Duke Nukem Forever first impressions
Did I just say that? Did those words really just come out of my mouth? End times, man.
So, yeah, I totally just played Duke Nukem Forever. Can you handle it? Here’s another thing I never expected I’d actually say: Duke Nukem Forever is pretty goddamn good. It’s a very frenetic kind of shooter; don’t worry about conserving health, because Duke regenerates super quick, and don’t worry about conserving ammo, because there’s way lots more than you can possibly pick up. Just focus on jumping out of cover to blast dudes. Not only is there a shitload of ammo, but also Duke can only carry two weapons at a time, which is kind of a fun limitation — no more endlessly scrolling through your available weapons looking for the one you want.
There are lots of interactive comedy objects in the world, just like in Duke 3D, which is fun. Also, Duke talks constantly while you’re playing. I must admit I was a bit worried that Duke’s comedy would be stale this time — I thought they’d get stuck recycling comedy tropes from the previous game. Given Gearbox’s track record for comedy — by which I mean Borderlands was more awkward than funny — I think my concerns were justified. From what I’ve seen, though, it’s pretty decent; the reuse of old material never really rises above the level of "homage," and the new material frequently manages to be funny. At one point, some leaping antlion-y thing jumped behind me and attacked me, so I spun around and kicked its fucking face in, prompting Duke to yell "dick!" at it. That was awesome.
Technically, the game is sound, though it has its share of oddities. One: it has both a "mouse sensitivity" and a "mouse precision" slider, which, to the best of my knowledge, is the precise inverse. So you set your mouse sensitivity by trying to get two different sliders in proper balance. Great design! Graphically, the game has a lot of LOD pop-in weirdness and a bit too much brown, but looks better than any other game from 1999.
So is Duke Nukem Forever worth twelve years of waiting? Let’s hope so. If the whole game’s as fun as the preview demo, though, it’s worth the $45 it takes to pre-order.
