Duke Nukem Forever Review

"Hail to the King, Somewhat"

Campaign

After many, many years Duke is back. From the start the game you can see that a lot of work was put into the level of interactivity in so many things. It’s actually a blast just going around interacting with various, from using the toilet to drawing pictures.

So anyways it’s been about 12 years since Duke last beat off the aliens, and they have returned again. Now the experience instantly gives the vibe that this is a dated game, but still supporting very interesting and well detailed environments in terms of interaction, with tad bits of a lag and less smooth graphics. It ranges from decent visuals to very muddy looks which can be appalling.

The levels feel smooth and give a definite path to move, but feel really old school in enemy setups and the weapons you use. Each part the campaign differs and offers something fresh, but is bogged down by what I find are slow level loads. I will also add that I found RC car parts to be annoying.

Duke does bring some well needed comedy and is really fun to play as, giving a unique experience not given by many characters. The turret parts I found to give little excitement and the combat gave an awkward feeling whenever you were to close to an enemy. The story itself is basically as “classic” story as it gets as you move through the level, killing enemies while joking around, then kill a boss and continue on.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer basically feels something like a really old game might have. The graphics for some reason look worse than campaign, and it is really boring. It features four different game modes Dukematch, Team Dukematch, Capture the Babe and Hail to the King, but you just basically run around picking up weapons and killing each other. The combat, yet again is awkward and it just really has a cartoony vibe. Feels like Goldeneye for the 64.

Gameplay

The game plays as well I guessed, an old game updated with better graphics and thrown into a modern era where it hasn't been in awhile. Duke Nukem Forever constantly has lag to it, with textures at times not looking great and terribly slow loading times. The guns feel ancient, as in from the old days of gaming, as no one bothered to change them.

The Conclusion

Duke Nukem Forever is a game that has had a rough production and has taken many years to finish. With many different developers working on it, this isn’t too surprising. Now that it’s released, I can see the different things have been added, switched and left alone. It feels like a really outdated game with ancient weapons.

The graphics look somewhat old, but really are hurt by the lagging frame rate and muddled visuals at times. The interactivity for ego boost is definitely the most interesting thing about the game. The multiplayer feels like a really, really old online game and somehow the graphics look worse. Duke Nukem is an interesting character, but maybe they should have kept everyone waiting.

Duke Nukem Forever Review on Xbox 360

Rating Overall: 6.4