nicked on 11/6/2011 at 19:07

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The escalation made me lol.

Angel Dust on 11/6/2011 at 21:31

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Well I've finished it (9 hours) and it starts to pick up once you leave the casino with the last 4 or so hours being solid FPS action. It dispenses with much of what was dragging down the opening sections; annoying NPCs, embarrassing sexism and unsteady pacing, in favour of Duke being Duke - saving the world all by himself. The shooting gets better when it starts throwing more varied mobs at you, and also a bit of tweaking of the mouse settings helped too. Nothing revolutionary but I was disappointed when it finished because I genuinely had been enjoying myself. Still nothing more than a 7/10 but the nostalgia buzz doesn't account for as much of that as I thought.

Some general thoughts:

* The quality, especially in the early stages, can be a bit all over the place. For every inventive or funny section (like much of the mini-Duke stuff) you get uninspired moments like the Big Foot section that has you run out of fuel now once, not twice but three times. For every well timed reference (Inception) or jab (Halo) you get an inane, witless Epic Movie-like parroting of some line from a movie. Most of the scripting and set-pieces are well down but you get ropey sections that feel like they're straight out of a 90's shooter like the woodenly staged highway chase.
* While it makes many concession to the modern console shooter it still feels a bit retro. Basically it feels a bit an old shooter like Sin in the way it strings together and executes it's variety of levels, set-pieces and boss fights.
* The two main vehicle sections are terrible. They aren't fun to control and they go on for far too long. I understand that Gearbox where only finishing the work of 3D Realms but they really should have though about cutting them down a bit.
* The monster models, particularly the bosses, are fantastic. It's an exaggerated, video game bestiary of the likes we don't see much these days. The boss fight against a rampaging Battlelord on top of the Hoover dam was a highlight.
* The level design is pretty good. The hive sections are slimy and creepy, there is a lot of colour and detail, and the Las Vegas and Hoover Dam vistas have the appropriate sense of scale. It is linear but personally, that doesn't bother me in the slightest in this case.
* Once you complete the game some extras are unlocked. Some of these are videos of the various Duke Nukem Forever builds. It's mostly the trailers that we've already seen but there are a couple, of the 2003 and 2006 builds, that I don't think had ever been released.

Vernon on 12/6/2011 at 15:23

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Hm interesting. However, I think the questions on (and I think I speak for everybody here) our lips are along the lines of 'Punching monsters in the dick - optional?' 'If so, how frequently do such opportunities arise?' 'Do genitalia variations between monsters differ in shape or just size?' 'Are they any other interesting variations on the theme?' 'Does Duke use the word 'chumbucket' at any point during his travels?' etc...

june gloom on 12/6/2011 at 16:57

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you too koki and you're the biggest dicklicker of them all

Matthew on 12/6/2011 at 18:57

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Well look, there has to be a kosher option too