Story
The story of Duke Nukem Forever couldn’t be simpler. It’s 12 years (in game) since Duke Nukem 3d, and Duke has become an international celebrity. Since that time, Duke has had ample opportunity to pursue numerous manly interests, including shark hunting, boxing, gambling, and surfing. It’s revealed at the beginning of the game that Duke is currently living in Las Vegas, enjoying the fruits of his labor and playing his own game (which is actually the first part of the level). It’s also revealed that the aliens who’s asses he kicked in Duke Nukem 3d have returned, but they seem to be pacifistic...at first.
Duke is invited to a talk show at the bottom of the Ladykiller Hotel & Casino, so after getting serviced by twins, he heads right down to the show. However, the show gets cancelled, as the majority of the film crew and the local news groups are swarming around the aliens to see what they’ll do. It doesn’t take long for Duke to realize that the aliens are going to attack. Sure enough, as Duke leaves the show’s stage, the aliens begin their attack & steal Earth’s women, thus starting our hero’s quest to kick alien ass and chew bubble, and he doesn’t have any gum.
A simple, basic story. Got no problem with this.
Setting
As I said above, Duke Nukem Forever starts in Las Vegas, but that’s not the only location. From the inside of the Ladykiller Casino, the game heads to the streets of a ruined Sin City, then inside a alien hive, then to a Duke Burger located on top of a tower, to the deserts & highways of Nevada, and finally to the top and inside of Hoover Dam. Each of these locations have their own feel to them, and they have enough differences between each other to feel unique. The graphics can sometimes ruin it, but let’s save that for later.
Characters
Since the name of this game is Duke Nukem Forever, is only fitting that Duke is the main character. Jon St. John provides another stellar performance, giving Duke Nukem his vibes of manliness, bravado, and sex appeal. If you’re a girl playing Duke Nukem Forever, you want to have him. If you’re a guy playing Duke Nukem Forever, you want to be him. Yet, he isn’t the only character that populates the game, as there are numerous others (primary & secondary) that you’ll run into and interact with.
After going through the “Video Game” portion of the first level, you’re greeted by the Holson Twins (an obvious parody of the Olson Twins), after they’ve played with Duke’s...Joystick. Going down to the show, Duke runs into the show’s host, who’s actually a easily forgettable character (among the list of forgettable characters). Promptly leaving him, Duke then heads to his special mancave under the Ladykiller Hotel & Casino, where he meets the President of the United States (who’s an ass), and his friend General Graves (who’s not an ass). After fighting through a small horde of aliens, Duke makes his way outside, where he meets his other friend, Captain Dylan (one of the many sources of humor in the game).
I should note that the list of primary characters is very small when compared to the list of secondary characters, as there are a lot of them. Most of the secondary characters (like the show host) are completely forgettable, but a couple of them can sometimes leave you with a chuckle, and thus temporarily stick in your memory. This I also don’t have a problem with, although I wished there were at least 1 or 2 more main characters.
Gameplay
This is where things deviate from Duke Nukem 3d...to an extent. Like DN3d, there are basic puzzles scattered around. Jumping puzzles, weight puzzles, and timing puzzles are just a few of the puzzle types you’ll come across. They’re small, simplistic, and usually take just a few short seconds or minutes. About the only difference between the DN3d and DNF is that there are more puzzles in DNF, but that’s about it. Simple puzzles I don’t have a problem with.
Things aren’t complete in a Duke game without a plethora of weapons, and an equal plethora of enemies to shoot. Many of the original weapons from DN3d return (the shotgun & ripper, just to name a few), and some new ones are added in to provide some new flavor, such as the Railgun. The only things I have a problem with in regards to the weapons is that Pipebombs and Trip Mines are now part of your inventory (you can only carry four each), and you can only have two weapons at a time (this problem was addressed in a patch late last year, and you can now carry up to 4 weapons, which is a big improvement).
This leads into the next thing I have a problem with in regards to gameplay. Just like in Duke Nukem 3d, you have an inventory, but it is drastically reduced as far as how many items you can hold (you can only carry 5 items). I enjoyed having a relatively large inventory, so having just a handful of items is disappointing. However, the items you can carry kinda makeup for it. In addition to having Pipebombs and Trip Mines, you have Steroids & Holoduke, as well as a Can of Beer. The Steroids function like a powerup, giving you one-hit kills with your fists and super speed. The Holoduke turns you invisible while projecting a false image of yourself, which distracts enemies while allowing you to get a few stealth kills before the Holoduke turns off. The Can of Beer distorts your sight and hearing, but at the same time makes you more resistant to damage.
Although you have a selection of weapons and enemies, their usage can go to waste. Unlike in DN3d, where enemies are fairly plentiful and you went around in a run & gun manner, In DNF you killed aliens (sometimes killing aliens involved a boss battle), moved to the next destination, did a puzzle, repeat. Sometimes things are spiced up a bit and involve turrets and/or a vehicle (a monster truck to be specific), but these moments only occur at certain moments in certain levels. On top of that you can’t save anywhere, as you only have access to checkpoints. Luckily, checkpoints activate after you completed a more complex puzzle, when you enter certain areas, or you just finished a big battle. Also on a good point you don’t have to find any fucking keycards, so that’s cool.
On a final gameplay note, there isn’t a health system in Duke Nukem Forever. Instead, you’re given an EGO bar, which functions a lot like health. When you get hit, it goes down, and when you’re out of combat, it regenerates. At first having something like this sounds bad, but hear me out. All throughout the game are loads of interactive objects to play with, like slot machine, toilets, and a...glory hole. Interacting with many of these objects will increase the size of your EGO bar, thus allowing you to stay in a firefight a little longer.
Graphics & Sounds
The sounds in Duke Nukem Forever are definitely a strong point. The voices of the characters, whether major or minor, come across as clean and crisp, without any hiccups at all. All of the guns make appropriate noises, as do the aliens. When an alien gets stepped on after the Shrink Ray is used, they make a satisfying squish, or a nice shatter sound when the Freeze Ray is pointed their way. Even if they aren’t getting killed, you’ll hear the aliens growl, snarl, and make all other noises that women-stealing aliens make.
In my opinion, the one thing that remains on the fence in Duke Nukem Forever is the graphics. On the one hand the environments look very believable, especially the Ladykiller Hotel & Casino. On the other hand, most of the aliens look rough around the edges, as well as the people that populate the game. Even when he’s looking at himself in the mirror, Duke looks a little rough, but only slightly.
Overall & Rating
I definitely have mixed feelings about Duke Nukem Forever. The game has a story that’s easy to follow, a setting that’s very believable and realistic (except for the alien hive & growths), the characters (mostly the primary ones, barely the secondary ones) are entertaining, the puzzles are easy on the brain, there’s plenty of weapons and aliens, the items in your inventory are helpful, there’s plenty of checkpoints, the EGO system isn’t a pain, and the games sounds great. Yet, you have a smaller inventory, things get repetitive somewhat quickly, you don’t have a traditional save system like in Duke Nukem 3d, and the graphics as far as the enemies & NPCs are concerned seem slightly unpolished. The positives are definitely strong, yet the negatives also have some weight to them, so it’s difficult (at least for me) to give it a proper rating.
Duke Nukem Forever gets a 5 to 7 out of 10.
Hope that rating is fair. See you all next week, when I’ll give you all an insight as to how my Mother helped me become a geek. Until then, stay Otaku!
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