Duke Nukem Forever

Was it good Duke? The game, I mean. Yeah, but after 12 years it better be!
Hail to the king baby! I love this game and I really wish Duke would get some more screen time. The classic alpha male boomer shooter reboot was awesome to me when it came out, and still fun for this most recent play through. Nice mix of puzzles, driving stages, classic Duke humor, and blasting the crap out of aliens.
Maybe it's just me but I feel like a good joke never dies. So it's weird seeing people complain of "outdated humor". Like I don't even understand what that means. Jokes are only funny for a short shelf life? I don't have an attention span that can be measured in nano seconds, so I still find the references and memes they packed in to be hilarious.
I had a great time playing this again and I truly hope more Duke games come around some day!

At the time this game came out it was judged by the contemporary standard of gaming.

Now that we have seen where games have gone, this is nothing but a breath of fresh air and nostalgia for times long gone.

HAIL TO THE KING!!!!

i dont care what anyone says this game made my dick grow by 6 inches with all the testosterone its a great game

Liked it, not as good as classic Duke Nukem 3D and it's expansions. Sad the saga seems ending with this title.... Hope we can get more Duke in the future.

Duke Nukem Forever is a game whose reputation preceded it long before players ever got their hands on it. After fourteen years of turbulent development, multiple engine changes, studio shifts, and endless delays, the final product—completed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games—arrived in 2011 carrying expectations no game could realistically meet. What players ultimately received was a strange artifact: a first-person shooter stuck between two eras, part relic of late-1990s design and part attempt to modernize a formula that had been left behind by the evolution of the genre. The result is uneven, at times entertaining, but more often a reminder of how dramatically standards had changed during Duke’s long absence.
From the beginning, Duke Nukem Forever tries hard to recapture the swagger that made its predecessor iconic. Duke still fires off crass jokes, punches aliens, indulges in self-referential humor, and behaves like an over-the-top caricature of ‘90s hyper-masculinity. For players who grew up with the character, there are moments of nostalgic amusement, especially when Duke pokes fun at modern shooters or revels in absurd bravado. The premise itself—aliens return to Earth, steal the women, and force Duke out of retirement—is exactly the kind of unapologetically pulp setup fans expected. In a vacuum, the charm of that simplicity still works, but the game constantly struggles to keep pace with a gaming landscape that had moved on from its crude comedic sensibilities.
Visually, the game shows the strain of its disjointed development. Environments vary wildly in detail and tone, ranging from reasonably polished sections to areas that look as if they were lifted from an early 2000s prototype. Textures frequently appear blurry, lighting is flat or inconsistent, and character models often lack the finesse expected of a modern shooter—especially one released alongside titles like Crysis 2 and Battlefield 3. The constant loading screens, sometimes triggered after short segments, further date the experience and interrupt its pacing. Even at launch, these elements felt behind the curve, and as time has passed, the game’s technical shortcomings have only become more apparent.
Gameplay fares only marginally better. Duke Nukem Forever borrows heavily from classic FPS design—limited mobility, straightforward firefights, simple puzzles, and linear levels—yet it also attempts to incorporate modern ideas like regenerating health (framed as Duke’s “ego”) and a two-weapon limit. Unfortunately, these elements conflict rather than complement each other. Combat feels restricted due to the weapon limit, removing the chaotic arsenal variety that defined Duke’s earlier adventures. Movement can feel stiff, hit detection inconsistent, and enemy encounters repetitive. The game does experiment with several set pieces—vehicle sections, platforming segments, mini-games—but many of these diversions feel undercooked, contributing more to pacing problems than to excitement.
The humor, a defining trait of the series, ends up being one of its most divisive qualities. Duke’s crude quips, sexual jokes, and edgy bravado were once part of his appeal, but by 2011, much of the humor felt outdated or forced. The game constantly leans on objectification, toilet jokes, and shock value without offering the cleverness or self-awareness that might have made those elements land better. Some players still enjoy Duke’s brand of immaturity, appreciating it as deliberately over-the-top satire, but many found the writing juvenile in ways that detract from the overall experience rather than elevate it.
Multiplayer offers a handful of modes, including deathmatch and objective-based games, but these features lack the depth, map variety, or long-term progression found in contemporary multiplayer shooters. At best, it provides a brief distraction; at worst, it feels like an afterthought, another artifact of a design philosophy that struggled to modernize Duke’s formula.
Despite its shortcomings, Duke Nukem Forever isn’t entirely devoid of entertainment. There are scattered moments where the old-school charm briefly shines—whether through an elaborate boss battle, a nostalgic reference, or sections that embrace the absurdity of the franchise. The game occasionally captures that chaotic, juvenile fun that made Duke a cultural icon, and for dedicated fans, that may be enough to justify a playthrough. However, those moments are overshadowed by inconsistent mechanics, dated visuals, and pacing issues that keep the game from ever hitting its stride.
In the end, Duke Nukem Forever stands less as a triumphant revival and more as a cautionary tale. It serves as a time capsule of a bygone era of shooters and a reminder of how dramatically the industry evolved during its prolonged development. For players willing to embrace its flaws, it offers a curious, sometimes amusing, sometimes frustrating glimpse into what might have been. For most others, it remains a flawed attempt to resurrect a legend whose moment had long passed.
Rating: 6/10

Yeah, this game is no where near as good as Duke Nukem 3D, but I don't think it's as bad as everyone says it is. Outside of the dated graphics and humor, the game is alright. There's still a lot of environmental interactivity, you can increase your health in various ways, and many Duke 3D enemies and weapons return. The shooting is actually kinda fun, I liked weapons like the shotgun and the shrinker, many Duke 3D enemies like the Assault Troopers, Octabrains and Pigcops return with many of them being not changed that much, and I think most of them are satisfying to kill. The game often has puzzles and driving sections that serve as distractions from the combat and I didn't care much for them. Boss fights suck since the bosses can easily kill you and there's no checkpoints between boss phases. So you fought the final boss and you die in the last phase? Too bad, you are sent to the beginning of the fight.
Duke Nukem Forever is not really a bad game imo, just alright. The combat is actually fun and the minigames are fun especially if you play them to get health boosts. But then the bad boss fights, the sections that distract you from the combat and other things bog the experience down.
7/10

You know what I think when I hear Duke Nukem? Driving and platforming.

Even when this game came out, it was mid. And it stays the same in 2025.

The crude, edgy humour will be hit or miss for most.
You seem to spend more time solving environmental puzzles and driving than shooting aliens.

The devs clearly enjoyed Half-Life, as many of the puzzles would be right at home in that game.

Took me 6 hours to finish.
5/10