Duke Nukem Forever - why all the hate? (Possible spoilers)

[macacos2]

Then, others have complained about the crude, chauvenistic machoism of Duke as childish

In Duke Nukem 3D, Duke Nukem was a "badass" with a good sense of humour.
The old Duke busted out an occasional joke every 7 kills or so, while focusing mostly on killing aliens.



In DNF, Duke Nukem is the equivalent of a "5 year old learning his first swear word".
The "Trying too hard" category happened way too often during the game.
The huge arsenal Duke used to carry was decreased to a limit of TWO.
Humor and referencing became the "large point" of the game. Not kicking ass.
There were hardly ever any moments where there was more than 4 enemies on-screen.

 

[Smooth Operator]

For 60$ you can't just be a little good, you got to bring your shit when you demand that kind of dosh, and they clearly didn't.

They could have earned some goodwill by going oldschool and really stand out in the sea of modern brown shooters, but no those smartasses turn it into Halo Nukem and then try making Halo jokes... come the fuck on now.

 

[Vrex360]

From what I hear, people were mad that it took ultimatley fourteen years to make a game that looks like it could have been finished in two.
I've never actually played Duke Nukem Forever and in fact even before I knew it was going to be shit I never had any plans to. Call me a moral crusader but I took issue with the overt sexism in those games.

I dont' care if people call it a 'parody' or 'ironic' or the ever present but often misunderstood 'satire'. All I saw was sexism, plain and simple. If I ever had any doubts about that, they were lost when I saw the alien hive section.
Graphic body horror about rape and forced impregnation and death in childbirth, all very much 'female centered' examples of gruesome body horror, used as entertainment for a male audience. Complete with quips and jokes while hearing women moan in pain and misery in the background.
I'd go so far as to label that misogyny. As it both fetishizes (big naked boobs on full display) and ridicules graphic violence against women and yet displays it in such a graphic way. Just watching it on youtube felt off.

I remember I once read the back of the box and it proudly boasted 'easily the most shocking and offensive and insensitive game you'll ever play' and the more I think about it, the more I wonder if that's actually a selling point.
I'm fine with jokes about edgy subject matter, provided that they are both clever and well thought out with respect to that subject matter and more importantly, are actually funny. I watched some of the stuff in Duke Nukem Forever via youtube and all I saw was the offensive, none of the cleverness or funnyness.
In the end, I felt I might as well be watching a hack comedian yelling 'LOL ABORTION' and 'LOL RAPE' and cheering himself on like he's done some great amazing thing in the process.

Get over yourself Mr. Nukem. ANYONE can be offensive and insensitive, it's not something that takes skill. I could find some teenage girl who's little brother died in a car accident and make an off color joke in her face about it, would I be praised as clever or condemned as being a prick?
There's no skill to being shocking or offensive. Anyone can do it, there are plenty of social taboos out there ripe for offending. However 'offensive' is not the same thing as 'funny'. Actually being funny takes effort and skill and if you succeed at it, you have the right to celebrate yourself for doing it.

That's the problem I have with Duke Nukem Forever, it's plenty offensive but it's about as funny as a busload of dead children. Which if Duke was here right now, he'd doubtlessly think it's hilarious and would crack jokes about it at the kid's funerals.

If I had to ultimatley pick between Duke's brand of 'edgy offensive insensitive humor' that's actually not funny at all or a happy family friendly pixar film that's funny right through to its G rated core. I'd go with the Pixar film.

Also as far as the 'parodies' referencing other games and mocking them goes. I agree with Yahtzee, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
Masterchief might not be the greatest character in gaming history, but in the time it took Duke to make this crappy game he spawned an entire multimillion dollar franchise that spans into books, comics, action figures and even anime and live action movie shorts.
It'll be a cold day in hell before Duke Nukem ever has any right to mock him.

I apologize if my opinion has offended anyone here, but I feel I have to speak my mind. I haven't played this game but everything I've seen of it just makes me want to set it on fire.
But if you like the game, I respect your choices in games.

EDIT: Also when that guy from Gearbox tried to say the game was 'dumbed down' for consoles and went one step further by calling Console gaming an 'STD' on gaming, it didn't do wonders in endearing the game to me.

 

[GartarkMusik]

Mainly because the game just wasn't very good really, not much more I can say. It was just really dumb and while I don't mind sex jokes, DNF just made them sound really kinda juvenile. It was just really poorly done overall.

 

[UnusualStranger]

Truthfully? The game tried to be like other, bigger, stronger shooters. Everyone says that its disliked because its from a bygone era, but the fact is, it really isn't. It is a poor adaptation of what this era is. Two guns only? That's this era's thing. Regen Health? Again, this era thing.

The game has quite a few flaws, don't get me wrong. It fails in a lot of areas that most of us would find quite obvious. But let me just throw out a few.

Spoiler: RANTS

1.GUNS:
Duke Nukem should be allowed to carry a shitton of guns. Why? Because Duke Nukem is a badass who shouldn't have to worry about grabbing a rocket launcher for a tank or ship ahead, he just carries it along with his pistol, shrink ray, sniper, and shotgun. Having to choose weapons in a game like this is just clunky, and more forces you to pick weapons that "Make sense" rather than are "Fun". Why would I even dare grab a shrink ray when I know the sniper or shotgun will kill?

2.HUMOR
The humor at times seems really....forced. Like the situation had to be made specifically for Duke to be able to even say half of his lines. Sometimes, that would be fine, but when he keeps on trying to push humor on you every time he shoots something, it loses its touch. Its not funny when I shoot something, it dies, and HE HAS TO SAY SOMETHING. Sometimes, I just want to enjoy a good couple kills without hearing someone shout something off.

3.Health
The ego meter was an interesting idea. Heck, raising it by being a badass in certain parts was also an interesting idea. However, at times it seems horribly...countered to what one would expect from Duke. Maybe this is because its an old age game, but Regen health wasn't quite what this game needed.

4ENEMIES
Frankly....there never seemed to be enough of them. Or they packed such a punch I wasn't able to stand up to them in a firefight, and I was stuck hiding. In an invasion, with the hero being a super badass, I want to be able to mow these bastards down. But, it never seemed like I could. Kind of a shame really.

 

[player3141]

Graphics- the graphics weren't good, but they also weren't terrible.

Gameplay- Duke can only carry 2 weapons with limited ammo on each of them, which just makes it seem like the games it tries to make fun of.

Duke has little health and the enemies seem strong compared to him. He makes Gordon Freeman look like an unstoppable killing machine.

A lot of the gameplay was boring and slow paced. Combat wasn't as frequent as it should have been, and to compensate, they had poor attempts at puzzles.

Level design- there was no incentive to look around, if you find a good weapon, you will burn through its ammo in a few seconds and you will have to drop the one you are carrying. Health regenerates so you can't find health packs. The power-ups (beer) aren't very effective and can only be used for a short period of time. (not to mention, they put it right in front of your face so you can't miss it.)

Humor- there are many attempts at humor, but most of the time it isn't fun and dialogue repeats.

Conclusion- its just another generic shooter instead of fun, over the top game it should have been.

 

[Dirzzit]

Maybe because it wasn't duke nukem.

Think about it.

 

[CloggedDonkey]

Well, I actually don't hate it so much (then again, I'm easily amused, so take it with a grain of salt), but I think all the hate comes from the fact that it's, well, just okay. If it was horrible, we'd all laugh at it like it was the Highlander sequels, and if it was good, we'd be happy, content with the fact that the game that people were waiting for (I actually think that no one was waiting for it after it became a punchline, but apparently people were...) for fourteen years was good and move on. instead... it was just okay. Not bad, not good, just mediocre. Yeah, in truth it wasn't in production for fourteen years, but was instead only worked on for about four or five, but people were still waiting that long, and those people deserved something on the highest end of the spectrum, be that horrible, or fantastic.