Not a bad game, just not impressive, but it's still good.
I can see why this game is criticised. Graphically it is reminiscent of F.E.A.R. which looks very dated. The gameplay, or perhaps gunplay, also reminds me of F.E.A.R. - it largely has the same engine I believe and movement is much the same. Even your compatriots look very much like your colleagues in F.E.A.R.
I was also reminded of Unreal Tournament several times whilst playing the game, most notably with the rail gun. But perhaps mostly this game shares a lot of similarities with the Resistance franchise, with some of the alien protagonists looking very similar, and the same with the textures and stylings of the Alien nests.
There's nothing new within this game, the load times are annoying (but not massively annoying for me as I didn't die too frequently too often - only in a few places were things particularly difficult). The sexism is a bit silly and offensive, i'm no prude but i do find some of it a bit sick - i won't say what exactly so that i'm not spoiling it for anyone. The driving levels are a bit ho-hum, and frankly the mini driving games (in the RC vehicles), the handling is pretty crap. Am I allowed to say crap in a review? If not, the handling was pretty ordinary. If so, it was crap.
I didn't find too much in the way of retro enjoyment, although I very much enjoyed Duke 3D back in the day, and I found the game to be pretty linear (much more so than some reviewers have stated) and overall very derivative and nothing special. Oh, also I found the multiplayer pathetic, basically, and totally reminiscent of Unreal Tournament / F.E.A.R. mods of several years ago. OK, you can have some fun with multiplayer for as long as the rooms will be busy but this is in no way better than any other multiplayer game and could in no way be a recommendation for purchasing the game with multiplayer as a focus.
Having said all those negative aspects, i'm enjoying the game quite a bit, and despite it's lack of originality I do prefer it over some much higher rated FPSs'.
Duke is better than Singularity, Wolfenstein and Crysis 2. Yes, Crysis 2. Why? Probably because of the woeful A.I. that Crysis 2 has. Sure, all of the above games are (much) more polished than Duke, and each have new things that they've brought to the FPS table, but for sheer enjoyment, sheer fun, i've preferred Duke.
That's not to say that Duke is great fun or a brilliant game - it isn't. It's alright though. Definitely worth picking up for $30 or so. Personally I've bought it upon release so I can trade it in for much the same price.
I guess I'm mostly considering it in relation to F.E.A.R., which I really enjoyed, but without all the Horror schtick and replaced in a slightly less slick but ultimately fairly broad and entirely competent Duke world. I'm also comparing it with Resistance 2, and although Duke isn't as fast paced, fails with regards to story and has inferior load times and such, Duke isn't too much behind Resistance 2.
The upshot is that if this game were released 4 years ago I would say that it would be consistently highly rated. It's not an impressive game, in any way, so it would be difficult to give the game a high score, but fairs fair, it's a shooter and it functions perfectly competently in that regard.
I think the game deserves a 6 out of 10, but i'm giving it a 7 as regardless of its faults, and how graphically and otherwise its competitors may be superior, in and of itself this is a nice, fun, competent and working game. Perhaps i'm being a little forgiving as it is, afterall, the Duke, and personally I had low expectations for this game to begin with, wheras I had much higher and more exacting expectations for the likes of Crysis 2. So my advice would ultimately be to lower your expectations, and pick this up either as a rental or when it becomes affordable. For me the magic price ticket would be $30.