The Duke Nukem Forever demo is available if you have pre-ordered it. "Forever" might be an apt title given how long it has been in the making. But all that is water under the bridge, the demo is here and a few have played it. Here, BASHandSlash.com contributor xXToYeDXx talks about his experiences with the latest Duke Nukem.
I just finished playing through the demo for Duke Nukem Forever and I'd like to share my thoughts with all of you.
First
off, the demo was fairly short. It only took me about 10 minutes to
finish it. It included the first level shown in the reveal demo and one
level not shown yet. But this is just a demo and it doesn't reflect the
length of the final full release.
Secondly, I wasn't impressed
with the fact that only two weapons can be carried at a time. In previous
Duke games you could carry every weapon simultaneously and were selected by depressing keys
1 through 0.
In DNF's demo,
you're limited to 2 weapons at a time and must drop one to pick up
another.
Weapons included in demo:
Devastator
RPG
M1911
Shrink Ray
Railgun - With sniper scope
Minigun
Mounted MG
Tripmine - Which I didn't find in the demo, but I did find the texture file included in the demo files.
Thirdly,
I wasn't impressed by the new melee system. In DN3D the melee was the
Mighty Foot. Something Duke fans took quite a liking too. Although it
did make its return, it is only used for execution kills. Standard melee
attack is just a quick bash with your weapon. Not very true to the
original.
Sound was fairly decent. It sells the fact that this is
a Duke game. Duke still talks a good game and peels off many of his old quotes as well as a handful of
new ones.
Graphics were a mixed bag. On one hand the character
and weapon models were incredibly good looking but on the other hand the
environment detail left quite a bit to be desired. Low res objects even
at very close range pull you out of the game and remind you that you
are only playing a game. Some of the objects even go as far as looking
like they were taken from the PS2 era.
Controls were great.
Everything you'd expect from a PC shooter. You have your choice of
Toggle/Hold Crouch and Zoom. Mouse sensitivity and Mouse precision. Use a
gamepad *cough*, hell no *cough* or KB/M. Aim assist is in the PC
version but I doubt any of us here will need it. And to clarify, YES it
is a toggleable option. You can turn it off which I did. You also have
many more control options, letting you bind every action to your own
preference of keys and mouse buttons.
Scores:
Graphics: 6/10
Sound: 7/10
Controls: 8.5/10
Gameplay: 4/10 or 7.5/10*
Overall: 6.38/10 or 7.25/10
Overall
it's a game that seems will deliver a fun Duke experience but I have to
protest to high levels of unnecessary immaturity. I mean you'd expect
some level of immaturity out of a Duke game but some of the stuff just
goes a bit too far. Peeing into a urinal is cool, picking up human
feces out of the toilet and throwing it is not. Nevertheless, it will
deliver on the overall fun we had with the originals.
*Two
separate scores for two different types of Duke fans. I scored it 4/10
for the players looking for a Duke game that is true to the originals,
and 7.5/10 for those just looking for a good Duke game and don't care
whether its true to the originals.
I just finished playing through the demo for Duke Nukem Forever and I'd like to share my thoughts with all of you.
