The Duke is back, of course with a few problems, but kicking ass once again...
I'm not saying that I like this game because I am a Duke fan, but the game does show merits that I don't see in other shooters to date. Playing DNF does bring the nostalgia of playing old shooters like DN3D or Quake, through the open level design (Not sand box, but arguably less linear than say Call of Duty), shooter exploration (a dying trait) and environmental interaction (Like throwing a Frisbee and playing Air Hockey!). Its a good shooter at best with a good control layout and many moments that I quite liked. I do like the levels which range from battling in a Duke Burger, the Hoover Dam and riding through the Mohave ghost towns. For me the game is just simple fun.
However, there are some problems that I do agree with Critics, such as :
- Long load times, which really can piss you off as completing a mission, loading your game or going to the menu will incur a lengthy load time. Not a plus.
-Dated Visuals, the graphics admittedly don't fare well, as many textures are bland and anti-aliasing doesn't hold up in cleaning up edges. Interior levels (such as the Alien hive) tend to look a lot better than the Exterior counterparts.
- Gameplay developer choices ( which may range from opinion to opinion), the choice of only two guns to carry through the campaign is a drawback. DNF tries to be a modern fps (with obviously a retro past), but some "modern" changes might not necessarily be as effective for Duke.
Despite these drawbacks, I feel DNF did not deserve the score it got from GameSpot or other sites like IGN. I have played far worse games than DNF (Seriously 3/10? ), and I encourage people to try the game.Near 15 years of development, I don't think anything can qualm the hype about the game after so long. I look forward to a sequel in the series(If Gearbox and Take 2 can really deal with the embarrassment of the reviews) and I wont be selling my copy anytime soon.