Duke Nukem Forever (PC): A Fair and Balanced Review

Let’s just address the pink elephant in the room. No one can think of Duke Nukem Forever without bringing up the extremely long development cycle. Yes, the game has had more than its fair share of drama, and has been in development for over 12 years. Due to the extremely long development time, gamers (and reviewers) believe that this game should be the most polished thing ever, with streamlined gameplay and unrivaled level design that should win awards for years to come.

This is just unrealistic. We will be reviewing the PC version of Duke Nukem Forever, but we will not be judging it based on what we think we should see, but will base the review on the game’s own merits (or lack thereof).

A little background

The opening of Duke Nukem Forever is a little tongue-in-cheek about its own prolonged absence. Our hero is playing the Duke Nukem Forever game in his penthouse apartment in the Lady Killer Hotel and Casino (a Las Vegas attraction for and about Duke). During the game, one of his lady friends lifts up from the bottom of the screen, wipes her mouth, and comments about how great the game is.

“It better be after 12 years of development”, Duke replies.

After this, Las Vegas is attacked, and Duke is thrown into thwarting the alien invasion that apparently resumed over a decade ago.