TL;DR - DNF is not too bad of an experience for $20 if you have an appreciation for old school shooters or if you are genuinely curious about finding out if this game is as terrible as many make it out to be.
Just when you thought the talk of Duke Nukem Forever has died for good, along comes a jerk like me to get you all riled up again. But before you fling your pitchforks in my general direction or accuse me of working for Gearbox's PR department (I don't), allow me to explain myself.
I am like the majority of you. I knew that when DNF finally released, it was going to be a major let down for anyone with even the slightest emotional investment. When it was received to mostly average and negative reviews, plus the overly negative reception from the gaming community, I knew it wasn't going to be worth a purchase at full price.
But, for whatever reason, I still wanted to try the game for myself. This is after ingesting every negative opinion, critique, or nitpick.
Why?
Could be curiosity, could be the fact that I enjoy camp, or could be that I like old school FPS games. So I waited for the price to drop to give it a fair assessment. When I saw it for $20 on steam, I purchased it almost immediately. My overall thoughts: Well worth $20 if you have a realistic sense of what you're getting into.
I have been playing FPS games since Wolfenstein 3d. I've played DOOM and 'DOOM clones'. I've bought and enjoyed Duke 3d and even played some of the terrible spin offs. Hell, I've even played the original Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem 2. I can say with confidence that DNF belongs with the rest of them.
Yet, like many things, Duke isn't very relevant in today's gaming world. What's worse is the game was doomed to failure long before it's release. It wasn't going to win any new fans and it was likely to alienate old ones. I came into this with the expectation that I was going to play a train wreck.
But, the strangest thing happened. I was actually enjoying myself.
Yeah, the graphics are heavily dated and inconsistent, the AI is laughably bad, and the story is garbage. Despite all that, the game is not terrible. The gameplay is varied enough to be somewhat interesting, the levels are long, some of the weapons are a joy to use, and the game offers a fair challenge on hard mode. There are some segments that drag and a few elements that are outright broken and unpolished, but I wouldn't call any of these things 'game breaking'.
Had this game released 10 years ago, it would have probably been regarded as one of the better shooters out there. So that's how I see it: a gaming time capsule of a title that should have never been released. Was it worth $60 when it released? No. But for $20, it's going to have an appeal for some.
So if you have ever been curious about DNF for whatever reason and have an appreciation for old school shooters, you might want to check it out for yourself. Let's Plays don't do this game justice.
Lastly, if you do have a choice, get it on PC or Mac. Apparently the loading times are much quicker among other percs.
I am like the majority of you. I knew that when DNF finally released, it was going to be a major let down for anyone with even the slightest emotional investment. When it was received to mostly average and negative reviews, plus the overly negative reception from the gaming community, I knew it wasn't going to be worth a purchase at full price.
But, for whatever reason, I still wanted to try the game for myself. This is after ingesting every negative opinion, critique, or nitpick.
Why?
Could be curiosity, could be the fact that I enjoy camp, or could be that I like old school FPS games. So I waited for the price to drop to give it a fair assessment. When I saw it for $20 on steam, I purchased it almost immediately. My overall thoughts: Well worth $20 if you have a realistic sense of what you're getting into.
I have been playing FPS games since Wolfenstein 3d. I've played DOOM and 'DOOM clones'. I've bought and enjoyed Duke 3d and even played some of the terrible spin offs. Hell, I've even played the original Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem 2. I can say with confidence that DNF belongs with the rest of them.
Yet, like many things, Duke isn't very relevant in today's gaming world. What's worse is the game was doomed to failure long before it's release. It wasn't going to win any new fans and it was likely to alienate old ones. I came into this with the expectation that I was going to play a train wreck.
But, the strangest thing happened. I was actually enjoying myself.
Yeah, the graphics are heavily dated and inconsistent, the AI is laughably bad, and the story is garbage. Despite all that, the game is not terrible. The gameplay is varied enough to be somewhat interesting, the levels are long, some of the weapons are a joy to use, and the game offers a fair challenge on hard mode. There are some segments that drag and a few elements that are outright broken and unpolished, but I wouldn't call any of these things 'game breaking'.
Had this game released 10 years ago, it would have probably been regarded as one of the better shooters out there. So that's how I see it: a gaming time capsule of a title that should have never been released. Was it worth $60 when it released? No. But for $20, it's going to have an appeal for some.
So if you have ever been curious about DNF for whatever reason and have an appreciation for old school shooters, you might want to check it out for yourself. Let's Plays don't do this game justice.
Lastly, if you do have a choice, get it on PC or Mac. Apparently the loading times are much quicker among other percs.
