Well, the Duke Nukem Forever demo is out today! If you have Borderlands, it is likely that you have access to it – right click on “Borderlands” in Steam, then “View Downloadable Content” and you should have a first access code which you can register, and receive another code which, after activation gives you the demo on Steam… complicated enough?
Anyway, I just finished it… it’s just what had already been shown before during the public demo events – the battle with the cycloid emperor on the football field, and the monster truck ride through the desert + getting gas.
So, how was it? The word that comes to mind right away is “meh.”
Coming from Gearbox Software, of Borderlands fame, I kind of expected it to be built on the unreal engine – which it indeed was. Surprisingly, it’s actually even more lightweight performance-wise than Borderlands – the Duke Nukem Forever demo even ran “OK” on my underpowered laptop with a X9000 CPU, 4GB Ram, and a 8600M-GT slightly overclocked. By “OK” I mean ~15-25fps, which isn’t stellar, but it was barely playable – which I can’t really say for Borderlands.
But anyway, about the game. The shooting feels OK, the enemies feel OK, the level design that I can see so far is kinda OK. I mean overall, it feels OK – not amazing. Let me explain.
First of all, the shooting. DNF is a FPS, so it’s basically all about the shooting. It’s fairly alright – I mean the weapons feel “OK” and all, but I felt like some sound effects and weapon animations could’ve been done better. For example, the shrinkray just didn’t feel that good to me, and the sounds overall were kind of underwhelming. I remember the original Duke for its badass sound design, including heavy, bass-loaded shotgun shots, cool pipebomb “clank” sounds as it bounced around, and just the most awesome explosions you’d ever heard from the RPG, amidst the awesome screams of alien “brain” aliens in pain.
The enemies are also “reworked” into more “contemporary” versions, which I suppose it’s OK, but they just felt… lacking in DNF. I don’t know, maybe I was expecting too much, but I just didn’t get as much of a kick from the pigs running around in DNF as I did from those from the original game. Somewhere, somehow the magic feels lost. Maybe it was the derogatory cop uniforms (which they had to remove to make the game “politically correct” I suppose), maybe it was the death animations, maybe… I don’t know what. It just doesn’t feel as good.
The level design? Gosh, what is in the demo is just retardedly linear. I hope the full game isn’t as ridiculously linear. I want to play a game, not participate in an interactive movie! A lot of the charm in the Duke Nukem 3D levels was running around trying to find the key cards and get to new areas, backtrack a little sometimes, etc. That seems to be lost into lame 1-minute busy-work physics puzzles, a series of linear set pieces, and even some quick-time events (WTF CONSOLE SHIT!). The entire level design screams “linearity” even though the game might not appear to be so superficially… There’s only one way to go, one switch to hit, one enemy to kill, one puzzle to solve.
I don’t know, maybe the jokes have worn out or something. Kicking the cycloid emperor’s eye for a field goal, throwing shit around, and pissing in high-res textures and with nice shaders was plenty of lulz, but it makes me wonder… is it really still that much fun after 15 years, considering the “lost magic” behind the sound design, the bland enemies and environments, the ridiculously linear level design, the console-y feel everywhere, and the one-liners which are just RIDICULOUSLY overdone this time – I mean I don’t need a one-liner after EVERY action I take – even the original game didn’t have that. Some of them are retarded and not funny too – like “FUUUUCK” when you press the boost of the truck. Really? “FUUUUUCK?” Am I supposed to laugh? Where’s the “you’re an inspiration for birth control?” I feel like they really killed it this time… too much stupidity = not funny anymore. You gotta time and dose it properly for it to work.
DNF might have the duke name, a few LULZ moments, and plenty of set pieces, but for me, it seems that the magic that I remember from the original will remain with the latter – for now. I suppose I’ll reserve my final judgment for the full game, but I’m not expecting much after having played this.
