Duke Nukem Forever Catch-All

I have been greatly enjoying the #AlwaysBetOnDuke hashtag all day. So there's one thing DNF accomplished, getting me to follow a promoted trend.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/pYTPh.png)

Sinatar wrote:

I just beat it.

I know you're sitting there thinking "Man I need to buy this, just as a curiosity, just to see what 15 years of development time gets you". Put those thoughts aside people. Stay away. Far. Far. Far. Far. Away.

I thought I would buy it to put on the shelf next to Daikatana and Battlecruiser 3000AD but now I'm not sure I want it stinking up those two great examples of gaming excellence.

Honestly, I didn't expect it to be good - but I really didn't expect it to be this bad. /sadface.

CptGlanton wrote:

IMAGE(http://www.vertigogaming.net/HUD/originals/alwaysduke.jpg)

Poor Duke University, they should have a little more self esteem, maybe some people do want to bet on Duke U

LightBender wrote:
Sinatar wrote:

I just beat it.

I know you're sitting there thinking "Man I need to buy this, just as a curiosity, just to see what 15 years of development time gets you". Put those thoughts aside people. Stay away. Far. Far. Far. Far. Away.

I thought I would buy it to put on the shelf next to Daikatana and Battlecruiser 3000AD but now I'm not sure I want it stinking up those two great examples of gaming excellence.

Honestly, I didn't expect it to be good - but I really didn't expect it to be this bad. /sadface.

Well it's better then either of those games. So I suppose you can add it to your wall of shame.

It's not that Duke4Ever is necessarily awful, it's just so dreadfully bland and dull. It doesn't know whether it wants to be a modern shooter or an old school one and pulls random elements from each that never mesh properly. It has small moments of real fun, but there and tons of parts that are either incredibly dull or wall punchingly frustrating. If you do end up playing it, don't do it on Hard like I did, it just drags out an already unpleasant experience. Put it on easy and treat it like a morbid tourist attraction.

Sinatar wrote:

If you do end up playing it, don't do it on Hard like I did, it just drags out an already unpleasant experience. Put it on easy and treat it like a morbid tourist attraction.

that's what I did. made the last half of the game considerably less painful. Though, alas, not any less dull.

CptGlanton wrote:

The PR firm for Duke Nukem Forever, The Redner Group, is mad as hell and isn't going to take it anymore.

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/8...

They later tweeted an apology, blamed emotion, and said they would be making phone calls to apologize to those involved.

Oh man, that's awful. But at least they're being public about it.

Mex wrote:

Sounds like they just turned Duke Nukem into a douchebag, instead of an asskicker. That's why he was fun, the strippers and stuff were just side effects of being an awesome asskicker.

Yup, seems as if they drew inspiration from Postal 2 instead of from Duke Nukem 3D.

Scratched wrote:
CptGlanton wrote:

The PR firm for Duke Nukem Forever, The Redner Group, is mad as hell and isn't going to take it anymore.

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/8...

They later tweeted an apology, blamed emotion, and said they would be making phone calls to apologize to those involved.

Oh man, that's awful. But at least they're being public about it.

I was thinking that they are just being honest. Saying out loud what the rest of them are thinking.

Jeff-66 wrote:
Scratched wrote:
CptGlanton wrote:

The PR firm for Duke Nukem Forever, The Redner Group, is mad as hell and isn't going to take it anymore.

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/8...

They later tweeted an apology, blamed emotion, and said they would be making phone calls to apologize to those involved.

Oh man, that's awful. But at least they're being public about it.

I was thinking that they are just being honest. Saying out loud what the rest of them are thinking.

I honestly hope this starts giving gaming mags license to complain about companies who restrict access. If 'publicly complain' turns into 'retraction and apology' enough times, companies stop threatening to withhold access.

I really don't understand why interest in Duke has maintained over the years. Sure I enjoyed Duke 3D but that had nothing to do with Duke as a character, as he was as {ableist slur} back then as he apparently still is today, it was just a fun game that felt like it was on the cutting edge for its time. This game seems like it lacks those crucial ingredients - that anyone would buy it just for the character of Duke Nukem is completely baffling to me.

gains wrote:

I look forward to the hearing that they will donate a large amount to the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network charities to help victims of sexual violence get the help and counselling they need.

I bet they had a good laugh about that...

Mex wrote:
gains wrote:

I look forward to the hearing that they will donate a large amount to the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network charities to help victims of sexual violence get the help and counselling they need.

I bet they had a good laugh about that...

One has to wonder what the Gearbox crew thought of all the 'jokes' they encountered after taking over the project (assuming they didn't add them themselves). Did they convince themselves that hey, this is the Duke so it's allright? Did they actually think the rape jokes were funny? Or did they cringe and then ignore them?

It's noteworthy that seemingly all reviewers agree that DNF went WAY out of line. This while the game world is not exactly known for it's love of all things PC.

dejanzie wrote:
Mex wrote:
gains wrote:

I look forward to the hearing that they will donate a large amount to the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network charities to help victims of sexual violence get the help and counselling they need.

I bet they had a good laugh about that...

One has to wonder what the Gearbox crew thought of all the 'jokes' they encountered after taking over the project (assuming they didn't add them themselves). Did they convince themselves that hey, this is the Duke so it's allright? Did they actually think the rape jokes were funny? Or did they cringe and then ignore them?

Yes. Ultimately Gearbox is responsible for the content. I don't buy the whole "we didn't develop it, we just polished it a bit and published it" argument. They made a big production about acquiring the property and then released a misogynistic anachronism and have to deal with the consequences.

I don't think anyone was suggesting they're not responsible, in the end. I also am curious what their take on it was when they received the content.

gregrampage wrote:

I don't think anyone was suggesting they're not responsible, in the end. I also am curious what their take on it was when they received the content.

Just another reason that a post-mortem on this game from Gearbox's PoV would be fascinating reading.

Redner is now referring to 2K as his "former client." Link.

Edit: See this tweet from 2K for extra lulz.

CptGlanton wrote:

Redner is now referring to 2K as his "former client." Link.

Yep.

From what I've seen from press people, Redner's actions represented standard practice from 2K, the damage control is just because he accidentally went public with it. Which is a sad thing.

Over the years I've heard several people say that PR often is blamed for bad reviews, regardless of the game's quality. Many publishers act as if good PR can sell any game (perhaps somewhat true for certain audiences, but not for the crowd that drives the sales of the big 'core' franchises). Withholding review builds to punish low/accurate scores is a slimey tactic, but I can't imagine that Redner was having a very good week even before last night's fiasco.

DNF's Metacritic score has dropped another two points to 57. I have to admit, given the foul content in the game, I'm enjoying the beatdown. Gearbox should have taken a good hard look at the entire game *before* they purchased the IP, and said "thanks, but no thanks".

Jeff-66 wrote:

DNF's Metacritic score has dropped another two points to 57. I have to admit, given the foul content in the game, I'm enjoying the beatdown. Gearbox should have taken a good hard look at the entire game *before* they purchased the IP, and said "thanks, but no thanks".

As much as I'm inclined to agree, from a business perspective, DNF is probably going to end up as a decent ROI for Gearbox, considering how little money they put into it (surely not much) and that plenty of people pre-ordered/bought the game just because it's DNF actually getting released.

Talking to a friend today, it occurred to us that DNF has in fact given the game industry one wonderful gift this year:

It's lowered the bar for every video game made in the next six months. No matter how bad a game gets, we'll be able to say "Well, at least it's not as bad as Duke Nukem Forever".

As sad as this is, it did make me go back to see what's been happening with Duke3D in the last few years. Turns out quite a lot.

*edit*

Pairs nicely with the High resolution Pack

So many years of development just to end up a punchline in the gaming world. Pretty funny, I wasn't expecting a great game, but I figured it would at least be playable.

Stylez wrote:

As sad as this is, it did make me go back to see what's been happening with Duke3D in the last few years. Turns out quite a lot.

*edit*

Pairs nicely with the High resolution Pack

Nice. I just grabbed a fresh copy of DN3D off of GoG just this evening as well, so that's good timing

SodaGremlin wrote:

So many years of development just to end up a punchline in the gaming world. Pretty funny, I wasn't expecting a great game, but I figured it would at least be playable.

You mean Meta, I'm sure.

I just finished The Ladykiller: Part 2, and it feels like this game wasn't really optimized for consoles at all. I'm playing it on the PS3 (my local friends are mostly Playstation fans, so in order to lend games out it's best I get it on the PS3), and I haven't done much in the way of shooters on the system but using R1 for primary fire as opposed to R2 feels plain bad. I checked to see if there was an alternate control scheme, and unfortunately no.

For the most part, the game is definitely counting on precision aiming. I've done well enough in games without look-assist (the new Turok for example), but there was always some level of leeway. You have to hover the cursor PRECISELY over items you want to grab or use, which sucks because so many are small. You have to be precise with a stinkin' shotgun in order to do any damage, and these enemies like to move. Basically, it feels like the game is clunky because it demands precision against tiny objects or quick and mobile foes.

I rarely have issues with shooters on console regardless of whether they have aim assist or not, but this is just annoying.

The PS3 controller is also uncomfortable with this sort of game for an extended period of time, but that's not the Duke's fault.

The beginning of this game definitely has a lot of heart in it, but there was just no real polish for some of this stuff. Controlling an RC car was nifty until I realized it was plot required, and then it became a Female Doggo to use. Driving around as a shrunk Duke in the RC car was equal parts fun and annoying. It's like everything could be fun, but it's just annoying enough not to be.

Which is a damn shame, because you can see where a fine ass game could have been. Unfortunately, the writing is really what's getting to me at the moment. The Holsom Twins are annoying as f*ck, and twice they made a joke about a shrunken Duke being fit inside a woman's vagina.

I'm starting to understand why it is important to have a Publisher in some cases rather than having complete creative freedom, as 3D Realms originally had long ago. As for Gearbox, they just wanted to get the game out (and chances are, 2K was putting a lot of pressure on for them to just finish it), but they should have just kept quiet longer to do some real spit-shining. I can see why Randy Pitchford was excited (if that was genuine), except...it just wasn't ready.

I know that's ridiculous to say of an over-decade year old game, but f*ck it. The game wasn't ready.

gains wrote:
Mex wrote:
gains wrote:

I look forward to the hearing that they will donate a large amount to the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network charities to help victims of sexual violence get the help and counselling they need.

I bet they had a good laugh about that...

Eh. It made me feel better. And in the end, aren't my feelings the only ones that matter?

That sounds an awful lot like something a rapist would say...

dejanzie wrote:

One has to wonder what the Gearbox crew thought of all the 'jokes' they encountered after taking over the project (assuming they didn't add them themselves). Did they convince themselves that hey, this is the Duke so it's allright? Did they actually think the rape jokes were funny? Or did they cringe and then ignore them?

It's noteworthy that seemingly all reviewers agree that DNF went WAY out of line. This while the game world is not exactly known for it's love of all things PC.

I haven't made it far into the game yet (I'm going to finish it because I guess I feel I need to be punished for something) but from the sounds of everything, that part with the impregnated upstanding female citizens from the beginning of the game is a horrible, offensive and downright sickeningly unfunny moment, and this is from someone who just made a terribly unfunny and uncalled-for rape joke just a moment ago (OH GOD I'M CHANNELING DUKE!) I don't know how I'm going to react when I get there, but I can say that after spending even a few minutes with any and all the "characters" in the game, the desire for them all to get ridiculously brutally violent deaths is insatiable. I think I'm probably not going to mind that part of the game so much just because it'll mean those stupid filthy whores will finally shut up, and I have a feeling that everyone at Gearbox feels the same way. It might not be misogyny, it might just be really, really bad writing and acting.

I feel like I should point out that I'm sort of joking. I'm not trying to defend something that I haven't even seen yet, and I doubt I'll be trying to defend it once I do. Especially when it's such a crap game overall. This game could have been a wonderful return to the retro-shooter. A Duke 3D 2. Instead, Dude-Bro's Turd Throw is just a disappointing but oddly fascinating collection of every thought a crazy person had over the last decade. It's like swimming through the mind of a racist grandmother, only replace all the recipes for delicious confectionary treats with creepy boobs.

It's like swimming through the mind of a racist grandmother, only replace all the recipes for delicious confectionary treats with creepy boobs.

More f*cking enabling, as if I wasn't conflicted enough on playing this game.

So we might see "Custer's Revenge Forever"?

Sounds like the game is worth than even the Bombcast made it out to be. And they ripped it for the first 20+ minutes this week.

nm