There was no weekly review last week due to me being on holiday so instead I will be doing 2 this week starting with Duke Nukem Forever. In the 12 years that this game was in production it has undergone numerous graphical updates and developer changes. The game finally came out in June 2011 under Gearbox who bought the rights from Realm Studios.
Story
The game is set a few years after the previous Duke Nukem after Duke saved the worlds babes from death from the alien scum. Now the alien's are back though but not attacking. Duke is a national hero and it seems the aliens have learnt their lesson and decided not to attack.
However one night when Duke's talkshow gets cancelled the alien's make their move, first attacking Duke in his mansion and stealing all the babes once more. Duke chases the aliens and the babes to Dukeburger and finds a mysterious cave where the women have been impregnated by alien babies.
The whole game has a fairly thin story just to attempt to add some sense as to why you are shooting, beating, shrinking and blowing up these aliens and while they add little to the progression of the game, they do add some humourous comic relief famous to the series. Duke has his witty one-liners that are mostly stolen from 90s Action Heroes. They may seem a little bit outdated now but you still find yourself giggling when you hear the cliche lines.
Gameplay
Duke Nukem Forever is a 1st person shooter, and while it remains similar to the original gameplay from the original games it has taken some from modern games. The Ego (Health) bar replenishes over time rather than having to pick up health packs. Duke is only able to hold 2 guns rather than his unlimited arsenal from previous games. There is also more of a sense of needing to find cover and take time, rather than frantic action which I find very unDukish.
There is also a plethora of puzzles and mini-games throughout the game, and while I enjoyed some of the mini-games such as air hockey and pinball, many of them seemed pointless and the puzzles were often frustrating relying on platforming and precision that the game failed to cater for.
The controls themselves were fairly well thought out, many actions requiring the appropriate button press for the situation, while combat controls were easy to get used to and simple to apply. The game does however fall into the quagmire that is Quick Time Events. There are far too many in the game.
Graphics
Considering the number of graphics updates the game has undergone over 12 years the graphics were never going to be great, however there is no excuse for the fact this game looks 4 years out of date on the xbox. Many of textures are poor and some of the environments bland and repetitive.
The one area of graphics that is impressive is the characters, people do look like people, and there is some good motion capture on faces. Duke however falls into serious animation problems and the top half of his body is very static when looking in mirrors and reflective surfaces.
Longevity
The game has a decent length story of about 8-10 hours, however once that is done there is nothign more to really add to it. Completing the game on the higher difficulties that are unlocked seems like a chore and the only other side-mission is to collect all of the Ego items that increase Duke's maximum Ego. Multiplayer is relatively fun but with few gametypes and maps it soon loses its charm.
Score
Story 5/10
Gameplay 7/10
Graphics 6/10
Longevity 5/10
Overall 6/10
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