim stations and were crouching behind that wall with your health down to a sliver and 10 bad guys bearing down on you, that would involve some tension. as it it in current games it wont matter cause all i do is sit here with my head down for 10 seconds and boom ready to fight again.

games need to decide if they they want to be "real" and gritty regen health needs to go and get back to basics, yea magic health kits are not technically real, but they sure as hell more real than +250% magic health regen when you sit behind a box somehow.

or we need to give us health regen, open up combat with less cover have that regen work all the time and throw a billion enemies at you so you had to run and gun ditch into cover on occasion then run and blast 100 more mobs before you needed a quick breather, lest that would really be adrenlin pumping, most shooters today are the exact opposite.

Cover is an integral part of 100% of all shooting games ever made, whether a mechanic for wall clinging is built into the game or not. There are plenty of destructible covers in games today, and in GOW, they can be reduced to the point of near uselessness. If your going to complain about a game that lacks tension due to the lack of consequence for being hit, complain about Halo. The regenerating health is fine, but only if it doesn't do so for a long while after being hit. And not having a shitload of health is another way to make fights more intense.

 

[Jedted]

At this point what Gearbox is doing is just fan service for the people who still care about the franchise. It will be surpising if DNF wins GotY after it's released.

Great article, Yahtzee!

 

[Norix596]

Even if it turns out to be an excellent game... 12 years, come on.

 

[Norix596]

Regenerating health isn't inherently bad so long as it's slow enough that you're probably not going to be back to full by the end of a fight. E.g. going against a room of enemies at a time with full health each time is still a challenge. Red Steel 2 and Mirror's Edge sort of had this effect -- you could take on a group of enemies but you wouldn't heal or have time to until they were all beaten.

Taking cover is just good sense in a shooter but "cover based combat" usually implies less searching for solid objects to protect you and more using a designated control mechanic that leaves you totally protected for as long as you want until you feel like popping out to shoot.

So there's a problem when you combine quickly regenerating health, indestructible cover and enemies that play along with your waiting game.

When you take any of them out then it's more of a reasonable and threatening challenge and of a shooting gallery.

Like Far Cry 2's self first aid mechanic that meant you'd have to run be unable to move and wait before you could heal, various destructible environment games where if you just shoot from behind the same chest high wall or table for long enough you'll die or if enemy AI could taught to understand your regenerating health and accordingly rush more aggressively after you've been wounded rather than obligingly waiting for you to pop out again after healing.

 

[Karthek]

Can't wait for Yatzee's DN:F review >

 

[Keith K]

I think stereoscopic splitscreen is likely to come to all 3D displays relatively soon. I think the glasses themselves may be mandatory to accomplish it. So they have to bring the glasses up to a near universal functionality before introducing the feature.

(Also they want to monopolize the market for a short period obviously.)

 

[TheUnbeholden]

Well it appears Yahtzee was right....