Spoiler Warning for those who haven't finished Deus Ex Human Revolution!
I just want to preface this by saying that Deus Ex HR is a great game and gets many things right. The polish, atmosphere and immersion are top notch. Duke Nukem is an older game with an older framework behind it. Despite the age, the aspects of the game which I won't focus on, such as level design, polish, and game play are good enough. They aren't going to inspire anyone but they hold their own and don't hinder the fun.
So I recently bought Duke Nukem Forever after seeing the price slash. I'm playing this after finishing Deus Ex Human Revolution and the weird thing is...I think i'm having more fun with Duke.
Throughout my entire play-through with Deus Ex Human Revolution I felt a certain boredom with the main character. Adam Jensen is pretty typical.*Meet Adam Jensen. Adam plays the serious, snarky hero with a chip on his shoulder ( or in his case in it). You may have seen him in roles such as Neo in The Matrix or perhaps Batman in The Dark Knight.* I enjoyed his sarcastic back and forth dialogue with Prichard but his character never developed into much else. The ending of Deus Ex HR was easily my favorite moment because it gave insight on Jensens take on the world and the technology that runs it. Throughout most of the game Adam is pretty neutral on the issue. In fact Jensen doesn't have much of an opinion on anything. We make some choices for him that have no effect on the story whatsoever and then once the mission is wrapped up, Jensen is back to being his neutral self. Its the choices that Adam makes for himself that end up affecting the story and unfortunately his decisions are as rigid as they are predictable. Jensen chooses to fight and kill all of the main bosses despite "talking it out" being a theme of the game. Jensens feelings toward Megan are never fully resolved, but he does possess the unoriginal " Always save the girl" syndrome http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AlwaysSaveTheGirl. Im sure many of us would like to take the choice out of neutral-Adams hands and knock Megan's scheming self out...but I digress. Just as Adam reveals his thoughts on technological advancement and gets some character development beyond "my voice is dry/im serious and morally grey" the game is over.
Now I'm playing Duke Nukem forever and I'm behind a personality that I've seen far less often in our entertainment industry. Duke is all the things most heroes aren't. Hes a womanizer, he swears, drinks, takes steroids and talks about himself more than anything. He is outspoken and headstrong while being politically incorrect. Duke's personality makes this game enjoyable and unique. The unabashed nudity, swearing and insensitivity just feels refreshing and genuine. Instead of playing a character who breaks some of the breakable rules while staying inline with the unwritten ones, I play Duke. And Duke just doesn't give a ****. Right or wrong (on so many levels) this is Duke and hes not going to tame his character traits for anyone. And that's awesome.
I just want to preface this by saying that Deus Ex HR is a great game and gets many things right. The polish, atmosphere and immersion are top notch. Duke Nukem is an older game with an older framework behind it. Despite the age, the aspects of the game which I won't focus on, such as level design, polish, and game play are good enough. They aren't going to inspire anyone but they hold their own and don't hinder the fun.
So I recently bought Duke Nukem Forever after seeing the price slash. I'm playing this after finishing Deus Ex Human Revolution and the weird thing is...I think i'm having more fun with Duke.
Throughout my entire play-through with Deus Ex Human Revolution I felt a certain boredom with the main character. Adam Jensen is pretty typical.*Meet Adam Jensen. Adam plays the serious, snarky hero with a chip on his shoulder ( or in his case in it). You may have seen him in roles such as Neo in The Matrix or perhaps Batman in The Dark Knight.* I enjoyed his sarcastic back and forth dialogue with Prichard but his character never developed into much else. The ending of Deus Ex HR was easily my favorite moment because it gave insight on Jensens take on the world and the technology that runs it. Throughout most of the game Adam is pretty neutral on the issue. In fact Jensen doesn't have much of an opinion on anything. We make some choices for him that have no effect on the story whatsoever and then once the mission is wrapped up, Jensen is back to being his neutral self. Its the choices that Adam makes for himself that end up affecting the story and unfortunately his decisions are as rigid as they are predictable. Jensen chooses to fight and kill all of the main bosses despite "talking it out" being a theme of the game. Jensens feelings toward Megan are never fully resolved, but he does possess the unoriginal " Always save the girl" syndrome http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AlwaysSaveTheGirl. Im sure many of us would like to take the choice out of neutral-Adams hands and knock Megan's scheming self out...but I digress. Just as Adam reveals his thoughts on technological advancement and gets some character development beyond "my voice is dry/im serious and morally grey" the game is over.
Now I'm playing Duke Nukem forever and I'm behind a personality that I've seen far less often in our entertainment industry. Duke is all the things most heroes aren't. Hes a womanizer, he swears, drinks, takes steroids and talks about himself more than anything. He is outspoken and headstrong while being politically incorrect. Duke's personality makes this game enjoyable and unique. The unabashed nudity, swearing and insensitivity just feels refreshing and genuine. Instead of playing a character who breaks some of the breakable rules while staying inline with the unwritten ones, I play Duke. And Duke just doesn't give a ****. Right or wrong (on so many levels) this is Duke and hes not going to tame his character traits for anyone. And that's awesome.
