Duke Nukem…Forever? Hell yes!
I finally got my grubby hands on the game I’ve been waiting 15 years for. The first big name in first-person-shooters came back in the 90′s as Duke Nukem 3D. He was macho, he had big guns and he loved strippers. Aliens showed up and you blasted them with the big guns, while throwing money at strippers and spouting random one-liners that have become household quotes.
So, after 15 years, does the new one deserve praise or the relentless beatings it’s been getting? I’m going to take the high road and say it deserves the praise. Sure, it’s a first-person-shooter. Yes, they haven’t really come a long way since the 90′s. Obviously, games have changed and FPS games aren’t really all that exciting or fun anymore. But think about it for a minute.
Duke 3D came out when first-person-shooters were the absolute rage of gaming, mainly in the computer world. The graphics were top notch, it was almost like a forbidden fruit for most since it wasn’t really geared towards children, so a lot of us had to play it when nobody was looking to be able to to get flashed by some pixelated women. So, it’s just natural that the creators of the new game go back to what made the old game so lovable: It’s a first-person-shooter, it’s filled with one-liners, it has women.
Sure, parts of the game may seem boring to the younger generation who are used to WoW, MMORPGs and games other than platform FPS games. But to old-schoolers like myself, who pretty much grew up with FPS, this game is incredibly fun, and the nostalgia of listening to Duke is fun in itself. I laughed at most of the random things he says.
I only played it for a couple of hours, but those were some of the most fun couple of hours playing a game I’ve had in a long time, not counting Arkham Asylum. It isn’t for newcomers or young gamers, it’s for the people who loved the original 3D game and who have been waiting for fifteen years.
I’ll admit, running around an entire level as a miniature Duke isn’t all that fun, but it’s more fun to me than farming junk just to turn around a sell it (why on Earth would anybody want to actually work in a game? THAT’S boring to me) and it’s something to do, instead of having to look for something to do, this game throws you in the middle of the action, saving potentially hours of wasting time running around looking for a mission.
I could go on comparing the new Duke to the old Duke to MMORPGs, but really, it all just boils down to personal preference. You may not like it, that’s fine, take it back, get rid of it and move on. You may love it, that’s fine too, keep it, play it and move on. I’ve read a lot of reviews bashing it, but those were written by people who haven’t been playing games for the better part of twenty years and aren’t used to games like this.
At the end of the day, you will either love Duke or hate him for making you wait fifteen years for a game that could’ve come out thirteen years ago. But to me, it was worth the wait just to be able to go back to the days when games were actually fun and didn’t mirror real life. That’s what gaming is all about, getting away from reality. End rant.
