YES!! YES!! YESS!! IT’S HERE!! IT’S HERE!! THIS IS GOING TO BE SO TOTALLY AWSOME!!!

That was what I was thinking when Duke Nukem Forever came through the letter box. I’d been waiting for 13 years, kept track of all the promises and problems and like so many people at one point or another excepted the truth, that there will be no Duke Nukem Forever. Even through the lead up to release there was always doubt. And all that vanished when game was in my hands.

The story is as simple. “Aliens come to Earth, Duke is sent to kill aliens”. However a more in depths description in my opinion would be, “Over powered aliens come to Earth. Duke is sent to kill over powered aliens by using under powered weapons, whilst also trying to survive bad level designs, annoyingly difficult platform puzzles and loading times long enough to make you feel board and frustrated.

As far as presentation goes the game looks and sounds better than a lot of games today…..If today was June 20^th 2001. The frame rate is ridiculously bad and everything overall looks and sounds dull and unexciting.

The game dose feels nostalgic for a short time once the action properly kicks off, for those who played Duke Nukem 3D. The classic Duke enemies and weapons return, you are able to interact with most of the objects in the game which dose help to change the pace. You can play pinball, air hockey and shoot hoops. There is also collectables in the form of messages on answer machines and interacting with unique objects to increase you “Ego Meter” which Duke has instead of a health meter.

Apart from the one liners and occasionally fun gun fights there truly is nothing spectacular about his game. The same formula is used though out. Walk through the level, come to a dead end, kill set amount of enemies, dead end opens up, solve boring unimaginative puzzle, walk through map, kill enemies, get to boss battle, circle around cover whilst shooting at boss, boss gets crippled, use quick time event to finish off boss…..yawn. This “excitement” is dispersed on occasion with boring turret battles and being able to drive barely controllable vehicles through some levels.

The multiplayer it has to be said, dose provide more excitement than the single player. Keeping it simple with only 3 game modes, death match, capture the flag and king of the hill, this is a part of the game that was right to go old school, with weapon spawn points and some crazy “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?” moments. There is also some replay value here with a level up system and unlock-ables that you can view in Duke’s penthouse.

One problem that this game also suffers from is an identity crisis. There is constant “poking fun” at other first person shooters such as Halo, Call of Duty and even Portal and yet Duke can only carry two guns at a time and has a regenerating health system. It is very much a definition of the pot calling the kettle black.

If this game came out when it was suppose too, 10 years ago, it would have been fantastic. But the genre has moved on and grown since development started and Duke Nukem Forever just feels dated as a result.

There are two type of people will play  this game. The loyal Duke fans and the casual first person shooter fans. The Duke’s may feel some enjoyment but will also feel ultimately let down and disappointed, and the casuals will more than likely feel screwed out of forty quid, and trade it in as sood as possible before the price begins to drop.

If this had been a generic FPS it would just be a fail. However due to the fact that it is Duke, with all the wait, the hype and ultimately the disapointment, it can’t be given anything but an…

Published by: 2K Games

Developed by: Gearbox Software / 3D Realms

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Release Date: Europe: June 10, 2011

PEGI: 18+

Available On: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360