![]() When enemies beat him down, he has to pause to regain his confidence or else face the real possibility of actually being killed. Rather than having an actual physical shield like most of today’s heroes, Duke is protected by the sheer force of his masculine self-image. One of the coolest touches in the game is the Ego meter. It’s also not so bad to punch out an unidentified-but-obviously-recognizable actor behind the scenes of a familiar-but-legally-indistinct late night talk show. It’s not exactly Heavy Rain and it doesn’t seem to have much direct effect on the actual gameplay, but it’s nice to find little bits of interactivity in the world. I mean, Duke’s empire is obviously prosperous and the Duke brand is plastered over every surface in the game, but the actual gameplay for the first several minutes seems limited to turning faucets on and off, making popcorn, and signing autographs. I get the feeling that the first part of the game is intentionally mundane, at least as far as the gameplay goes. ![]() For the record, I do not think I mean that as a criticism.Īfter completing the final battle in his own videogame, Duke starts to confront the current Cycloid menace. Pitchford explains that this plot synopsis just “scratches the surface” of the story, which is a strange thing to say about a character who is so unapologetically and intentionally one-dimensional. Since the casual sexploitation of women is Duke’s thing, he’s not about to let some extraterrestrial race of Cycloids start stepping on his turf. They want to steal all of our chicks and use them to populate a new planet. Though it’s not entirely obvious from the start (but not nearly so vague as to warrant a spoiler tag), the aliens actually do have some horrible plans in mind. Are the aliens really trying to be peaceful this time or are they just setting us up for a treacherous sneak attack? In case the ambiguity is too much for you to bear, Duke lets us off the hook with a thoroughly unsurprising, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Meanwhile, the aliens continue to land on and around Las Vegas and Duke’s casino, the Lady Killer. When Duke’s suspicions of the Cycloid Emperor’s true motives threaten the new diplomatic détente, the President orders Duke to stay out of the picture. For one thing, the aliens are back, and have agreed to a pact of non-violence with the US President. Since indulging in this decadent daydream wouldn’t make for a fitting follow-up to the previous game, a few complications soon enter Duke’s world. In the interim he’s leveraged his status as the savior of the entire world into a massive commercial empire complete with his own Las Vegas casino and fancy penthouse apartment filled with gold statues, pools, and nymphomaniac twins. The sequel not only pays homage to the original game and comments on the numerous delays, but also makes more than a few allusions to today’s most popular shooter franchises and most overused conventions.Īfter winning the battle against the Cycloid, the camera pulls back to reveal that Duke is actually playing a game based on his own adventures from twelve years ago. It’s a call back to the previous game and nicely sets the tone for Duke Nukem Forever‘s self-referential tone. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so after these introductory remarks, we fired up the game and tried it for ourselves.įittingly, the opening scene has Duke pissing in a urinal in a fully interactive sequence before heading out to battle a massive Cycloid in a huge stadium. Pitchford explained that Duke Nukem is still 3D Realms’ game and that Gearbox was stepping in simply to finish the game and get it out the door. In fact, of the 15 people listed in the credits of Duke’s famous 2001 trailer, 14 were already working at Gearbox when 3D Realms cancelled the game. Gearbox President Randy Pitchford, who got his start working at 3D Realms, kicked off the evening by explaining his company’s goal was merely to finish the work 3D Realms started. No, we started at the very beginning of the game and played through to the first massive boss - or in my case, until a scripting error stopped my progress before the final level of the demo. This was a “warts and all” presentation of the game, with no scripted trickery to hide the rough edges and no skipping past the boring bits. Earlier this week, 2K Games and Gearbox invited us to a Las Vegas strip club (yes, really) to play through the first 90 minutes of the game. After over a decade of anticipation, speculation, frustration, and then outright condemnation, Duke Nukem Forever is actually going to be released. ![]() Sad news, children the industry’s longest running joke is coming to an end.
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