Review of the game Duke Nukem Forever. Duke Nukem Forever Duke nukem game review
I don’t know about you, but personally, I remember such corridor legends as Doom, Wolfenstein, Quake. Among his peers at that time, Duke Nukem stood out in the crowd of clones, because the developers endowed the character with charisma. Duke could easily kill a dozen pig-diggers, and then go to a strip bar to throw pixel bucks or take a leak to improve his health in the style of “Nice!” aspiration. And the scenes with the hero shitting on defeated bosses in the screensavers are included in all textbooks gaming history. We have to admit that in the 2000s and even already in the 10s of the twenty-first century, Marcus Phoenix became famous for such an attitude towards life, who, almost like Duke in the 90s, dealt with disgusting creatures, can then have a bite of some kind... Great Dane You can remember Rios and Salem from Army of Two, who are also obsessed with hunting. Sirius Sam - without any tests - is the blond hero's own nephew. And the recent Bulletstorm is the main spiritual successor to the steroid lover. All of them are direct heirs of the gaming grandfather, who, in his old age, decided to shake things up with, hmm... antiquity. Among the faceless shooter characters, which are the majority (Call Of Duty, Battlefield, Crysis, etc.), he was a clear, albeit dead, king. Hail to the King!
Years have passed, during the 14 years that the Duke Nukem Forever game was in development, 5 (!) different companies managed to be noted in it, one way or another involved in the creation of the game (3D Realms, Triptych Games, Piranha Games, Gearbox Software and 2K Games) . Thus, to what was churned out in 3D Realms, a portion was added from one studio or another, and then mixed in the sperm banks of 2K Games with the help of Gearbox Software. The worst thing in all of this is the revival of a dead man in the world of cardboard shit, where he, in all seriousness, still fights with classic monsters, who have only become a little more convex in comparison with the previous parts, and the hero has become even more dull and slow.
The game tells about the glamorous life of a simple guy named Duke Nukem. Having become a world hero, he received hefty dividends: a game was made about him, he is expected in all TV shows, he lives in a multi-story mansion with twin beauties who satisfy his sexual needs in different positions. By the way, on one of the floors there is a museum of Duke’s military glory with various parts of monsters’ bodies, weapons, monuments, a throne and classic 2D parade portraits, essentially made in the style of pixel art. In reality, of course, these are the same arts from the previous parts. Then you understand that the graphics in the game have changed over 14 years, but remain faithful to the original design.
In the game we have to avoid losing our blond face in the dirt, because danger is once again looming over the Earth where Duke Nukem is revered alien invasion, assault and anal penetration into her depths. And the worst thing is that the most beautiful chicks in the world are kidnapped by slimy invaders.
Each location is a classic corridor shooter - enemies, enemies, boss. The various puzzle sections and mini-games are a breath of air. But even they are drowning in a swamp of monotonous indifference and stupid humor. The developers, for example, force you to remove the battery with the help of a toy car, which must go along a certain route, or with a Duke reduced to five centimeters to reach the switch. A tribute to the past in Duke Nukem Forever is main character and all his signature tricks: peeing in the toilet, throwing poop and other reckless actions. You try to play the game because of these creative scraps of ideas that are suddenly interrupted by an uncontrollable alien attack and the ever-present death. And as a result - a long, very long download.
The game plunges even deeper into the abyss of horror game mechanics from the 90s, in which health (aka EGO) is restored automatically, but its level increases depending on Duke’s activity at billiards or while playing pinball. No one can explain how health level and pinball are connected. Also, the level of the Ego grows from interaction with objects in the world (turning on, off, picking up and throwing, and of course flushing the toilet).
As for design, this is a stumbling block. Everything seems to be fine, but all this has already happened somewhere. Either dungeons, or the insides of a giant alien worm - very similar to Gears Of War, except that in Girki there were no tits on the walls that could be spanked, and phallic symbols, rhythmically fucking the girls stuck here, nightclub- perhaps most reminiscent of locations Saints Row, and such examples can be found in every location prepared by the developers.
The result was a large carpet of different pieces, sewn with one thread - Duke. The only thing you understand as you progress is NOTHING. The hero does not change in any way during the course of the plot, you do not empathize with him, like the heroes of other games. He's just a soulless piece of silicone, making tired old jokes, often dying and taking forever to load.
On the other hand, you will have to complete the game much longer than other modern shooters, but it is recommended to play no more than an hour and a half a day, after all, this is dangerous for the nervous system.
To summarize, I would like to say that some things should remain in the past, the way we loved them. The new Duke, it's like a possible ABBA reunion, it won't get better, and hardly anyone will want to buy the game out of pity. A person who grew up watching Duke can watch the game, shoot with a shotgun, railgun and other classic guns, but after two or three hours, he will go hack into any other shooter, and indeed any other game. Not because Duke is no longer the same, but because his time has passed. Or does it need a too serious shake-up, and not a stream of endless creativity woven into outdated mechanics and dull shootouts in an environment devoid of dynamics. Looking into the past, you understand that these 14 years the game was not developed, but lay in a coma while the developers sniffed out the yellow brick road with the money of a patient publisher. Unfortunately, the game does not have any outstanding qualities, except for one thing - as I have said many times - Duke, Duke and Duke again. But this is not enough today.
Dissenting Review - XTR
Duke was so cool that without regret we replaced the boring Doom with him in the spiritual center of Muslims in Russia and fought all night long with the mufti’s assistant. The frantic multiplayer mode with laser mines and bombs was many times more dynamic than Id Software's creation. Duke also had a successful visual editor, with which I created a map with a transparent floor in the style of the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” and even won some award at the 3D Realms competition. What we have now been offered under the name Duke Nukem Forever is a pathetic attempt to pass off a mediocre copy as the heir to the sparkling original using outhouse humor, puzzles that have become outdated over the years and a once mighty hero who has suddenly lost his mojo. The hero has lost his dynamism, lost the thread of the aggressive narrative, turning into an elderly owner of the Playboy Mansion, who even keeps his weapons behind the glass of the museum, living on rent from a third-rate show and young fans. Duke Nukem Forever is a parody, a shadow of a once successful brand, mercilessly trampled and mutilated by numerous herds of armless developers and too lazy creators of the original. A parody drowned in endless creativity, which, when implemented in this way, looks tasteless and boring. However, everyone has a chance, even a forgotten cult hero (hello, Mickey Rourke), given the incredibly high sales of counterfeits under the harsh pressure of powerful PR. But this will be a different game without extra hopes and overhype.
Version tested for Xbox 360
What has been talked about for so long has come true! Grandfather Duke shook off the age-old dust from his muscular carcass and appeared to us, mere mortals. During those long 14 years, while we were spoon-fed, that Duke Nukem Forever is about to come out and show everyone that he is cooler than “Kung Fu Panda”, another generation of gamers has managed to grow up, and the old guard has approached the line beyond which it already turns into the ancient one.
Duke Nukem Forever takes us some time forward to Duke's latest adventures. This muscular loafer sits in his huge penthouse, plays games on his behalf and enjoys the actions performed by 2 young and very pretty young ladies. Feeling bored at one point, our uncle decides to warm up a little by taking a short walk around his property. While Duke is doing his exercise, some incomprehensible and inexplicable crap begins to happen in the world. What is noteworthy is that our old characters, familiar from the last century, are involved in the case, and in particular, alien bastards of different stripes and sizes, including the beloved big and brazen pigs.
So, old Duke, having seen enough of all this garbage, goes down to his personal command post, where very influential individuals in the country have a very serious conversation with him. After the conversation, our guy is finally convinced that it’s time to remember his youth and culinary lessons from Ukrainian cuisine. Therefore, Nyukem turns around and heads towards the exit, where he encounters the fastest (or simply the stupidest) representatives of the alien race. Well, what can you do, someone had to be unlucky.
A little about the gameplay
We have a long and difficult journey ahead of us from our home to the big alien boss, and don’t you think that we will do it empty-handed? Especially such a character as Duke Nukem.
Our hero’s main and most important weapon is obscene jokes and remarks, with which he breaks the consciousness of all the characters around him. And to consolidate the material, there are large and not so big guns, well known from previous games. Passage diagram Duke Nukem Forever from level to level is maintained in the best traditions of Duke Nukem, i.e. exciting adventures from point “A” to point “B” with obstacles and non-trivial overcoming of them, shooting alien assholes, as well as swearing. What’s nice is that there are tasks that require additional devices to complete. Such as, for example, toy car on the control panel. From time to time we encounter various bosses, which are destroyed by using heavy artillery and tearing off body parts from their host, followed by humiliation of the latter.
As you progress through the game, you will often encounter “reminders” of how glorious Duke’s past was, and in addition to this, you will come across various Easter eggs.
Now we will look at some aspects in more detail Duke Nukem Forever.
As mentioned before, we have at our disposal a whole range of well-known guns. The trouble is that over time, Duke has grown very old and can no longer carry such a hefty arsenal with him. Apparently, that’s why the developers took pity on him and allowed him not to take more than two guns with him at a time. Further. There are allied NPS, but their role in the game is not only minimal, it has generally reached the micro level. IN best case scenario they will praise you, swear at you a couple of times, and even pretend to act like they’re helping you several times during the game. As for the enemies, here is what is called “Hello Tree!” These guys do not shine with intelligence, and in principle this is not their strong point in this game.
As an innovation, Duke's "Ego" became the main indicator of health. Now the health of our brave guy measures his coolness. Excellent implementation of Duke’s departure into “prefix”. Well, the developers are great, they were able to make Nukem one more step closer to consoles and further from PC users.
There is no "Jetpack" in the game, aka jetpack for flights. More precisely, it exists, but we are destined to fly it only in multiplayer.
As for graphics and sound. Frankly speaking, the graphical component is not particularly interesting. Looking at the screen, you get the feeling that you have gone back 5 years. Musical accompaniment It also doesn’t stand out as anything special. Yes, there are melodies that touch a chord of nostalgia in the soul, but nothing more.
And for a snack “Russification” by Duke. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, from the subtitle company "1C" refused. That's why all the characters, including Nukem, speak Russian. Yes, the localizers did a good literary translation. Yes, the actor did a professional job and voiced the main character. But! The text, a significant part of which consists of obscene statements, turns into one big “Pi-i-i-i-i-ip” and part of the meaning of the original phrases is lost in translation. Although not everything is so bad - Duke learned several original phrases of the great and mighty, upon hearing which, his mouth involuntarily stretches into an ear-to-ear smile.
Oddly enough, but in Duke Nukem Forever there is multiplayer. True, he made a depressing impression on us personally. There is a feeling that he was screwed into the game of “what would have happened.” Game modes are standard and time-tested: battles are every man for himself, team battles, capture the flag (in the game it passes as capturing chicks), holding control points, etc.
To make the dull multiplayer somehow attract people, the developers created a system of achievements in the form of levels. They consist in the fact that you have your own penthouse and your own wardrobe. By participating in battles with other players, you receive points and thereby improve your level. After gaining a new level, you can unlock a new piece of furniture in your penthouse and new clothes for Duke. So if you want a new T-shirt for Nukem or a new monument to your loved one somewhere in the lobby of your penthouse, then welcome to multiplayer. The question is how long will you last in this kingdom of boredom?
So, let's summarize. About storyline We won’t talk, because there’s nothing to talk about. The gameplay, in general, follows the style of this series: we sneak around the levels, shoot at enemies and comment on it all with vulgar and obscene jokes, thanks to which we keep ourselves on our toes and mock throughout the game. If it weren't for the jokes, you could have slept through half the game. The opponents are not distinguished by either intelligence or intelligence. This is probably why one of the main weapons in the game will be a shotgun. The considerably weakened Duke Nukem can carry no more than two small arms with him. The graphics stopped at the level of 2006-2007. The sound is also nothing special. Localization is enough high level, but for this game it looks like some kind of perversion invented by an unknown sick mind.
The character's health began to be characterized by his coolness. Thus, the developers came to the conclusion that health is restored by itself, you just have to hide behind some bedside table. There Nyukem apparently convinces himself that he is as cool as space balls, after which he continues his warlike campaign. To a large extent, Duke has turned into a console character, which cannot but make me sad.
At the moment the game is a shooter with a slightly below average level, but very much promoted. Unfortunately, myself main character has changed, and not in better side. Yes, his lines remained at the same level, but lines alone, even if they are spoken by the great and terrible Duke Nukem himself, won’t get you very far.
Graphics: 3.0
Sound and music: 3.5
Gameplay: 3.5
Plot: 3.2
Multiplayer: 3.0
There is regeneration in shelters, you can only carry two guns with you at a time and large boring “platform” areas. That's pretty much everything you need to know when deciding whether to buy (or not buy) a game. If you are still more or less satisfied with everything, then:
DNF starts off seemingly briskly - they give us a powerful rocket launcher, then they make funny jokes about the notorious 14 years, and then, then, then some nonsense begins. Instead of a hurricane shooter™, the first couple of tens of minutes (how many of them actually pass there is unclear, I don’t want to time it again, it feels like a very, very long time) I leafed through a collection of anecdotes accumulated during the development of the game. Mostly, of course, vulgar.
During the DNF production period recorded even by the Guinness Book of Records, the game could easily have been started from scratch five to ten times, but the feeling that the gameplay of the new “Duke” did come to us from somewhere from the forgotten past does not leave us for a second. In a bad way. While the peculiar but striking features of old-school shooters, such as a crazy arsenal of weapons weighing a total of a hundred or two kilograms in the protagonist’s backpack or restoring health with rare first aid kits, were almost all cut out, many garbage elements of old games and that “wow, I’m here” attitude I can just pick up popcorn and cook it in the microwave” were carefully preserved for some reason. Like staff surgeons Gearbox They confused the patient's appendicitis with his heart, it's hard to say.
DNF remains true to its style of endless farce until the very end, and I must admit, sometimes you can guess various references to the mass, including gaming culture(strippers are not what they seem) and watching Duke’s “ego” grow from watching porn magazines (“ego” is the maximum indicator of the health bar; just in case) is really fun. Such episodes, in theory, were supposed to give the player a break from the crazy meat going on on the screen, but they fail to play this role, because there is no partner, that same action from which it would be necessary to at least sometimes rest.
Shootouts as such in DNF are interesting and dynamic, but: they are very easy - once, they happen rarely for a shooter - two, and you can’t immediately use at least half of the game’s arsenal - three. All this is very disappointing, since the process of exterminating enemies is arranged very tolerably. If you are lucky enough to get to a relatively large-scale battle on location with a bottomless box of ammunition, and at the same time with your favorite barrel at the ready, then you will certainly get your portion of simple pleasure.
The problem with the principle “we don’t give more than two guns in one hand” comes up so often in this text because, unlike many other FPSs, in Duke it is impossible to accept and impossible to get used to. The Quake-like assortment of weapons present in the game cannot be crammed into this format; this is a crime against the gamer. I want a “rail”, and a rocket launcher, and a “shaft”, and a minigun, I want to have them with me all the time. I'm not playing Call of Duty and not even in Team Fortress , give me back my ten guns, I want them all back. However, all this is not important, since half the game you still have to jump on platforms, rocks, cornices and ride on an inflatable rubber big foot.
Having removed the heart instead of appendicitis, instead of a new heart, Gearbox added a DNF second appendicitis. All these regenerations-shelters-two-guns set the teeth on edge with their lack of alternatives, a potential breath of clean air ozonized by a railgun turned out to be poisoned by the same poison from which it would be so good to escape at least for a few hours. I wanted to get exactly Duke Nukem from Duke Nukem, even though the project came to the shelves literally from the past, but it didn’t work out.
I remember that at one time a clone of the first Quake called Kiss Psycho Circus. The feeling of playing DNF in this shooter is very similar: you can put up with the mediocre graphics in combination with the terribly chosen color palette of both, and the segments “why are the developers doing this to me” are barely, but still interrupted by the pleasure received from exterminating everyone and everything on its way and overcome level after level. But no one ever expected anything outstanding from KPC, but DNF was positioned as at least an ambitious project throughout its 14 years of development. Gamers were promised “the very thing,” and they believed it (as confirmed by the sales charts). At the end of the day, the public received something incomprehensible, a product that could somehow please and entertain the player only “in the absence of fish.”
The release of Duke Nukem Forever is like a joke for its people who are able to appreciate the performance, with the condition that everyone wants to be one of their own. Gearbox caught us here, no doubt about it. The continuation of Duke's story came out when players no longer expected any innovations from him, but on the contrary, they wanted to try out the classic orthodox gameplay and its best incarnation. Flirting with gamers nostalgic for the (in some cases, someone else's) past, Gearbox tried to cajole those who are not looking for good from modern FPS buyers. Neither the first nor the second worked out. Just do it without reservations good game The developers also failed, alas.
Summarizing the impressions of the Duke Nukem Forever single, we come to the disappointing conclusion that it was essentially “glued together” by Gearbox Software from previous 3D Realms developments - the hand of the new license owners is felt only in the last stages, which are much more pleasing than the rest. At the same time, there are a lot of anachronisms and software errors everywhere, which indicates the insufficient quality of beta testing of the project. After a short run through the level, we are greeted by loading screens, the game reacts poorly to minimizing, increasing the level loading time, and the “lucky” owners of dual-core Intel processors are forced to delve into configuration files for optimization gameplay. Yes, we imagined Duke’s retirement in a completely different way...
In an attempt to find a new “gaming experience”, you can pay attention to the multiplayer, for which the Piranha Games studio was responsible. Stars from the sky network mode Duke Nukem Forever is lacking, but it could be a good alternative to completing the single player on Insane difficulty. The developers have prepared only four modes for players: every man for himself, team deathmatch, a variation on capture the flag - Capture the Baby and something like point control called Hail to the King. In principle, these modes are quite fun to play - dragging girls around each other, multi-colored dukes furiously pour fire on opponents, actively “strafe” and even fly on jetpacks.
The atmosphere corresponds to the perception of Duke Nukem Forever - the girls, called “chicks” in the localization, kick, whisper all sorts of vulgarities to the dukes and kick - to pacify them, you should spank the burden on the “ass”. But there are at least a couple of complaints. Firstly, the size of the maps is too small - sometimes there is simply nowhere to turn on them, which is why online battles turn into a real heap. Secondly, and this is nothing more than a consequence of the first problem, the number of players is limited to only eight participants - criminally small, especially considering that in some Battlefield: Bad Company 2 get-togethers between three dozen players have long become a standard. Finally, not the least important complaint is that the weapon is not very balanced. In multiplayer Duke Nukem Forever, in most cases, the “solution” is a double-barreled grenade launcher, which does not require any special skill or “aim” from the player - hit the pile and forget. “Reducers” and “railguns”, which are much more interesting to use, make much more severe demands on players, but few people are interested in them - almost crowds of people line up at the place where the grenade launcher “spawns”. But how nice it is to hit some “bastard” with such a “gun” from a “reducer” and then slam him with your boot - words cannot describe it.
Summarizing the impressions of the Duke Nukem Forever single, we come to the disappointing conclusion that it was essentially “glued together” by Gearbox Software from previous 3D Realms developments - the hand of the new license owners is felt only in the last stages, which are much more pleasing than the rest. At the same time, there are a lot of anachronisms and software errors everywhere, which indicates the insufficient quality of beta testing of the project. After a short run through the level, we are greeted by loading screens, the game reacts poorly to minimizing, increasing the loading time of levels, and the “lucky” owners of dual-core Intel processors are forced to delve into configuration files to optimize the gameplay. Yes, we imagined Duke’s retirement in a completely different way...
In an attempt to find a new “gaming experience”, you can pay attention to the multiplayer, for which the Piranha Games studio was responsible. Duke Nukem Forever's multiplayer mode lacks stars from the sky, but it may well be a good alternative to completing the single player on Insane difficulty. The developers have prepared only four modes for players: every man for himself, team deathmatch, a variation on capture the flag - Capture the Baby and something like point control called Hail to the King. In principle, these modes are quite fun to play - dragging girls around each other, multi-colored dukes furiously pour fire on opponents, actively “strafe” and even fly on jetpacks.
The atmosphere corresponds to the perception of Duke Nukem Forever - the girls, called “chicks” in the localization, kick, whisper all sorts of vulgarities to the dukes and kick - to pacify them, you should spank the burden on the “ass”. But there are at least a couple of complaints. Firstly, the size of the maps is too small - sometimes there is simply nowhere to turn on them, which is why online battles turn into a real heap. Secondly, and this is nothing more than a consequence of the first problem, the number of players is limited to only eight participants - criminally small, especially considering that in some Battlefield: Bad Company 2, infighting between three dozen players has long become the standard. Finally, not the least important complaint is that the weapon is not very balanced. In multiplayer Duke Nukem Forever, in most cases, the “solution” is a double-barreled grenade launcher, which does not require any special skill or “aim” from the player - hit the pile and forget. “Reducers” and “railguns”, which are much more interesting to use, make much more severe demands on players, but few people are interested in them - almost crowds of people line up at the site where the grenade launcher “spawns”. But how nice it is to hit some “bastard” with such a “gun” from a “reducer” and then slam him with your boot - words cannot describe it.