Duke Nukem Hands-On Impressions

Twelve years on the back burner or in the making, we finally have the Duke Nukem Forever demo in our hands.  With the release date a little over a week away, we have a lot of fans looking forward to its release.  June 14th will be the day for everyone to experience kicking ass and chewing bubblegum, and once again he is all out of gum.

The demo gives you a two level taste of what to expect in the full release.   Surprisingly enough, you have the chance to obtain and use a wide variety of very familiar weapons from Duke Nukem 3d.  The huge enemy pictured above should look familiar to any fans of the series.  The first level in the demo takes you to a familiar place with a complete visual overhaul and the addition of swat team members running about.  You make your way through the corridors of a football stadium and end at a rising platform, like in Duke Nukem 3D, taking you to fight the “one-eyed freak”.  You get your hands on the devastator and use the beastly weapon to take him down on the football field.  After taking him down using a button mashing exercise, Duke makes a field goal with his eye to complete your trip down memory lane.  The first level is very short with not much else to do but the boss fight.

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The second playable level starts out with you driving a off-road truck in the desert with canyons all around.  As luck would have it, Duke runs out of gas.  This is where the real Duke Nukem experience begins to unfold.  You gather weapons which are randomly lying around, and use them to take down the pig cops roaming this area.  From shotguns to rippers and rpgs to shrinkrays, you have many choices to obliterate each and every one of them.  The goal in this level is to track down some gas to refuel your truck.  You travel through the sandy wasteland and an abandoned mine in search of the fuel.  The demo is over once you refuel your truck and is followed by a video sneak peak at whats to come in the full retail version.

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Prophet:  “The experience i had was not as great as I hoped.  For being hyped up so much for so long, it delivered a mediocre shooter at best.  I’ll say that it has its Duke moments with the comments he is so well-known and loved for.  When the retail release hits shelves, I will give it another go and give you my final judgment.”

Second Opinion

Mike:  “As a long time fan of the Duke Nukem franchise, I was extremely excited to see that beta key in my mailbox. As everyone knows, it has been twelve years  since the last Duke Nukem was released and we’re all “ready to get some.” Upon booting up the beta, I realized it had some long load times but after it finished I realized why. I was impressed with the graphics, everything was pretty crisp and shiny. The only complaint I would have is that there could be improvements on the facial features and expressions. The models looked pretty stiff in the face. Other than facial features, I enjoyed what I was seeing. The weapons are awesome, and the classic weapons all have an updated look and feel to them, with the sound effects of each one being extremely loyal to the original game. The music was pretty good and the comedy factor was definitely a bonus and did not disappoint, it felt like the classic Duke Nukem attitude. My overall impressions with the beta is that when the final game is released, it will prove to have a few challenges in it so we won’t be blowing through content too quickly. There will also be a lot of depth in the levels, plenty of variety and definitely some things to laugh at. If you really liked the old Duke Nukem 3D franchise, then you won’t walk away too disappointed.

 

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Author: Anthony DeVirgilis View all posts by
Managing Partner / Editor for Sony/Nintendo I prefer Indies to AAA titles... unless it's Nintendo or Sony Google+ Author