We were surprised to see Duke Nukem Forever on display at PAX—we were even more surprised when we got to actually play the game. Here's our hands-on preview and some 'guerrilla-style' photos we managed to take while playing the Xbox 360 version of the game. (Don't worry, it's coming for PC too.)
12 years after the aliens left Earth and Duke disappeared, the aliens returned—and this time, they're angrier. With the world on the brink of defeat, the aliens made one fatal mistake, crossing a line they shouldn't have—they took the women. And that just made Duke mad.
Back from the dead—for real
Yes, we were as surprised as anyone to see Duke Nukem Forever actually being displayed at PAX 2010. And judging by the very long lines that regularly circled the presentation entrance, there's still no shortage of Duke fans anxious to see the King return.
Now in development at Gearbox Software—makers of the hit Borderlands—Duke Nukem Forever is back on track. For real. Really for real.
"You can't kill Duke, dude. I wouldn't have a career if it wasn't for Duke. 2K wants this game. Always bet on Duke," said a passionate Randy Pitchford (CEO of Gearbox Software) in our presentation at PAX Prime 2010.
Duke Nukem Forever will ship for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 sometime in 2011. And then all of us gaming bloggers and journalists will have to find a new punching bag to snicker at around the water cooler.
Still in the Toilet
Our play through of Duke Nukem Forever begins in the toilet—literally. The very first thing we see is an FPS view of Duke looking down into a urinal, and the game instructs us to press and hold the X-button to pee—followed by a Duke's satisfied sigh.
Once we've taken care of business, we proceed to a room where soldiers stand at a white board discussing a plan of action. Here, the game also gives us the (strange) option of drawing on the whiteboard. It doesn't serve any game purpose. Apparently it's just there to satisfy any urges to draw boobies or scrawl something profane (which will presumably be much easier with a mouse than an Xbox 360 controller thumbstick).
Regardless of what you draw, the soldier standing next to you utters something to the effect of "That is an outstanding plan. I don't think I understand it, but it's outstanding."
Straight up Run-n-Gun
From this point, the game plays much like almost any FPS shooter. We fight through some of the game's returning 'Pig' Aliens (who aren't dressed as police, at least for now) and quickly reach a football stadium where we square off against a large boss monster called a Cycloid (which looks something like a huge robot cyclops).
The fight is a straightforward circle-strafing brawl. We periodically run out of ammo and have to wait for some more to drop in via air drop, but it's still a pretty straightforward run-n-gun battle. Once defeated, Duke can kick its large eyeball through the field goal.
After dispatching the boss, we're treated to a short 3rd-person vehicle segment in which we drive a monster truck through a snaking valley while running over more 'Pig' Aliens. Eventually we jump a gorge using the truck's turbo boost, and play through a short segment in an outdoor mining area.
We see some familiar friends: shotguns, laser-sighted pistols, a railgun, and even the shrink ray, all of which feel a little familiar. Overall, this part of the game definitely feels a bit like the Duke Nuke you may remember, and strikes a chord of nostalgia for the original game.
Pushing the boundaries
There's no doubt Duke Nukem is back in a big, rude way. The game is certain to push the boundaries of even an M-17 rating, and it will not doubt serve as another poster child for anti-video game activists the world over. Duke pushed the boundaries in the 1990s, and now he has to (apparently) turn it up a notch.
The strippers are back and now photo realistic courtesy of modern graphics. Duke's language is, shall we say, a little coarse—the 'traditional' nuclear Duke symbol may as well represent the F-Bomb. During an opening montage, a huge, hideous boss-monster-alien sporting three giant breasts is shown, to which Duke responds "Hell, I'd still hit it!"
And the end sequence of our play time was more than a little suggestive. Let's just say it involved a very satisfied-sounding Duke holding an Xbox 360 controller, and two women on their knees (in traditional 'school girl stripper' uniforms)—and then one of them wipes her mouth.
Later, we wondered if we should have asked Randy if the presentation had a Happy Ending.
Hail to the King Baby—or is the King Dead?
We definitely enjoyed our brief time playing Duke Nukem Forever, but our nostalgia contributed because we remember (and played) the original. We look forward to seeing the final product when it ships. (And yes, it will ship)
But we're not sure nostalgia is enough to make Duke Nukem Forever great. And we're doubtful that simply sticking Duke Nukem into a more modern FPS engine and cranking the Rude and Crude to 11 is enough to make the game successful. Even if Duke strikes a nostalgic chord with his slightly older fan base (those of us that played the original), we're doubtful that chord will resonate with the 16-25 crowd coming from the likes of Team Fortress 2, Crysis 2, Modern Warfare 2, Medal of Honor, and similar AAA shooters.
Truthfully, the funniest part of the game was the clever dialog between the guards—the part of the game that was the least like what we remember about Duke Nukem. Our own opinion is that part of the key to making Duke relevant again isn't through just having him spew his tired one-liners (liberally lifted from Bruce Campbell) which were essentially a parody of 1980s/90s action movies. We think it's Duke needs to be more self-aware and self effacing against the backdrop of realizing he's a dinosaur in a different era.
Despite promising greater interactivity that lets you "...shoot hoops, lift weights, read adult magazines, draw crude messages on whiteboards, or ogle one of the many beautiful women that populate Duke's life," we didn't see enough in our play time to convince us that Duke is destined for a glorious resurrection. But to be fair, the demo was clearly designed to showcase snippets of different parts of the game. It was likely rushed and cobbled together as trade show demos often are.
We'll definitely hold final judgment until we can play the real deal. But for now, there is no doubt that Duke Nukem Forever is back on the radar. There's still a lot of work to do, but we're definitely hoping for Duke's glorious resurrection, and we have faith in Gearbox's ability to pull it off.
Note to Gearbox: In the spirit of late 80's/early 90's video game nostalgia, we think Duke Nukem Forever should be brought back with a borrowed and almost equally infamous marketing campaign: "Randy Pitchford is about to make you his bitch... suck it down!" (Read about Daikatana's infamous and terrible marketing campaign.)
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