Why Duke Nukem Forever Was Alright.

[UberNoodle]

To say that DUke had 10 plus years of development time is disingenuous. By that logic, how many years development will Half Life 3 have had by the time it comes out?! Duke went through so many iterations, engines and experiments, it was certainly not a decade in development, but merely a decade in holding pattern while 3D Realms dicked it about.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

And here are some feature comparisons between the 2 sequels we are talking about,to demonstrate how Serious Sam 3 kept its originality while Duke Nukem Forever didn't:


DUKE NUKEM 3D / SERIOUS SAM: THE SECOND ENCOUNTER

*Health meter and healthpakcs / Health meter and health packs
*Player can carry as many weapons he can find / Player can carry as many weapons he can find
*Large maze-like levels / Large arena like levels
*Keycards and locked doors / Keycards and locked doors
*Secret areas / Secret areas
*Numerous gameplay changing gadgets / Jetpack
*Grim and dark post apocalyptic atmosphere with a few jokes. / Colorful and parody like funny atmosphere.
*Terrifying enemies / Ridiculous enemies to laugh at.
*Run and gun to stay alive / Run and gun to stay alive
*Average graphics of modern games of its time / Average graphics of modern games at its time.
*Never before seen level of interactivity / Never before seen such huge battles with so many enemies



DUKE NUKEM FOREVER / SERIOUS SAM 3

*Health regeneration / Health meter and healthpacks
*Player can carry only 2 guns / Play can carry all guns he can find.
*Linear corridor levels / Larger than before arena like levels
*Repetitive puzzles to progress / Keycards and locked doors,as well as puzzles.
*No secret areas / More secret areas than past game.
*Few gadgets,that doesn't actively change gameplay and are redundant *Jetpack
*Parody like comedic atmosphere and colorful. / Parody like atmosphere and able to adjust color palettes and color grading.
*Ridiculous enemies to laugh at / Ridiculous enemies to laugh at
*Hide behind cover and shoot to stay alive / Run and gun to stay alive
*Not so good graphics as most games at its time / Better than average graphics than most games of its time
*Reduced interactivity both in comparison to other modern games,and in DND3D. / Even huge-er battles with even more enemies at the same time.





I think this board of a kind which lists individual key features of the older games and their sequels of these 2 series,shows pretty much why Serious Sam 3 was received as a better sequel for a franchise and also as a better game in general than Duke Nukem Forever.

 

[monkey_man]

Well I actually had fun with it. I haven't finished it yet, because I lost my gamedata and haven't restarted yet. It's the most vile and immature garbage I've ever played, and it KNOWS it's so corny and sexist and wrong. I love it. It's quite an easy game, with what I though was decent gameplay and a lot of self-aware references "power armour is for PUSSIES" etc. You don't buy a game where Capture the Babe is a gamemode and expect it to be a politically correct hit. You buy it because you have Duke Nukem kicking alien ass. Like why you go see Expendables 2. Or Die Hard. pure mindless manliness. And I love it.

It's funny, it plays okay and it's enjoyable. So what if it took long, HL ep3 is also taking forever, and I know I'll be enjoying that game as well. Waiting times shouldn't really be a factor, when the game is good. Look at CoD pasting out a new game every 3 minutes, or nintendo rehashing the same heroes. People buy it, people enjoy them, people play them.

That should be enough.

Now stop whining and slap some wallboobs everyone.

 

[Dendio]

But after 10+ years of development time it should have been more than just "another Duke Nukem game" and that's why it sucked.

It had to be more than just this, the way people were slandering it as the worst game ever created. I think somebody pulled some strings to get the media to black list it.

/tin foil

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

My biggest problem with DNF is that they pitched it as this high-quality experience, at the same level of quality as all of Gearbox's other outings.

It wasn't. Not by a longshot.

Now, granted, they couldn't exactly advertise it as "a buggy, clunky, uneven, overbloomed mess that showed every bad design decision that made the game take more than a decade to emerge"... but unfortunately that's what it was. I bought it on sale for $10 on Steam and played for exactly 109 minutes before I just absolutely quit in disgust- by that point I was rooting for the aliens to hurry up and destroy the pathetically moronic humans that populate Duke's world, because I sure as hell wasn't having any fun trying to save them.

It's been said before, but I'll reiterate. Duke Nukem Forever tried to be a parody of itself, its own sordid history and the franchise's colorful glory days, but it seemed like every last joke fell flat. And without anything else to support the experience- like, you know, good gameplay or story or graphics- it had nothing to stand on.

 

[Kimozabi]

I didn't play DNF to have a 2 weapon limit and regenerating health.
And wall boobs? Come on, that was pathetic.

And almost zero shrink gun.
And don't forget the pathetic presentation.

No, this game was not alright.

 

[Acton Hank]

Are you on a "This game isn't as bad as you guys said" kick? If so, can you do Alpha Protocol next?

But AP was actually good .

Sorry, it wasn't...

it was a mess that failed at everything it tried to do and the only redeeming qualities were it's intermittent glimpses of ambition.

 

[Lugbzurg]

On one hand, Duke Nukem Forever carried the tradition of carrying on with a new gameplay style. 3D wasn't the only game in the series, people! There were several others, and no other first-person shooters, up until Duke Nukem Forever arrived!

On the other hand, it did rather spit on what Duke Nukem was supposed to represent. Humor becomes abusive, rather than playful, while references become put-downs, rather than homages. And the "Ego"? Pretty much makes Duke seem emo, if you understand the context of it all.

Just look at this video. It explains several points very well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS7PCcvVoPI

 

[Gergar12_v1legacy]

I expect at the very least more than TWO weapons. Freaking annoying COD weapon setup. I didn't expect him not to said corny jokes. I know games are not realistic, but we all know its very easy to carry 2 main weapons, and aleast a handgun or smg maybe a huge magnum, and for a man of duke's size he could have been able to do alot more than 2 weapons more like 3 main weapons, and 2 handgun size weapons, and the game was just unenjoyable.