The King is Back! Cocked, loaded and ready for action, Duke delivers epic ass-kicking, massive weapons, giant explosions and pure unadulterated fun! Put on your shades and step into the boots of Duke Nukem. The alien hordes are invading and only Duke can save the world. Pig cops, alien shrink rays and enormous alien bosses can’t stop this epic hero from accomplishing his goal: to save the world, save the babes and to be a bad-ass while doing it.
The King arrives with an arsenal of over-the-top weapons, non-stop action, and unprecedented levels of interactivity. With hours and hours of action, and a range of bodacious multiplayer modes, rest assured knowing the fun goes on and on.
A real time machine, Duke Nukem Forever gets you back to the glorious age of PC gaming. And despite some dated graphics and level design, it's freaking worth it. [July 2011, p.81]
What awaits you is a Duke that would have rocked the genre nine years ago but for today's standards this is just mediocre.
A love letter to PC gaming, scrawled in crayon by an alcoholic bigot. Wait for the bargain bin to say goodbye to Duke. [Aug 2011, p.98]
It's just a mess. It pains me to say it, but it's absolutely true.
If you're going to 'go modern', do it. If you're going to 'go retro', do it. Just don't go half-and-half and end up failing to appease fans of both approaches. While DNF is kind-of fun, is playable and can be enjoyed all the way until the end, it's far away from what it should have been.
You won't find any lasting qualities in Duke Nukem Forever and it doesn't have anything to compete against numerous modern games that have so much more to offer.
I can't think of anything fun throughout my time with the game. I did like some of the models of the monsters and the game never crashed on my PC, but that's about it. I don't blame Gearbox, but I wonder what 3D Realms was thinking all these years.
March 19, 2019
Gearbox reveals a new teaser with Duke Nukem and Sato for PAX East. Read more
