This time: It's personal... *cough* What I mean is, this time I'm reviewing a game 12+ years in the making. The titanic of the game industry resurrected from the dead sinking ship of the development company 3D Realms only to be rescued into the light of 2011 by Gearbox Studios.
Title:
Platform: PC, Xbox 360, PS3
Developer: 3d Realms
Triptych Games
Piranha Games
Gearbox Software
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| It's so hard not to draw something...obscene every time you get a pen...Sorry, kid. |
I was very excited to get my claws on this game. For me, as for many other gamers, the Duke is a shining mushroom cloud staple of video game character portraits. In today's gaming, memorable characters are, sadly, far and few between, as they start to mesh and melt into each other. It's really hard to point at a console or generation of games outside of the confines of Nintendo and sega and pick out highly memorable protagonists. That is not to say that they don't exist entirely, but in the 2000's, the protagonist is usually "impersonal military commando" or "bleak monotone anti-hero". The return of the Duke brings back what it really takes to be a "character" and not just a controller juxtaposition into a game. It takes a boardgame playing piece and adds much needed personality into the otherwise too often inanimate object. This swath of personality is indeed brought easily to life by the voice actor Jon St. John who has been the voice of Duke since the beginning, which is always a nice touch of continuity.
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| Boom, right in the bean bag! |
Speaking of continuity, if there has been one thing that the entire Duke Nukem series has done, it's been pushing the envelope in the next direction for games of it's time. In the past, it was about getting gamers involved, mixing shooters with platforms, and mixing a great deal of comedy and player interaction into a sometimes boring and monotone release schedule. Like anon on 4chan.org, DUKE DELIVERS. The plot is rather simple, it is one of those things that really doesn't need something entirely complicated. Aliens are on earth, aliens baaaaaad, kill the aliens. In this game, Duke Nukem Forever, the envelope isn't just pushed, it's shoved into some horrible places and hung out to dry in the unforgiving sun. If you are easily offended, have a weak stomach, have a strong religious moral code, are bland, have stomach or liver problems, easily swayed into right wing propaganda, are at risk for heart attacks, or are pregnant, use of this product is not advised. Duke Nukem Forever is not for everyone. Side effects include but are not limited to fever, malaise, eczema, dysentery, morbidity, lack of impotence, neurotic tendencies, sudden couch potato syndrome, dizziness, diarrhea, loose bowel disease, a foul mouth, lack of soap, hand cleaning OCD, Alien feinting sickness, sudden urges for streaking and public nudity, the overall feeling of being sticky or just plain filthy and need a hot shower followed by a cold shower, and the desire to just be a bad ass.
To be honest, I loved every moment of this game. It is another prime example of how video games are just meant to be "fun". That not all games have to follow the same line in the sand. Even though it was a shooter, it wasn't the stereotypical military shooter, and I ate it up like candy...delicious, delicious candy. It brought back the "shooter problem platformer" that was all the rage in the late 90's. Most of the criticism on this game is that it's sexist, foul, and dated. The first two are correct. It is VERY sexist, it is ENTIRELY foul. But to be brutally truthful, IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE! It's not Duke Nukem if it isn't shocking, if it isn't for the squeamish. I have not seen a game come so close to being rated "AO" since one of my all time favorite games "Conker's Bad Fur Day". It was actually delightful. It shows that video games don't all have to be made for 12 year olds, but in fact, can have adult themes and comedy that is really pushed passed the usual hum-drum that comes down the tubes. The fact that it does all of this but in such a way that made me laugh and sit there, holding my controller in disbelief, is what makes a Duke Nukem game. As far as dated, I will get to that in a short while.
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| Sequel like a pig! |
For now, I want to mention a few other things that I really enjoyed with this game. Among many things, it flowed very nicely. The levels were well planned out, there were so many things to interact with and just simply "do". The themes were well put together, the game was very nicely polished, and well, after so long in development and developer hand changing, it should be. The one liners were well written and well timed. The boss fights were challenging, it was a very nice progression of difficulty. Enemy types were well used and well dispersed throughout the game. There were quite a few times where I was sitting in disbelief yelling out "Oh Shi-! I can't believe I just saw that!!". The quick time events were very well timed and not jammed down your throat. The platforming element of the game was well planned, well timed, and were not the bane of my existence (What I mean by that, is in a lot of games these days, it seems that the enemies and bosses can't hurt you, but a 3 foot gap will ruin your entire day. To me, that seems ridiculous. The jump puzzles should be just as challenging as the level itself, and it really takes some skilled programming to make it juuuust right. And Duke Nukem Forever, was just that). Although there were not that many different types of weapons, they were designed in such a way that they didn't step on each other's toes. I had a tough time trying to decide which weapon to take and which ones to just "leave" there. They all had their place throughout each level, the shear implementation of great thought of the placement of where things are was incredibly nice to see. It was fun to see the tell tale touches of Gearbox here and there with the many many references, themes, and jokes, that touch base on today's popular culture and recent video games.
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| Come on, Duke, show us your "Big Gun"! |
Now believe it or not, I don't have much bad things to really put down for Duke Nukem Forever. It boils down to a few small details. The biggest of which is the physics engine. That is where the game is dated. That's the only place where the game is dated. "But N00basaurus Rex, what about the graphics?" you ask. Ah, but the graphics are so polished and rendered just so, it's very HD and cell shaded. The graphics, fit with the game, and believe it or not, the effect is overwhelmingly positive (In fact, it would be easy to argue that the graphics are probably better than a few games that have come out in the past couple of years, if not at least on par). But the physics engine is a little clunky, not enough to be game breaking, but enough to be noticeable. Collision detection is a little slow for reactions of objects when impacted by other objects, but once again, not too slow, just ever so slightly noticeable. Mainly because we all have been a little spoiled in technology as of recent in the past 5 years. The fallacies of the physics engine is passable, because it works. It may not be perfect, but at least you don't have to worry about being killed by a stationary bridge. The other major thing, was loading. Every section of every level had to be individually loaded. It reminded me of the playstation 1, to be honest, where you had to start a game, get up, go for a snack, come back, and wait another 30min for things to get started. Now, it wasn't really that bad, but it did take forever here and there. Other then those couple of qualms, some of the "get to pont b from point a" portions became a little cumbersome, some of the "grab a turret" battles took a little longer that it should have, and a few more execution animations would be nice (specific ones for specific enemies would be nice, other than the standard boot kick or uppercut). And that's pretty much it, believe it or not! This game, was epic. The mini-games were enjoyable and fun. Air-hockey was a blast! And how can you NOT like a whack-a-mole style game named "Alien Abortion"?
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| FIRE ZE MISSILES! |
Rating: 8 As Duke Says, "My Balls, Your Face!"
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