Duke Nukem Forever stomps in 12 years too late

by Steven Mostyn - Jun 13 2011, 07:53

In development limbo for some 15 years, the subsequent success or failure of Duke Nukem Forever was always likely to hinge on whether or not gaming palettes had matured in the interim, frustrated series fans hadn’t moved to pastures new, and the younger generation of gamers still ‘got the joke’, as it were.

For example, while the industry still offers the odd shooter or two built around purile humour, blockbuster one-liners, over-the-top violence, and a steady stream of nudity, most gamers now gravitate towards the ultra realism peddled by franchises such as Call of Duty, Medal of Honor and Battlefield.

So how has ‘The Duke’ and his Arnie-style flattop hairstyle and wince-inducing quips been received by the gaming critics since finally launching late last week? Well, let’s just say “Fail to the King” would perhaps be a more apt description than “Hail to the King”.

Moreover, Duke Nukem Forever’s current Metacritic average stands at an unimpressive 50/100, which certainly suggests that tastes have changed and gamers want a little more substance while enjoying a trigger-happy marathon across (poorly realised) alien landscapes.

“In the end, you feel every year of Duke Nukem Forever’s ridiculous, fractured development seeping out of each unsatisfying frame,” commented Eurogamer during its crushing 30/100 assessment.

“What has, at long last, been committed to a disc and placed into a box might have been alright a dozen years ago, but by today’s standards it simply doesn’t hold up,” echoed Joystiq during its clearly disappointed 40/100 review.

Similarly, leading videogame outlet IGN slapped a score of 55/100 on the game, describing it as “a muddled hypocritical exercise in irritation”, while UK broadsheet The Guardian cruelly asks what was done “with the other 14 years and 10 months” of development time. 

That being said, it’s not all bad news for The Duke, and Forever has managed to rack up one or two fairly positive critical assessments—although the sources are perhaps not as renowned as those quoted above.

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