Play the game for what it is.. its better than never playing it at all.
I remember owning an EDGE magazine back in the mid 90s with 2 screenshots of Duke Nukem Forever and have been waiting every since.
Duke Nukem 3D still is an amazing game, and still fun to play today and while I go back to Duke 3D from time to time, I can't really see myself going back to Duke Nukem Forever in 10 years dispite it being a direct sequel.
The game isn't bad by any means, the game is as I expected considering its been passed from one developer to another over a 12 year period. This is a 90's game that may never have seen the light of day but atleast we can now close the book.
The games opening is brilliant, I must admit I spent way too long throwing wet feces around the locker room. Its a short prequel to the final moments of Duke 3D and starts the game off with a great feeling of nostalgia.
Once the Cycloid Emperor is slayed we pan out to hear Duke first not quite so subtle dig at the time it took to make the game.
Now if you're like me you enjoy the quiet moments usually found at the start of the game where you can walk around, take in the environment, interact with this and listen to all the NPC chatter and Duke doesn't disappoint when it comes to interacting.
You can pretty much interact with everything from pool tables, lockers, pinball machines, slots, taps, plug sockets, mirrors, toilets, cupboards, microwaves and clusters of weird boobies.. the list is endless. Many of which give you a "Ego" boost which permanently increases your health, so it pays off being one of those people who must mess with everything before moving on.
NPC's on the other hand don't look terrible but their animations are abit stiff and they only usually have one line of dialog. Mouth movement is also poor but not that bad.
Environments are nice although I sometimes can't help but think more time went into designing the toilets. But there are some great classic locations, casinos, strip clubs and Duke burger. The lighting at times may seem abit dark but thats why Duke comes equipt with his Duke Vision.
There are textures that are blurred/pixelated while others are sharp and clear, this is somewhat thrown in your face when picking up a porn magazine and have a face full of pixelated boobies. Its also very noticeable when Duke is shrunk down.
I found that the levels were paced quite well, but did feel that combat was infrequent and short at times but dispite that I always enjoyed a nice puzzle many of which are easily solveable if you have played Half Life 2.
Driving levels are also very reminiscent of Half Life 2 as they are long and broken up with pit stops where you must solve a puzzle or have a shoot out in an old western style town in order to refuel your monster truck.
A level that stands out most is when Duke is shrunk down in Duke burger and the kitchen is flooded and to make matters worse the water is electrified.
Duke must make his way around the kitchen counters, hopping on burgers and smashing condimentsout of the way while being harrased by shrunken pigs throwing tins at you.
The enemies are pretty much the same from Duke 3D, with slight variations and new attacks. Octobrains for example now have the ability to throw objects at you including your own pipe bombs.
Bosses turn up just at the right time to add an extra challenge, I did find that I died atleast once on each boss (although not on the last boss oddly enough).
The humour is everything you would expect from Duke Nukem, politically incorrect misogynistic macho bull**** and you wouldnt want it any other way.
But sometimes its the simple things like make you laugh like references to others games such as Half Life, Halo, Doom and weirdly Donkey Kong (which you can see coming a mile off) but best of all when Duke mocks the sound of a industrial fan shutting down.. even my Wife had a chuckle from accross the room.
While it doesn't fix things or make them more exciting, Dukes little digs at the current activity such as "valve puzzles" is a nice little nod to the player almost saying "yeah its been done before, its boring, we know".
Is the game perfect, no. But it has its moments and if anything is more than I expected from a 12 year old game. I'd rather have played it and enjoyed it for what it is than to have never played it at all.