Levethian said:
I suspect it won't - from what I've seen of it, it seems to have a story to tell, which means a carefully constructed narrative linking set-pieces, rather than a 'nonsense' fun shooter.
Well it really depends on what you mean by story. "The aliens are back, and they're trying to steal our women. Kill them." is about all the story amounts to at this point. Also, who's to say that a game can't have nonsense and structure? If it's all nonsense, sure, it's funny, but there's the times where you think "Wow, something like X would have been awesome at point Y,". But if it's all structured, then you get the Halo problem of "I just don't give a shit, game,". A good balance of nonsensical action and structured set-pieces would, theoretically, make for a damn good game.
Besides, it's been repeatedly said that DNF will not just be nonsense shooting all the way through. There will be puzzles, there will be setpieces (Such as a shrunk Duke escaping a casino in an RC car.), and there are 3 "Structured" boss fights within the first 90 minutes. But there will be all that carnage we love, especially since the 2-Gun system helps all the guns become equally awesome without breaking the game. Health-wise, Duke at least knows better than "sucking your thumb behind a wall for a while" to get back health.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxKL1By-6j4
Such as in here. Duke gets battered hard by a pig-cop. The screen begins to resemble blood-shot eyes from Duke's POV, so it's better than jelly on the screen. But he only stops for a second to reload, charges out, and his health is pretty much back by the time he gets to the enemies. What am I saying with all of this? Perhaps that modern conventions aren't necessarily bad, just poorly used.
Helth regen feels restrictive in CoD because of how easily you die. The Weapon limitation feels arbitrary in Halo because, while they may function differently, every gun basically does the same thing aside from a few exceptions. Duke fixes the health issue by mixing health regen with a proper health bar that gets upgraded by playing with the game world. He also fixes the weapon-issue by making each weapon feel actually different to every other one, as opposed to just having them function differently.
Obviously the demo (and you know, the actual game) will need to come out before I can be sure Duke's found the magic formula. But it's looking good to me so far. Hail to the king, bubblegum, When it's done, etc blah blah blah.
