Duke Nukem Forever Preview

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Duke Nukem Forever Preview

 

 

After a decade of troubled development -- including cancellation in 2009 -- Duke Nukem Forever storms the Penny Arcade Expo with its unapologetically adult humor intact. But is it still relevant after 10 years of advances in first-person shooter design?

 

What we're talking about: Duke Nukem Forever, the long-delayed – and one-time shelved – first-person shooter.

 

Where we saw it: The game is in Gearbox Software’s private booth on the PAX show floor, and it was mostly filled with Duke Nukem fans. I saw a short trailer and played two short levels of the game.

 

What you need to know:

 

•Gearbox President and CEO Randy Pitchford told fans that because he got his start with Duke Nukem, he couldn’t let it die. His mantra: “Always bet on Duke.”

 

 

•2K and Gearbox say the game is for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

 

 

•Duke Nukem Forever is completely unapologetic about its adult humor. In the trailer I saw before playing the game, Duke punched aliens in the groin, and upon coming across a building-sized alien sporting three exposed breasts, Duke proclaimed, “Hell, I’d still hit it.” My demo began with Duke standing in front of a urinal and an onscreen button prompt labeled “Piss.”

 

 

•I played Duke Nukem Forever on an Xbox controller, and the layout fell in line with current console-FPS standards: “X” to reload, left trigger to aim, right trigger to fire, click left analog stick to sprint, etc.

 

 

•The first demo level opened with several first-person cinematics of soldiers fighting (and suffering horrible deaths from) alien invaders. Humorous dialog peppered many of these moments. At the end of this level, I fought a giant rocket-spouting alien on a football field. After killing the one-eyed extraterrestrial, Duke kicked its eye through the goal posts before delivering yet another one-liner.

 

 

•The second demo level involved driving a monster truck -- complete with nitro for boosting across aliens and ravines -- through a canyon until the gas ran out. After vacating the dead vehicle, I hoofed it to the back of the canyon and killed several aliens with shrink rays, shotguns, and pistols before manning a mounted turret and mowing down a horde of alien invaders.

 

 

•At the end of the second demo level, an alien spaceship flew in and blasted Duke off the mounted turret. Before passing out, he raised his hand. I thought he was doing the classic, dramatic “reaching for survival” move -- but I was wrong. Duke simply flipped off the alien spaceship.

 

 

•At the end of the demo, things became quite "meta" when the screen pulled back to reveal that Duke had been playing his own game. He starts grunting and groaning with approval before it's revealed that, well, two scantily clad women were, ahem, "performing" on Duke.

 

 

•I don't see how this game isn't going to receive an M rating.

 

 

Point in development cycle: Gearbox has been working on Duke Nukem Forever for about a year and a half. They’re targeting a 2011 release.

 

My take: The shooting feels solid, although it’s definitely not up to the feel of even Borderlands' shooting (Borderlands is also a Gearbox game). It’s hard to say whether or not Duke Nukem Forever will embrace the advances made in the FPS genre since it began development 10 years ago. More importantly, it’s hard to say whether or not this will matter to fans. The humor isn’t for everyone, but if you subscribe to the notion that Duke should be as offensive as possible, Duke Nukem Forever is going to make you happy.