“Duke Nukem Forever is an action first-person shooter video game (for those that are new to the game series).
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 schedule; the game had been in development since 1996.
Upon its release in June 2011, Duke Nukem Forever received mixed to negative reviews from critics.
The game takes place about twelve years after the events of Duke Nukem 3D. Duke is now a worldwide icon, and has achieved great fame from his heroic deeds.
After sampling a video game based on his past heroics (the game Duke plays is actually a revamped version of the final level of Duke Nukem 3D), he arrives on the set of a talk show for an interview.
On his way to the show, Duke witnesses a news broadcast on a nearby television screen announcing that aliens have once again invaded.
Unlike previous encounters, the aliens initially appear peaceful and at first seem to pose no harm to the humans of Earth. Duke's talk show appearance is canceled to allow television stations to cover the alien invasion, and he retires to the "Duke Cave".
There, he receives a call from the president and General Graves of the military. The president orders him to not harm the invaders, and adds that he is in diplomatic talks with the alien overlord. Duke obliges this request, but remains uneasy about the whole situation. However, before he can even leave his chambers, he is attacked by hostile aliens. Duke is forced to disobey the president's orders and fight his way through the alien hordes in an effort to save Earth yet again.
Duke learns that the Hoover Dam has become an alien wormhole bringing in more hordes, and he travels to it with the use of his "Mighty Foot" monster truck. After battling his way through the hordes that have taken over, he realizes the only way to close the wormhole is by blowing up the whole dam. He retrieves some charges from a dying soldier and places them at the base of the dam, destroying it.
After escaping from the flooding interior, he meets up with an enraged president who orders a nuclear missile to attack the Hoover Dam where Duke is. Before he can leave, however, the Cycloid Emperor appears and destroys his escort vehicle and everyone he sees, including the president himself. After killing the Cycloid Emperor, General Graves appears in a vehicle and airlifts Duke out before the nuke hits, destroying everything in the area. An EDF transmission declares Duke Killed In Action, with Duke stating, "What kind of shit ending is that? I ain't dead! I'm coming back for more!" A post-credit scene shows Duke at a press-conference where he announces that he will run for president.
Players take control of Nukem as they navigate through a series of levels which take place on Earth and beyond. The game allows players to interact with various in-game objects, including urinals, water coolers and whiteboards which allow players to draw their own images. The gameplay is similar in some respects to the First Person Shooter games of the late 1990s and early 2000s, with each level culminating in a boss battle in which Nukem has to fight and kill a large, significant alien.
Unlike in the previous games, Nukem can only hold two weapons at any one time in a manner similar to the Halo series, although pipe bombs are considered inventory items and as such are not limited by this restriction. Items that have an effect on Nukem can be picked up by the player, these are steroids, beer and a holoduke. Steroids increase the strength of his melee attacks by a great deal for a limited time, beer makes him much more resistant to damage but blurs the screen and a holoduke creates a hologram of Duke Nukem that looks and acts in a very similar way to Duke but often says slightly twisted versions of his one-liners. Whilst the holoduke is in effect, Nukem becomes invisible, the AI characters do not recognise his presence.
Instead of the health system featured in previous Duke Nukem games in which health would be depleted when Nukem was injured and would only increase upon finding a health pack, Duke Nukem Forever employs a system involving an 'ego bar'.
The ego bar depletes when Nukem is attacked, once it is fully depleted, Nukem is susceptible to damage, if the player avoids further damage the ego bar is restored, as is Nukem's health. The player can increase the size of the ego bar (thus increasing the amount of damage Nukem can take) by interacting with certain items throughout the game, a mirror, for example, and by defeating bosses.
For intending to be a 'groundbreaking' game, I can't say I agree with that statement, expected more out of the game but nonetheless I'm sure a lot of copies will be sold only due to the fact that is is a 'Duke Nukem' game.”
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