![]() Either you're being led down a narrow corridor with objective markers screaming at you with color, or you're hopelessly lost and wandering aimlessly until you figure out which identical hallway to explore. When it does offer a hint of what to do next, it's by shading an object a garishly bright orange. The game gives poor navigational cues, sometimes with no clear direction on what the next objective is. Oftentimes, navigating through the world is, like combat, frustrating or boring. A platforming segment that forces mini-Duke to navigate a fast food restaurant was actually refreshing and smartly-designed - but these moments are too few and far between. That's not to say that all of DNF's experiments never work. These moments break up the monotony, but aren't fun enough in to justify their long playtimes. During Duke's various outings, he solves puzzles, drives a miniature R/V car (after shrinking to a tiny size, of course), and navigates his Duke-branded monster truck to the Hoover Dam. Everyone else will find that it overstays its welcome.Īside from being a shooter, Duke attempts to be a jack of all trades. Those seeking quantity over quality will enjoy Duke's longer-than-average single-player campaign. The limited variety of enemies makes playing each chapter drag on longer than it should. Combat never hits that sweet spot that made me feel both challenged and satisfied. The modern FPS market is bursting with developers offering inventive weaponry, which makes the decision to simply retread old ground disappointing.ĭuke Nukem Forever opens with a throwback, then carries that idea throughout the adventure.Įncounters range from the mindless to frustratingly difficult and, at least on the Xbox 360, each death is punctuated by long load times, even when the game is installed. While there's some fun to be had in using the Shrink Ray or HoloDuke again, I'd rather have new, creative weapons. Over a decade later, we're merely given our old toys back. Duke Nukem 3D had its share of racy jokes, but its true claim to fame was its variety of creative and brutal weapons, like the Shrink Ray, HoloDuke, and Devastator. In spite of all of the time that went into the game, 3D Realms wasn't able to expand upon the qualities that made the older Duke Nukem games so definitive. Just as the character remains true to the archetypes of old action flicks, the gameplay shows its age through-and-through - mostly to its detriment. I expected that, while the humor might fall flat, the underlying shooter would hold its own. As a child of the 80s, I grew up with Duke Nukem. Try as I might, it's impossible to enter a game with so much legacy behind it without some expectations. While fourteen years of anticipation may force its mediocrity under a microscope, it's also the only reason anyone is talking about it. By any other name, this game wouldn't even register as a blip on gamers' collective radar. Stripped of its bawdy humor and fame, it's a bland, forgettable shooter, devoid of any outstanding qualities, and utterly unremarkable. 184 Duke Nukem Forever is both a victim and a benefactor of its own notoriety. ![]()
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