About DNF

shaunm2 · Jun 27, 2011

I have been a fan of Duke Nukem for as long as I could remember, so I was pretty excited to see that it was going to finally be released. I admit I don't really like FPS due to my time in Iraq and Afghanistan, but I decided sine this was against aliens, it wouldn't be so bad. Upon starting the game, it very quickly became apparent that all the excitement that went into getting this game was wasted. Even for PS3, the load time were ridiculously long and aside from the bosses, there were only 4 main enemies. For building a game up for twelve years, they sure let this longtime fan down. I am not saying don't buy it, but if you do, be prepared for a letdown.

Pendrake · Jun 27, 2011

Really? I quite liked it. Not great, I'll admit, but not bad.

Here's a mini-review I wrote for another site:

Graphics
With the unreal engine behind it, you expect Batman: Arkham Asylum levels of pretty (from the 5 seconds of Batman before you switched on detective vision and left it on for the rest of the game). Still, a graphics engine doesn't set the standard alone. Think of LittleBigPlanet. Some user made levels on that can be things of beauty whereas others are truly awful, proving that with graphics engines, it's often what you do with it that counts.

The frame rate may struggle slightly in places, but it's far from poor and definitely acceptable. The low resolution of the textures used is harder to forgive and it relies heavily on antialias style processing to blur the blockiness. On the other hand, the edges of shapes seem to scorn antialiasing as the devils technology as all diagonal lines have been lovingly reconstructed in Lego. Lighting effects are generally unimpressive and far from pervasive, yet there are times when it does some truly amazing lighting, just to confuse you - I could roll those little electric beetles around for hours just to watch the patterns on the walls.

Moving on from the technical, the artistry suffers in places to. It can all look a bit bland at times and yet the octobrain tunnels are very effective, feeling both claustrophobic and slimy. Gold statues are pleasantly anatomically correct and the fleshier naked lady parts wobble very realistically. The gore is convincing too, but not as excessive as I'd have expected.

Sound
It doesn't do badly in the sound department to be fair. It's competent without trying too hard. I find the default speech level too low and often drowned out, but I preferred to subtitle it rather than adjusting the speech to be louder than the action and all the options are present to customise relative levels as you see fit. The guns sound good and the reload actions seem especially stiff and harsh, demonstrating perhaps that these are big, manly guns, which wimps couldn't reload?

The one liners are incessant but not too repetitive. A lot of the time they're very witty, but they vary between laughing with Duke and at him, this being a constant theme in many areas of the game. Am I meant to like Duke or pity him? I'm still not sure.

The music is nicely rocky but also feels generic and basic. Some licensed tracks would have helped out a lot.

Design
I don't know what to make of the level design in this game. It goes from stupidly linear to mind boggling brilliance. The brilliance comes, for example, when levels are revisited but with a new twist (vehicle use, size changes, etc.). Somehow they manage to make levels pull double duty and still excel in both modes despite playing very differently. Superb design! Then the next moment you'll be traversing the perils of an exceptionally straight corridor, just to manage your expectations.

A very real shock is the lack of hand-holding from the game. We're used to games that show us something once and walk us through it before letting us solve it ourselves in future. Duke doesn't do this. You work out everything for yourself and the game isn't going to drop any hints to help. It's refreshing! You genuinely have to work out ways to progress and at times it can be quite a challenge.

Puzzles crop up in several places and range from fetch-and-carry, through minigames to physics puzzles. Again, these vary in quality but can be quite challenging at times.

Exploration plays a huge role in proceedings as Duke has no health bar (ignore the review quoted above on this point!). Instead he has his ego as a shield and you are constantly seeking ways to big the guy up so that he can gain even more confidence than he starts with as this saves him from harm. This might be bicep curls with hand dumbbells or seeking weights to both balance and max out the bench pressing of larger but initially incomplete dumbbells for example. Admiring himself in new ways or finding new ways to disrespect women also helps his ego along nicely and this constant scanning of the area for interaction opportunities sets it apart from the average shooter while directly affecting the later action by boosting resilience. Once his ego is depleted you need to find cover to allow it to recharge, as otherwise he can take very few hits before dying.

This leads on to the pacing. One moment you'll be in a frantic battle and the next you'll be checking out every corner for ego boosting opportunities. The pacing is all over the place, but it does result in combat seeming very tense by comparison to the exploration elements. You are left constantly off guard, but this attempt to cater to all can also mean that you come to resent the sections that do not reflect your own preference of pace. Another affect is that the game doesn't flow but seems broken up into sections of combat, explore, combat, explore and so on.

Boss fights are often stupidly hard at first, but there will always be a way to gain an upper hand. Here, the exploration comes in the middle of the action as you seek the power up item (steroids, alcohol or holographic decoys) in your surroundings while still carrying on the fight, or perhaps you need to seek the best area to place explosive traps. While a strange mix of styles, these fights can be most effective and I often found myself beating a boss only to spot the easy way that I could have done it once everything calms down.

Presentation
The intro is forgettable, the pause screen is nice and the menus are sparse and functional. The tips on the loading screens vary between useful and jokey. Hopefully you'll appreciate the humour as, despite a large HDD install, this game spends a lot of time loading sections. Every time you die, for example, it reloads the level in full, resulting in a long wait to retry.

Depth of field effects are overused throughout. It's fun to see these when aiming but loses the sense of immersion created when they are not applied evenly. Sure, I focus on what my crosshairs are on, that makes sense, but if I choose to focus on something that is considered "distant background" then it will never allow you to focus on it. Um, that makes no sense at all. Loading screens and pause screens also show off the depth of field effect for no apparent reason, so it just becomes annoying.

Overall
Despite the crudity, or perhaps because of it, this game is fun. It's got a fair few issues but none of them are game-breakers and you just can't help enjoying Duke's take on the world without ever fully buying into it. He's Duke and that means he's not like us. He has his way to see things and we have ours.

Though annoying in places, especially the load times and the pace changes, the game works. This isn't the best game ever, it's not even close, but it does feel as though you're playing something genuinely different from the crowd and it's almost as though the game is an experiment in doing things differently at times. For this reason, it's worth playing and can feel fresh and enjoyable for a lot of the time.

Final Score
I'm tempted by an 8/10 but I have to be honest and say 7/10. Much though you want to love it, there are too many niggles to quite hit an 8.
Click to expand...

VampireWicked · Jun 27, 2011

I also liked Duke Nukem, I did however find it very short. It's very easy to die but not to the point of total frustration. What disappointed me was that i thought he'd be really vulgar, so vulgar that Duke Nukem Forever would get banned but No. Vulgarity in Duke Nukem Forever isn't near GTA or alot of other games, same with nudity. There's a few topless women in Duke Nukem Forever but again isn't near alot of other games, nowhere near leisure suit larry & barely match God of War. For someone who's suppose to be vulgar & chugging beer while ogling women, Duke Nukem is pretty tame, in fact once the fighting starts That's all forgotten. As the developers said, Duke Nukem is a one dimensional straight forward character no plot twist no hidden meaning just kill aliens & enjoy. Honestly it's a good game but it's a $40.00 game with a $60.00 price tag. I traded DeadRising2 for it. OMG DeadRising2 was horrible!! How do u go from DeadRising to a squeal that's only improvement was the number of zombies on screen.

shaunm2 · Jun 27, 2011

Lol

Yeah, Dead Rising 2 was horrible. Sad part is I enjoyed downloading and playing Costume Quest more than I did that one lol. Back to DNF, I am not a fan of any kind of jumping in a FPS. I ma not saying it wasn't fun, because it was, but it was not worth the money I paid for it. The multiplayer was just horrible, it took me close to 4 days to even connect to a game. I just think it was overhyped with poor delivery.

Art_of_Ronin · Jun 27, 2011

shaunm2 said: ↑
Yeah, Dead Rising 2 was horrible. Sad part is I enjoyed downloading and playing Costume Quest more than I did that one lol. Back to DNF, I am not a fan of any kind of jumping in a FPS. I ma not saying it wasn't fun, because it was, but it was not worth the money I paid for it. The multiplayer was just horrible, it took me close to 4 days to even connect to a game. I just think it was overhyped with poor delivery.
Click to expand...

I've played the First Club Access demo before the game release and that is after the game gone Gold and I was disappointed with the load time every time the player dies. It takes a good whole 75 seconds or a bit more and load. Overall the game play isn't bad, but very very very straight forward on-rail like. If is in the bargain bin I will give it a go, but I wish this game could of use UNREAL Engine 3 and have rag doll physics to make the enemies and design more life like.

VampireWicked · Jun 28, 2011

Seriously out of the two choices Duke Nukem Forever or DeadRising2, i'll for sure take Duke Nukem Forever. DeadRising2 isn't worth $20.00 unless you want ALOT of frustration & asking yourself why can't i kill a human easier then a zombie. OH & i traded in Blazblue CS, OMG it won't be missed either. Freaking predictable combo strings totally unbalanced characters, Blazblue CS was BS lol it's a $30.00 game New & it's NO GUILTY GEAR!!! I agree the loading times were a bit long (about 15 to 20 seconds for me) Did you install Duke Nukem Forever at all? Also if there's Duke Nukem Forever DLC are you getting it ?

shaunm2 · Jun 28, 2011

I have already sold the game back to Gamestop lol.

VampireWicked · Jun 28, 2011

lol wow, i'll keep my copy, it's my first Duke Nukem title

Join our Community

About DNF

shaunm2 Member

Pendrake Active Member

VampireWicked No Cry Baby Cockroaches

shaunm2 Member

Art_of_Ronin Active Member

VampireWicked No Cry Baby Cockroaches

shaunm2 Member

VampireWicked No Cry Baby Cockroaches

Share This Page

About Our Community

Useful Searches

Join our Community

About DNF

shaunm2 Member

Pendrake Active Member

VampireWicked No Cry Baby Cockroaches

shaunm2 Member

Art_of_Ronin Active Member

VampireWicked No Cry Baby Cockroaches

shaunm2 Member

VampireWicked No Cry Baby Cockroaches

Share This Page