Duke Nuke For-never., 3D Realms shut down, DNF is DNF. Options

[Crushinator]

http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=1127

I guess the dream has officially died. Art and in-game graphics are leaking now that the studio has been shuttered, check some out at Kotaku:

http://kotaku.com/5245883/duke-nukem-forev...3d-realms-grave

Weird becuase George Broussard had twittered about the game being near complete a few weeks ago, but c'est la vie. You can't keep dragging this shit on for over a decade and expect to keep getting funded forever.

EDIT: Even more concept and in-game models/stages have leaked here.

[Scan_Man]

Played the demo. My impressions.

The Duke Nukem aesthetics and humor are there. Also, the game has a glimmer of a 90s first-person shooter feel (Duke Nukem 3D, Doom, Quake, and Unreal). You know strafe around and shoot or get owned. Also, just the way Duke moves in this feels 90s. He has a bit of a sway and head-bob as he moves, as there is no weight added to him depending on the weapon he is holding like in most modern FPS. This is refreshing at first. I think this is what we, the fans, want out of this game.

However, Gearbox decided to add in FPS mechanics that are standard in your average 21ist century shooter for better or worse. The two minors, I think, are sprint and Aim Down Sights. Having these in a FPS today just feels natural, as in one familiar with 21ist century FPS will press the button to do them anyway even if they did not look at the controls. So, I think it is nice update to this "old school" FPS because the shooting, movement, and difficulty still retains it's 90s feel. The third mechanic from today FPS is Regenerative health. I don't like this one too much. Duke Nukem gameplay is about not getting hit by enemy fire, but if one takes damage one can find med kits, atomic health, armor, and steroids. These goodies littered through the stages was part of the exploration. Sure the game is still challenging in the 90s FPS way, but regenerative health makes it seem Gearbox slightly missed the mark here. Still, relatively easy to get over I think. The last mechanic, I absolutely hate, and sure will annoy many fans, is you can only carry two weapons at a time. Seriously, what the fuck?

I've played a ton of FPS games with this mechanic in the past tens years, from Halo to Modern Warfare to Bad Company 2, it never bothered me. To put it another way, when I pick up a FPS these days I think nothing of this mechanic. But, in Duke Nukem Forever it sticks out, and is quite bothersome. What benefit in Duke Nukem does only carrying two weapons have? I can't think of one that would make any sense for a Duke game. Realism? It's Duke Nukem! It is not suppose to be realistic at all! Also, last I checked Duke Nukem, and other 90s FPS, was about carrying a large assortment of crazy guns and using the ones the player thinks is most fun and then sometimes for specific tactical purposes. But here, at least in the demo, the player is going to pick the weapons that is most optimal for most situations. He/she is not going to pick up the fun weapons, like the Shrink Ray, because he needs long range sniping ability from a Rail Gun and a close range shotgun. With only a limited choice, the correct one is obvious. Therefore, the choice is an illusion, there is no choice. Ultimately there is not much point in having multiple weapons to pick up at a given moment because there is only two correct choices, while the rest are wrong. By extension to this, Duke also melee attack is so standard FPS too. No Mighty Boot! So very bad Gearbox! What corporate board meeting told you guys to play it so safe because "we have to sell it on consoles"?

Overall though I think the game will be fun. But, it is hard to overlook that Gearbox played it safe here by adding unnecessary 21ist century FPS mechanics. They had the chance to knock it out of the park by fully recreating a 90s style FPS game, but they fell short of that mark. What we end up with what seems like an average FPS, by today's standards, that feels mostly familiar with Call of Duty in control. And I argue Call of Duty does that style the best. So basically, the main draw to this game is going to come down to how well the Duke aesthetic and humor holds up throughout the game; which is not gameplay.

The shooting part of the gameplay is fun, but having to only choose between two weapons takes some of that fun out, since it is better to pick the two most optimal weapons. I think most of the fun of this type of game is the ability to blow shit up in crazy and silly ways and combinations with a large assortment of weapons. Frankly there is already a game out there that executes that way better, it's called Bulletstorm. And it is funny, that Bulletstorm seems more Duke Nukem than this current Duke Nukem iteration.

Bulletstorm, by the way, has Mighty Boot!

I'd say the one thing that could save this game from being average if there is a ton of hidden areas, with goodies and easter eggs, to explore. Otherwise it will just be a standard FPS that is a bit more challenging with the Duke Nukem aesthetic.

Still looking forward to finally playing this game though.