Duke Nukem Forever (PC): A Fair and Balanced Review

Innuendo

There is a LOT of sexual innuendo and crude humor, which is something that many reviewers have harshly criticized. The one-liners and crass jokes is what makes us like the Duke character.

Perverts like myself truly appreciate that the Duke Tower has sixty-nine floors, and that the rocket launcher has a maximum payload of 69 rockets. People close to me know that I’m all about that.

Here’s an easy test to see if you will appreciate the humor in Duke Nukem Forever. If you like or have done any of the following then the jokes will not be lost on you:

• Bruce Campbell
• Like the Evil Dead movies
• Liked Postal 2
• You have the maturity of a 12-year-old boy
• You have ever drawn a penis (or put an “I” strategically on a box of PENS).
• You have entered 5,318,008 into a calculator to spell “boobies”

A lot of reviewers have leveraged this crude humor as a reason to criticize the entire game, but it all adds to the crass flavor that is Duke Nukem. Somehow the jokes don’t seem as funny as they did a decade ago. Maybe I’m just getting old.

Interacting with the world

Just like Duke Nukem 3d, there are lots of things Duke can do between all of the action. He can turn on showers, write on whiteboards, use the toilet, lift weights, sign autographs… and these usually feed his Ego (the “health” used in this game).

Isn’t it Ironic?…

There are a lot of dated references to game dynamics from last decade, most notably Doom. During one scene where Duke is apparently at a dead end, he is told he must retrieve a red keycard… a game dynamic that many first-person shooters (aka Doom clones) from 1993 implemented. Duke says “I don’t need no f*cking keycard”, and rips the door open. This might have gotten a chuckle before the 21st century, but the reference is most certainly lost today.

It is only a few minutes before Duke finds himself in a locked room unable to proceed until he retrieves three energy cells (e.g. keys). I’m not sure if the irony is intentional or accidental.

Regardless of the intention, object hunts in games today are like escort missions. They have no place in today’s video games. Unfortunately, this isn’t the last time Duke hunts for items in the game.