7.8

Duke Nukem Forever

After almost 15-years, Duke Nukem Forever, the game that most people believed would never be released has finally hit our shelves. This game has been in the pipe works since 1997 and after so many setbacks, the King is back but just be warned... this game is not perfect. Even though the Unreal Engine which is behind Duke Nukem Forever (sorry Duke) is starting to show its age, my initial reaction to the game was... you're kidding me, this is it? Yes, we have been spoilt. In terms of gaming advancements, Crysis 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops are far superior games but something was missing.

Games are meant to be fun right? This is not to say that Crysis 2 or Black Ops are not fun games, they are entertaining but memorable? Probably not in the long run because the first person shooter genre has become an amalgam of ideas and concepts. Originality is missing. I grew up playing games like Wolfenstein 3D, Duke Nukem 3D and Quake. These games were memorable and focused less on realism as opposed to over the top enjoyment. Duke Nukem Forever doesn't take itself seriously at all and yes, it would make feminists give death stares to the developers but to hell with political correctness, I haven't had this much stupid fun on my PlayStation 3 in ages.

Duke Nukem Forever 2011 - the transfer from LEGO to FULL HD

Although the game feels like it was rushed out in order to move it from vapourware to something more substantial, the game does contain bugs. Sometimes the rendering fails to load and the game is a archaic relic that is also plagued with some bad frame rates. You are severely limited to where you can explore in the gaming environment and the game has that really annoying grunt sound when you jump. But somewhere in all this development mess, there is a story and a larger than life character who really should not exist in this political correct world but he does. Duke is a little like Clint Eastwood but unlike Clint, Duke never moved on and since his victorious defeat of the alien invasion in 1996, he is living the high life.

The first mission in the game throws you right in the deep end, thanks to some smoke and mirrors which has Duke fighting a gigantic alien creature in a football stadium. With weaponry and ammunition lying everywhere, dispatching this alien menace is easy but once it's defeated, we soon discover that Duke is actually playing a video game while two hot twins are giving him oral sex. It's all about the babes for Duke and in this universe, all the women want to be with the dinosaur hero, whereas all the men want to be the hero.

But unfortunately, Duke's life is interrupted and during a scheduled TV appearance on a talk show, aliens have once again invaded the United States. As the president intervenes and orders Duke not to get involved due to the "balls up" after his last victory (Duke Nukem 3D), it's up to our steroid popping hero to get involved because no body steals his babes, especially alien scumbags from outer space. They are using the babes as surrogates for their alien babies! Disgusting!

The whole atmosphere behind the game is Champaign comedy as the player controls Duke in not only kicking alien ass but interacting with a variety of strange objects, people and environments. Whether it's reading adult magazines, urinating in the toilet, chatting up "babes" or even drawing crude pictures and "cuss" words on whiteboards or autographs books, this game had me in hysterics on more than one occasion.

What about the gameplay you might ask? The gameplay of Duke Nukem Forever is definitely a little bit of a hit and miss. At its core, Duke Nukem Forever is a first person shooter from yesterday and at times, it even plays like a first person shooter from yesterday. It's like Duke Nukem 3D was transferred to the Unreal Engine. This is not to say that the gameplay is limited but it doesn't play as smoothly as many of the first person shooter games of today. However without all the classic Duke one-liners and interaction with the environment, the game in our books would have bombed severely.

Even the weapons are quite outrageous and whether you're using a handgun, shotgun or missile launcher, there's plenty of weaponry to found in this game. Running out of ammunition will definitely happen frequently if you play the game at a higher difficulty level but you'll always find more. It's great to see the alien pig policemen return in the game and nothing is more satisfying than using your shotgun to blow them to kingdom come.

To spice things up, there's some great boss battles along the way and one particular boss after the Casino had me running in circles as I attempted to reload my rocket launcher. The "run" technique was used by several games in the past like Wolfenstein or Doom that harkens back to a simpler time. One new addition is that once I defeated the boss, I could them perform a humiliation combo on it that had Duke use the alien's testicles as punching bags. I kid you not. Another boss required me to shoot one of her three breasts. But there's more, walls of aliens breasts, more babes than you could poke a Duke stick at, poker machines and even pinball machines that actually work. I won't even spoil what you need to do in the strip club! Okay... I will. You need to find a vibrator, packet of condoms and some popcorn in order for Duke to get a lap dance. Did someone say Leisure Suit Larry?

To add more to the outrageous nature of the gameplay, there are some sections that will shrink Duke to the size of an action figure. This becomes a little tricky because not only must you watch out for giant aliens now but also rats who would want nothing more than to take a bite out of our hero. There's lots to do in the game as well, such as driving around in a remote controlled car, using steroids to make my punches more powerful or drinking beer to make me stronger, this game definitely pays homage to Duke Nukem 3D brilliantly.

Health has been replaced by ego and if you get damaged too much, your ego will drop. Ego can replenished by avoiding further attacks or interacting with the environment. Given that, Duke Nukem Forever is not an easy game because aliens fly, use teleporters or are down right bad asses that charge at you. Thankfully there's plenty of save points along the way. The gameplay is so old school that many of modern tactics that we take for granted today such as a cover system does not exist in Duke. You need to relay on the old fashioned strafe system.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer has also been included in the game that contains some thoroughly entertaining multiplayer options, all with Duke themes. We have death match (Duke Match), team death match (Team Dukematch), King of the Hill (Hail to the King) and my favourite capture the flag (Capture the Babe). These are just traditional multiplayer modes that are made better by the very cool environments like Duke Burger and a wild west inspired area called Morningwood where you fight. I'll say it again but it's like going back in time again but with FULL HD graphics.

Capture the Babe however is a classic and as opposed to capturing the flag, you run around with a babe. If the opposing babe squirms too much, you can slap her on the ass to calm her down. Priceless! In terms of multiplayer, the better you score, the more experience you are awarded which can then be used to customising Duke. The only drawback to multiplayer is that maps are limited to eight players and I did get booted a few times from the network, whether it was the game or my connection, I really cannot comment.

Graphics & Audio

Graphically, Duke Nukem Forever isn't the nicest looking game on the planet and at times, the gaming engine looks a little dated. Everything looks clean, even in the gritty areas where buildings have been knocked down or cars are in pieces... even the strip club. Ironically however, it actually suits the gameplay perfectly and yes I might be biased a little because I enjoyed the original games so much but it's all about the fun factor right? Yes it it!

The sound effects of all the weapons compliment the graphics well but the highlight is the voice acting from the witty one-liners of Duke (if you're offended by swearing, you might want to avoid this game) to the bimbo like supporting case that only boost the ego of Duke, it's been implemented perfectly.

Final Thoughts?

In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed Duke Nukem Forever as it feels like a game caught in the past which it is. With much of the modern mechanics of first person shooters missing, Duke Nukem Forever is good old fashioned fun which pays homage to a simpler time. With its outrageous characters and over the top battles, this game is actually a refreshing change from the way too serious nature of 21st century gaming. From urinating in the toilet to popping a few steroid pills, this game is original and quite witty, however the only probably I can foresee is that modern gamers, those who never grew up with Duke may not see the humour in it.. even if you get a half naked lap dance in it!