Duke Nukem Forever

[Mad Melvin]

Well, it's finally here. I pre-ordered that bitch a few months ago and it's waiting for me in my mailbox. I hope it doesn't suck. I've read some positive comments about it, at least.

Anyone play it yet, or does anyone even care?

[Fathom Zero]

Only Europe has it at the moment. I think it comes out Tuesday in the US.

[Mad Melvin]

Been playing it for about an hour. It's Duke allright. Straight from the 90s. Except for the graphics, everything is from the 90s. I like the interactive stuff, but the shooting itself is kinda dull at the moment. I'm still very early in the game, but it seems like this game was released about 8-10 years too late.

[Mad Melvin]

Ok, i'll take it back. The more I play this, the more fun it gets. It really does remind me about the fun I used to have with the original Duke. The difficulty level is hard, but the weapons are nicely balanced and powerful, so you never feel helpless. The beginning of the game is a bit boring, or maybe I just wasn't in the right mindset yet. Really refreshing to play such an over the top, balls to the wall shooter that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta make some bacon out of those pesky piggies.

[Dr. Boogie]

How does it compare to Halflife 2, because the demo made it seem like they were following that formula awfully close.

[Mad Melvin]

It's similar, there's no denying it. Especially the car driving stuff is pretty much stolen from HL2. The demo gives the wrong impression about the game btw. It's the old PAX demo and they have clearly polished the game up a bit after that. There is also a shitload of little meaningless stuff you can do within the levels. You can play pinball, slots machines etc. A lot of interactive stuff to play around with.

And yes, you can pick up turds from a toilet bowl.

[Nick]

Yeah, Gearbox lied about giving us a brand new demo. I went back and watched some old PAX videos and it was clearly the exact same one.

[Zomboid]

My big collector's edition thing is waiting for me on Tuesday, but I won't be around to get it, so a buddy's picking it up for me.

[Zhukov]

Pfft. I'm getting a small plastic ocarina with MY pre-order of Zelda on 3DS.

[Nick]

I'm getting a bust of Duke Nukem, some gum, some pokerchips and some other crap.

[Mad Melvin]

I have the Balls Of Steel edition. It's purdy.

[Chojin]

"Duke we've got your green power armor here and ready to go!"

"POWER ARMOR IS FOR PUSSIES."



well, uh, okay

if i must



the loading screens are great:

[Nick]

This game is fantastic.

[MattJack]

I've read a lot of reviews online and they are killing this game. They say it is a huge piece of shit.

I think that most reviewers are looking at it in the complete wrong way. Somehow, they wanted another CoD (yuck), BC2, or other realistic FPS. I always looked at this game as a DN3D 2.0 of sorts. It kind of seemed refreshing that they didn't put out another gritty, realistic modern war type feel game. Just seemed like a nod to the people who loved the game that came out more than a decade ago.

A few of my friends have it, but I won't be getting it until Steam presents it for 50% off.

How does everyone like it? Worth $60?

[Fathom Zero]

A lot of people have been calling it bad because it tries so hard to be Halo or CoD or Half Life 2 and ends up being far worse for it, since it can't hope to be as good as any of them. The two-weapon max and terrible jump and fetch puzzles are indicative of that.

[Mad Melvin]

Beat it last night. I really don't understand all the Duke hate the reviewsites are giving. This is a good game. Not a masterpiece by any means, but a fun, solid 3D shooter. The levels are great for the most part (didn't like the driving all that much), there are some good oneliners here and there and the shooting is satisfying. The two weapon limit is lame, but im guessing the modders will release a fix for that in no time.

In my opinion, DNF is the best 3D shooter I have played in years.

[Mockery]

Good game or not, it's probably just too hard to live up to all those years of hype and waiting. Even if the game made your computer shit gold nuggets, there would still be people with gripes about it.

That said, I haven't even played the game, so I can't say if I think it's any good or not yet.

[Supafly345]

What I am hearing from normal fans is that its just a needlessly bloated game. Long boring sequences of fluff, and not enough debauchery. I think you have to decide its a good game ahead of time, as from what I have been seeing from the reactions, those are the only people who like it.

I think it was just a last ditch effort to gain back a quarter of the money spent on it. I probably will never play it though.

[Chojin]

i think i'm almost through it

it's definitely a 90s FPS with all the puzzling, shitty level design, and lots of triggered events. it's an awful lot like half life 2, actually, and people cream their jeans over that game. i hate HL2 but i kinda like Duke. i recognize a lot of the scenes and animations from the asset dump 3drealms had after their company went under. i like that gearbox just finished the original game instead of making their own from scratch. Duke5 will likely be a gearbox original and score much higher.

i'd give it a 7.5 so far, but i'd much rather play this than COD 8765, Halo 4, Half life 3, or any other single player campaign shooter. I haven't tried multi yet and i'm sure that will only improve my opinion of the game. ultimately i'd say it's worth full price if you're at all fond of the series and have been waiting for this game. if you're some fag who was born long after duke3d game out and whose first FPS was halo, you should probably avoid it.

yes, the two-weapon system is gay and i don't really see what purpose it serves. unlike duke3d though, i don't feel like any single weapon is 'useless'--this makes the two-weapon system worse, though, since you don't know what you'll be fighting and can't bring the best loadout to each fight. trip mines and pipebombs as secondaries that you can toss at any time are great, and the game is really hard despite the recharging health system. i must have died over 20 times on the king octobrain fight, but when i finally got it i was fighting like a kung fu master; setting trip mines to catch the little guys, tossing pipes at the ones who lived, then exploding them before they could chuck them back, all while taking breaks to fire the devastator at the boss.

[kahljorn]

Even if the game made your computer shit gold nuggets, there would still be people with gripes about it.

True, that would inflate the economy.

[Mad Melvin]

Oh lord, there must really be some sort of conspiracy going on regarding the reviews this game is getting. 1Up gave it an F, saying that every person who enjoys this game is a retarded mongoloid. Is it just me, or is everything in the internet black and white these days? Either a game is the most awesome thing ever, or the biggest piece of shit the world has ever smelled. Even if you hate the idea of Duke and think the humor is childish, the game mechanics and playability are still very well done. The low scores this game is getting should be reserved for the really bad games that are ugly, buggy as hell and impossible to play.

EDIT: Link to the review: http://www.1up.com/reviews/duke-nukem-forever-review

[Pentegarn]

Originally Posted by Mad Melvin

Oh lord, there must really be some sort of conspiracy going on regarding the reviews this game is getting. 1Up gave it an F, saying that every person who enjoys this game is a retarded mongoloid.

1up stopped being interesting years ago, and arrogant opinions like that are why

[Chojin]

I just played some dukematch and had a lot of fun. Either the netcode or the server I was on was pretty gay though, as people would frequently teleport behind me after i'd been drilling them for a full 2-3 seconds and wondering why they weren't dead.

Mics are set to always-open if you have one, for some reason. The very first match I played I had some awful feedback so I turned voip volume off, but I later turned it back on to hear people giggling and moaning during the match. It was pretty neat.

Two of the deathmatch levels I played really stood out--they converted e1m1 from duke3d into a map, and the scene in duke burger when you're tiny is also in there. It reminded me a lot of SiN's deathmatch in the oddness of the proceedings, but things seemed to be decently balanced when lag wasn't dicking me over.

Duke also has tons of lines that you only hear in dukematch and he made me lol a few times. I don't recall him repeating any lines, either.

Re: melvin; I don't know what has some of these reviewers so emotionally-charged. It's pretty clear to me that none of them actually enjoyed Duke3D and are seeing the other negative reviews and trying to dogpile on the title.

Finishing the game unlocks a bunch of extra content, including all of the previous DNF trailers, a history of DNF in timeline format, pictures of the game throughout development, concept art, pictures of the offices, a soundboard, and a harder game mode that you have to play through again to get the 'real' ending.

[MarioRPG]

I approve of chojins posts because he showed things that I hadn't seen 10 times. Timeline was a great idea.

[Chojin]

I'm playing through again on "damn i'm good" and the game is somehow getting better on the 2nd playthrough. Probably because I'm no longer stumbling around like an idiot trying to figure out where to go (OH HOW SILLY OF ME I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN TO KNOCK EVERY BOARD OFF THAT MINE ENTRANCE AND GO INSIDE BECAUSE I NEED GASOLINE THAT MAKES PERFECT SENSE) and because most enemies can kill you instantly, so I'm beginning to get conditioned into a badass the same way ninja gaiden trained me in the arts of fujitsu.

meanwhile, ign gave duke a 5.5. here's another game they gave a 5.5:



eat a dick, game review industry