Shooting blanks

Duke Nukem Forever, the sequel to the 1996 game Duke Nukem 3D, is an action first-person shooter video game for Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Intended to be groundbreaking, Duke Nukem Forever became infamous in the video game industry and its name became synonymous with vaporware, due to its severely-protracted development sch-edule – the game was released this year but had been in development since 1996.

The game takes place about 12 years after the events of Duke Nukem 3D, and Duke is now a global icon thanks to his heroic deeds.

While on his way to a talk show, Duke witnesses a news broadcast announcing that aliens have once again invaded, but this time peacefully. Duke’s talk show appearance is cancelled to allow television stations to cover the alien invasion, while he retires to the Duke Cave.

There, he receives a call from the president who orders him not to harm the invaders, and adds that he is in diplomatic talks with the alien overlord. Duke obliges, but remains uneasy. His hunch is proven right because, before he can leave his chambers, he is attacked by hostile aliens.

Disobeying the president’s orders, he fights his way through the alien hordes but cannot stop the aliens from abducting his two live-in pop star girlfriends.

Eventually, he finds them, but they have been impregnated with alien spawn – Duke’s girlfriends die after giving birth to alien babies. In revenge, Duke finds the alien queen in control and kills her, but is wounded in process and blacks out.

After regaining consciousness, Duke travels to the Hoover Dam in his monster truck – here, he finds his old friend Dylan, mortally wounded.

Dylan tells Duke that the cycloid emperor is at the dam. Before dying, he gives Duke his demolition charges – Duke places the explosives and destroys the dam, but the currents nearly drown him.

When he comes round, the portal is gone. The president, who was also at the dam, rages at Duke for ruining his plans and orders a nuclear strike at the site of the dam to wipe out the remaining aliens, intending to leave Duke there to die.

However, the cycloid emperor kills the president and his security detail. Duke kills the cycloid emperor and is rescued as the nuclear bomb explodes.

The game ends with a satellite surveying the detonation area. A short scene after the closing credits depicts a press conference, where Duke announces his intention to run for president of the United States.

Players control Duke as they navigate through a series of levels. The game allows players to interact with various in-game objects, including whiteboards which allow players to draw their own images.

The gameplay is similar to the first-person shooter games of the late 1990s, with each level culminating in a boss battle.

Unlike in the previous games, Duke can only hold two weapons at any one time, although pipe bombs and laser tripwires are not limited by this restriction.

Items that have an effect on Duke, including beer, can be picked up by the player.

Instead of the health system in previous installments, Duke Nukem Forever employs an ego bar which depletes when Duke is attacked. Once it is fully depleted, Duke becomes susceptible to damage. The player can increase the size of the ego bar by interacting with certain items throughout the game and by defeating bosses.

Duke Nukem Forever received a mixed to negative reception. Most of the criticism has been directed towards the game’s clunky controls on consoles, shooting mechanics, and overall dated design.

Another gripe was that a huge chunk of the game is spent simply walking from one fight to another through uninspired corridors. Overall average rating of the game across multiple review sites was five out of 10 stars.

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