Twelve years. We’ve waited twelve long years for something – anything – resembling Duke Nukem Forever’s shambled development to be made into some form of video game. Last year, Gearbox Software got our hopes up when it said it was picking up the slack and finally making a releasable game for June 2011 release, and lo and behold, here it is, finally an actuality. Now comes the hard question that eventually must be faced – was it worth the wait? Well, according to several reviews around the net, no. Destructoid gave it a completely lackluster 2/10 score, while IGN was a little bit more kind at 5.5/10. We here at PlanetXbox360 decided to give it more of a fair shake, considering, hey, it’s Duke. And besides, a lot of these people’s standards are pushed rocket high these days, thanks to trend setting first-person shooters like Halo and Call of Duty. But after spending several hours killing aliens, being ogled by babes and engaging in multiplayer, we have to say – it could’ve been much more.
Granted, we won’t be completely harsh and say the game stinks to high heaven, because there are some good moments here. The problem is that they’re scattered across a game that doesn’t always keep its footing, particularly during the questionable puzzle segments and even during some of the objective-following, where we’re not quite sure where to go next. Had Gearbox cleaned this up and just made the whole thing a package of kick-ass (like it deserved to be), it probably wouldn’t have been scuttled in the press so much. As it stands, the problems are hard to overlook. Anyway, the plot. The aliens are back, and they’re pissed. They’re hitting Duke Nukem right where it hurts, stealing his women and declaring war on his army. It’s up to the strong-armed hero to set the right things right and blow their asses out of the sky. Easier said than done, as their army has grown bigger and badder than their last visit. Regardless, Duke’s got shrink-ray in hand, and he’s ready to deliver some justice.
Like we said, the game is made up of multiple segments. Most of them revolve around first-person shooting, and while it’s competent, it’s also broken in some spots. For instance, the auto-aim hasn’t been completely tightened down, so when you try to get a bead on your enemy, your shots may be frustratingly off by a few inches. Furthermore, the ability to carry only two weapons at a time is painfully weak. This is Duke Nukem. He’s got room on his damn gun belt. Some of the weapons are cool (like aforementioned shrink ray), but, surprisingly enough, they’re ineffective in spots. If an enemy gets too close, for instance, your bullets will sail right over their head while you take damage. We could’ve used a chainsaw melee move right about there. Then there are the driving sequences. The first involves a mini RC truck, which you drive around Duke’s destroyed casino, and later on, you’re behind the wheel of a bad-ass monster truck. The driving segments aren’t bad, but there are also times that the handling is a little off, particularly with cornering. It’s not impossible, and sometimes it’s fun to smash into enemies and watch them take damage, but these could’ve been more.
This feature review concludes on the next page, please click Page 2 below to see our final thoughts on 2K Games' Duke Nukem Forever.
