Duke Nukem Forever – in 3D!

Conclusion

The Good

Duke Nukem Forever lampoons other video games unmercifully and there are many laugh out loud moments. Interactivity is great at times.  Controls are rather precise for the PC version and the game is bug free.  Loading of levels is quick with the PC version.  Shooting enemies is satisfying, and big boss battles are just varied enough (Queen Bitch) to keep it interesting and it makes you choose the right weapon for the job and to figure out the bosses weak spots.

The Bad

Duke Nukem Forever is very linear. There is not a lot of exploration. There are only two combat weapons available at any one time and your choice of weapon affects how easy the next encounter will enemy NPCs will. It is a design choice and some modern shooters like Bulletstorm have this “feature”. For this writer, lack of ‘anytime save’ was far more irritating. For some the juvenile and dark humor will be good – others will hate it. And there is still the Duke’s macho attitude about women. The fact that Duke was forced to execute women bearing alien offspring (ala Alien series) was tasteless but it was clear from the voice acting, the Duke took no pleasure in executing the helpless victims.

The Ugly

There are also some issues with the inconsistent post-processing “Post Special Effects” that are applied which tend to blur the scene (especially) indoors as in the following examples.

First we see the scene with the effects ‘Off’ is crystal clear on the opposing wall:

Let’s add the the effects and watch the far wall blur unnaturally although the shadows now look better.

With 3D Vision, the post processing effects are turned off and it gives the best visual experience even over playing in 2D unlike some 3D Vision games like Bulletstorm where the stereo 3D (S3D) implementation is confusing and only gets worse in 3-panel Surround. The added illusion of 3D “depth” actually helps with the jumping and aiming – unlike with other new games (like Alice: Madness Returns where it helps to turn 3D ‘off’ to complete jumps; we will have a 3D Vision/PhysX review of that game next week).

Duke Nukem Forever is only enhanced by 3D Vision. There are no downsides to playing this game whatsoever in S3D and in fact there are advantages to aiming and visualization of your targets. The way enemies shoot back is more intense and you may find yourself flinching at time – much more so than just playing it in the traditional manner. Duke Nukem Forever gets two big thumbs up from this reviewer on the implementation of 3D Vision and also 3D Vision Surround – which is just “more is better” – the widescreen view adds to the game although fortunately most of the action takes place right in front of you.

Picture these missiles whizzing by your nose. You may well feel the urge to flinch in S3D.

There really is no villain – just the aliens to blow away and a stupid President of the United States to contend with. Duke Nukem Forever consists of shooting your way through enemies and solving puzzles to complete an objective; and most of it is satisfying. Unfortunately, there is very little replay value except on a harder difficulty and also to complete certain objectives. Of course, there is also the online multiplayer which is beyond the scope of this review.

For this review, it has been concentrating on the single player aspect of it to try to determine if it is worth fifty or so bucks or not. Most reviews end with a “number” or letter grade assigned to a game to rank it so as to suggest it is better than another. Duke Nukem Forever held this reviewer’s interest all the way through, with some great high points that are worth a further replay.

Duke Nukem Forever has definite flaws as we covered in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. These detract from the game but do not spoil the fun or the nearly non-stop over-the-top action. In this reviewer’s opinion, Duke Nukem Forever is an above-average game with raunchy humor and solid action that gives it a solid 7/10. It’s a “B-” in 3D Vision and we definitely look forward to further adventures of Duke Nukem as the franchise develops.

 

“I ain’t dead! I’m coming back for more”

So are we. Please stay tuned for our upcoming Mega-3D Vision/Surround review. In the meantime, easily enter our Freedom Contest by posting in this thread and you will be entered to win a 96GB Kingston SSD or a 32GB flash drive! We will also have a review of that same Kingston SSD coming up this weekend.

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