Duke nukem forever review. Turn back time. Review of the game Duke Nukem Forever. Minority Report - XTR
About a hard fate DNF only the lazy does not know. Almost sixteen years in development - an absolute record in the gaming industry. Several engine changes, financial conflicts, dismissals of key figures in the team, lawsuits. It seemed that Duke nukem forever will never come out. And yet it came out - pieced together by former 3D Realms employees (now at Triptych Games), with the help of Gearbox Software - but it did.
Duke Nukem Whatever
| System requirements |
|
Core 2 Duo / Athlon 64 X2 2 GHz 1 GB memory GeForce 7600 / Radeon HD 2600 10 GB on hard drive |
| Recommended Requirements |
|
Core 2 Duo / Athlon 64 X2 2.6 GHz 2 GB memory GeForce 8800 GTS / Radeon HD 3850 10 GB on hard drive |
The duration of the action is quite standard for today's shooters. Twenty-three chapters can take you 7-10 hours, depending on the difficulty. True, exactly what to take away. The protracted development has sadly affected the integrity of the game. Taking as a basis the once revolutionary (and today - usual) interactivity of the environment, 3D Realms / Triptych added modern features: idiotic "checkpoints" without normal saves, two weapon slots instead of a full-fledged arsenal, automatically regenerating health (in this case, Duke's "ego") and etc. It turned out that they did not please either those "who are over 30", nor the youth, already accustomed to console simplifications, but turning up their nose from "old school". In the era of huge open spaces and large-scale levels, we are treated to tiny maps a few minutes long, ending with a disgusted "Loading ..." screen. Attempts to make of DNF fashionable "rail" attraction looks pathetic against the background of the latest series Call of duty, and even something simpler and cheaper. Although, I will not hide, amusing moments come across towards the end.
That the main enemies, that the "bosses" are almost completely teleported from DN3D... Triggers, as usual, summon a new brood, marking the end of the wave with a separate sound. Self-copying also affected weapons and inventory items: the Holoduke visual emulator, glasses with Duke Vision, the Devastator double-barreled grenade launcher, etc. Half-life 2... Oh, yes, the most important thing: to kick out DN3D added "fatality" by hand. The years have not been in vain!
However, there are also pluses - officially legalized " Easter eggs”(Or the fulfillment of certain conditions, such as winning in air hockey), replenish the“ Ego ”of the hero and bring him closer to the next“ achievement ”. Despite the overwhelming vulgarity here and there, there are funny jokes, remarks and cultural references. AI for a shooter is also not bad - aliens, especially flying ones, try to escape from the crosshair, hide behind obstacles and occasionally throw grenades. At the "impossible" level of difficulty from the middle of the game, perhaps, it will be difficult. Here only "Insane" opens after passing on a simple "Hard". How many people want to re-defeat an ordinary shooter with an unremarkable mechanic?
Duke of duty
Piranha Games, responsible, apart from porting to console, for multiplayer in DNF, clearly does not possess much experience in this area. Fantasy (or funds?) Was enough for commonplaces: single and team "defmatches", a variation on the theme of CTF with kicking girls and Hail to the King - a modified mode with control of points. And if in the "single" the levels are small, then in the multiplayer they are generally Lilliputian. The maximum number of players (limit - 8 people) has nowhere to turn around, which is why the battles resemble a bunch of mala with flashing identical ducks in different hats. Poorly balanced weapons, a modest set of mutators, a jetpack useless at such a scale - it seems that the multiplayer mode was done for unsubscribing. All the more surprising is the ability to "drown" overly chatty opponents in the voice chat - not every competitor can boast of this. The sloppy picture is complemented by fashionable "challenges", the growth of the experience bar and the trophy room, where objects earned in the sweat of their brow and ... not objects fall.
Duke Loadin "Forever
The engine, stuck somewhere between 2004 and 2007, is ready to compete with Quake 4 and even with “ Cleaner". Or, what the hell is not kidding, with Source in version Half-life 2... Oiled textures in low resolution are combined with good shader effects like steam. Bloom and blur are intended to compensate for the low poly environment. Underwater locations bring back memories of DN3D- there the water was sold not much worse. In a strange way, the graphic performance gradually improves with each level - perhaps the final cards are entirely on the conscience of new designers and artists. However, what to demand from the monster of Frankenstein? The code easily contains pieces of the Unreal Engine of the furry year of release, and the physics is responsible for the Meqon technology, which was absorbed by the PhysX authors back in 2005.
For such a technically outdated project, DNF loads levels (including Quick Load) at a surprisingly leisurely pace. The problem, however, has almost escaped AMD products and modern Intel multi-core chips. Owners of dual-core Core 2 Duo can do it, but console players have to come to terms with the engine slowdown - patches are unlikely to cure long downloads. And even weaker (in comparison with PC) textures and sagging fps are completely disappointing.
The game does not respond very well to Alt + Tab and sometimes crashes for no reason, and in multiplayer it may not find games in the Game Browser and terribly slow down when the server is brought up. It's unclear what Triptych / Gearbox has been polishing over the past few months. Not your own balls of steel?
Duke forever after
Russian-speaking players are traditionally driven to the reservation - on Steam DNF do not buy, shop from the official publisher. Or running to Gamer's Gate, and even then when the sales start. Got the Russian version and want the original voiceover? Do it - listen to Shrek! What were the localizers guided by when inviting the actor Alexey Kolgan, known as a stunt double for the green ogre? I hope, not by the similarity of the names of the fourth part of the cartoon and Duke Nukem Forever ... The specific vocal data of Alexei does not at all correspond to the canonical voice for the series Jon St. John... Moreover, the domestic obscene voice acting is "sounded", which only emphasizes the general toothlessness. You either take off the cross, or put on your pants. The resulting shame was described in advance by the main character himself - "I've got balls of ... fail."
Invaders Duke Nukem Must Die
At the end of the campaign, Duke gives out a couple of bold hints of a sequel. Some gifted fans advise buying DNF just for this sequel to appear. I now see a scary creature in front of me: a gray-haired anabolic "miracle", with prostheses from different engines, with a gear in the chest and a triptych around the neck, with marketing in the veins and casual foolishness instead of reflexes. No, we don't need such a Duke. And sponsoring something like that is like taking a VAZ 2109, hoping that someday ... Better to download the free Duke Nukem 3D High Resolution Pack and return to the blonde, full of narcissism, but with a "bump" all over his head. DIXI.
NVIDIA 3D Vision Technology Support: 7 out of 10
Technology testing equipment provided by NVIDIA.
As this tall blond man in size 46 black boots walked down the street, the pigs and octabreins cringed in fear in anticipation of a kick in the face with their boots. "Time to kick ass and chew gum!" - he declared in a loud voice, only his gum was quickly running out. Despite this, he did not get lost and always found something to do to his liking - he played pinball, pawed girls, watched porn, in between, he managed to save the world from aliens, and even joke about it! Suddenly he disappeared, but promised to return. Years passed, and periodic vows about the imminent arrival of Duke more and more resembled the pink bubbles of the very same gum. Therefore, until the final release date for Duke Nukem Forever, we were afraid that our dream would burst at the last moment, spreading disappointment over our face. But now we are already clicking on the black and yellow shortcut for the game and we hear such a familiar voice, making us believe that after so many years everything will be as great as before.
And at first everything looks exactly like that! Hardly anyone would refuse to draw on the blackboard with a marker all sorts of lewdness that convinces EDF soldiers of Duke's tactical genius. Or to score a goal with the single eye of the alien emperor, after you thoroughly beat his owner at the football stadium from the famous “destroyer”. The familiar pinball machine, jokes about steroids and the attention of girls - the very first minutes of the game are literally stuffed with Duke's trademark humor, which has not deteriorated in the least for so many years. Deja Vu will continue further, but the starting delight will slowly begin to be replaced by slight bewilderment. One side, Duke nukem forever is a kind of bulkhead of original ideas in a new way. The elements of old school are visible at every step, but the game does not allow us to unleash their full potential.
Yes, with such a weapon in your hands, you can demolish mountains worse than in the recent Red Faction: Armageddon! It was not so. Not only is Duke, rocked by steroids, now weakened for the sake of modern industry trends and cannot carry all the weapons found at once, as before, so the world proved to be almost completely immune to the killer guns! There is no destruction model. At all. You can blow up barrels, fire extinguishers and break glass, but you cannot damage walls. At best, they will collapse in the places strictly designated by the game, but otherwise you will have to be content with just a hint of bullet holes. Sadly, the vast majority of the scenery in the game is completely static. And if at first you will be willingly entertained by playing billiards and pinball, drawing doodles and exercises in the gym, then soon all mini-games will come to naught, without distracting Duke from his main activity - saving the Earth.
You will have to save her all from the same pig farmers, octabranes and a dozen other painfully familiar opponents. Throughout most of the game, all you will do is rip off their muzzles with a kick, crush the smaller aliens with your boot, shoot them with a shotgun ... Beauty! If it hadn't been surprisingly boring. The standard shootout in the game looks like this. The main character finds himself in a hall, which is studded with columns, where several waves of blunt opponents are landing on it. We've dealt with the first three, get ready to land the second ... and then the third and fourth, until you are finally released from the locked location. Never mind that sometimes battles take place in the open air. You are always limited to a rectangular area with several shelters, where new portions of enemies fall over and over again. We understand that in the original Duke Nukem 3D everything was exactly the same, but since then this combat mechanic does not seem insanely original anymore!
Moreover, the game has become lighter than the original thanks to another newfangled tendency that has seeped into Duke's world. It is about the notorious restoration of health, here called "ego". Fortunately, despite the narrow-mindedness of their opponents, they are strong enough to periodically make us admire Duke's broken glasses until his self-esteem returns to normal. And the idea of drinking beer and steroids looks, though not new, but quite curious. From alcohol, Duke begins to float before his eyes, but he becomes tenacious to enemy attacks. And throwing a handful of steroids over his cheek, our pumped-up hero, with one blow of his fist, smashes ordinary opponents to pieces, prohibitively increasing the value hand-to-hand combat in Game.
But Duke did not have enough doping for the whole game, so the developers often offer us a break from shooting, turning the brightest hero of shooters into a kind of arcade Mario. A couple of successful ideas embodied in trips on a toy car and its analogue remote control are lost against the background of entire levels, during which you will have to jump through boxes, climb pipes and walk along dark corridors. Due to the archaic level design already noted above, it all looks very boring and would rather drive you into a slumber than relieve tension after shootouts.
Although some of them are capable of sending you to the kingdom of Morpheus themselves better than any sleeping pill. This is because the developers overuse the virtual shooting range. Heavy machine guns are placed every couple of episodes, and the shooting from them is implemented an order of magnitude more primitive than in any other modern shooter. So you make your way to the final battles with stage bosses (whose algorithm of actions remained at the level original game) fighting boredom, and only Duke's greasy humor can make you move on.
Hail to the king, baby! This dictum is the best fit Duke nukem forever... But not at all because the game was able to come close to the success of the original project, at least within the distance of a cyclops eye after hitting it with Duke's boot. Just because of the presence of the king of brutal shooters of all time, it is worth your attention. Otherwise, this is a very, very mediocre project that runs exclusively on the legendary brand.
In there is regeneration in shelters, you can carry with you only two guns at a time and large boring "platform" areas. This is pretty much everything you need to know when deciding whether to buy (or not buy) a game. If you are still more or less satisfied with everything, then:
DNF starts kind of cheerfully - they give us a powerful rocket launcher, then they joke funny about the notorious 14 years, and then, then, then some kind of nonsense begins. Instead of a hurricane shooter ™ for the first couple of tens of minutes (how many of them actually pass there - it is not clear, I don’t want to measure it in a new way, it feels like a very long time) I flipped through a collection of anecdotes that had accumulated during the development of the game. For the most part, of course, vulgar.
For the DNF production time recorded even by the Guinness Book of Records, the game could easily start from scratch five to ten times, but the feeling that the gameplay of the new "Duke" did come to us from somewhere from the forgotten past does not leave for a second. In a bad way. While the original, but striking features of old-school shooters such as a crazy arsenal of weapons weighing a hundred or two kilograms in the protagonist's backpack or restoring health with rare first-aid kits, almost everything was cut out, many garbage elements of old games and this attitude “wow, I'm here I can just take popcorn in my hands and cook it in the microwave ”for some reason were carefully preserved. As in-house surgeons Gearbox confused the patient's appendicitis with his heart, it's hard to say.
DNF remains faithful to its style of endless booth until the very end, and it must be admitted, sometimes you can guess various references to the mass, including gaming culture(strippers are not what they seem) and watching Duke's "ego" grow from watching porno magazines ("ego" is the maximum indicator of the health bar; just for everyone) is really fun. Such episodes, in theory, were supposed to give the player a respite from the rabid meat that was happening on the screen, but they did not succeed in playing this role, because there was no partner, the very action, from which one should at least sometimes rest.
Shootouts as such in DNF are interesting and dynamic, but: well, they are very easy - once, somehow rarely happen for a shooter - two, and you can't immediately use at least half of the game arsenal - three. All this is very offensive, since the process of exterminating enemies is arranged very well. If you are lucky enough to get to a relatively large-scale carnage in a location with a bottomless box of ammunition, and at the same time with your favorite barrel at the ready, then you will certainly get your portion of simple pleasure.
The problem with the principle “we don’t give more than two guns in one hand” pops up in this text so often, because unlike many other FPS, in “Duke” it is impossible to accept and it is impossible to get used to it. The quake-like assortment of weapons present in the game cannot be crammed into such a format, this is a crime against the gamer. I want a rail, a rocket launcher, a shaft, and a minigun, I want to have them with me at all times. I'm not playing Call of duty and not even in Team Fortress, give me back my ten barrels, I want them all back. However, all this is not important, since half of the game you still have to jump on platforms-rocks-cornices and ride an inflatable rubber big-foot.
By removing the heart instead of appendicitis, a second appendicitis was added instead of a new Gearbox heart. All these regeneration-shelters-two-pusher-dugs filled the teeth with their lack of alternatives, a potential breath of clean air ozonized by the railgun was poisoned with the same poison, from which it would have been so good to be saved at least for a few hours. From Duke Nyukem, I wanted to get exactly Duke Nyukem, even though the project came to the shelves literally from the past, but it did not grow together.
I remember that at one time a clone of the first Quake called Kiss Psycho Circus... The sensations of playing DNF in this shooter are very similar: with mediocre graphics combined with a terribly selected color palette of both, you can put up with everything on its way and overcoming level by level. Only here no one ever expected anything outstanding from KPC, but for all 14 years of development, DNF was positioned as an at least ambitious project. The gamers were promised "the very thing", and they believed (which is confirmed by the sales charts). At the exit, the audience received something vague, a product that can somehow please and entertain the player only "without fish".
The release of Duke Nukem Forever is like a joke for their people who are able to appreciate the performance, on the condition that every first person wants to be their own. Here Gearbox caught us, you can't argue. The continuation of Duke's story came out when the players no longer expected any innovations from him, but, on the contrary, wanted to try the classic orthodox gameplay and its best incarnation. Flirting with gamers who are nostalgic for (in some cases, someone else's) past, Gearbox has tried to cajole and not looking for good from modern FPS buyers. Neither the first nor the second came out. Just do it without reservation good game the developers also failed, alas.
What has been talked about for so long has happened! Grandpa Duke shook off the age-old dust from his muscular carcass and seemed to us mere mortals. During those long 14 years, while we were spoon-fed that Duke Nukem Forever is about to come out and show everyone that he is cooler than the "kung fu panda", another generation of gamers has grown up, and the old guard has approached the line beyond which it is already turning into an ancient one.
Duke Nukem Forever takes us forward for a while, regarding Duke's latest adventures. This muscular loafer sits in his huge penthouse, plays games named after himself and enjoys the actions that are performed by 2 young and very pretty young ladies. Bored at one point, our uncle decides to warm up a little by taking a short walk through his property. While Duke performs his exercise, some incomprehensible and inexplicable crap begins to happen in the world. What is noteworthy, our old, familiar from the last century, characters, and in particular, alien bastards of different stripes and sizes, including the big and arrogant pigs loved by many, are involved in the case.
So, old Duke, having seen all this garbage, goes down to his personal command post, where very influential personalities in the country have a very serious conversation with him. After the conversation, our uncle is finally convinced that it is time to remember his youth and culinary lessons from Ukrainian cuisine. Therefore, Nyukem turns around and heads towards the exit, where he collides with the most nimble (or simply the most stupid) representatives of the alien race. Well, what can you do, someone should have been unlucky.
A little about the gameplay
We have a long and difficult journey from our home to a big alien boss, and don't you think that we will do it empty-handed? Moreover, such a character as Duke Nyukem.
The main and most important weapon of our hero is obscene jokes and remarks with which he breaks through the consciousness of all the characters around him. And to consolidate the material, there are large and not very cannons, well known from previous games. Passage scheme Duke Nukem Forever from level to level is sustained in the best traditions of Duke Nyukem, i.e. fascinating adventures from point "A" to point "B" with obstacles and non-trivial overcoming of them, shooting alien assholes, as well as foul language. What's nice is that there are tasks that require additional devices to complete. Such as, for example, a toy car on the control panel. From time to time we come across a variety of bosses who are destroyed by using heavy artillery and tearing off body parts from their wearer, with the subsequent humiliation of the latter.
In the process of passing the game, you will often encounter "reminders" of how glorious Duke's past was, and besides that, you will come across a variety of Easter eggs.
Now we will analyze some aspects in more detail. Duke Nukem Forever.
As mentioned before, we have at our disposal a whole set of well-known guns. The trouble is that over time, Duke has grown very old and can no longer carry such a hefty arsenal with him. Apparently, that is why the developers took pity on him and allowed him not to take more than two barrels at a time. Farther. There are allied NPCs, but their role in the game is not that minimal, it generally went to the micro level. In the best case, they will praise you, wash themselves a couple of times, and even depict some actions that look like help several times during the game. As for the enemies, here is what is called "Hello tree!". These guys do not shine with intelligence, but in principle, this is not their strong point in this game.
As an innovation, Duke's “Ego” became the main health indicator. Now the health of our gallant guy is measured by coolness. An excellent implementation of Duke's departure to "platitude". Well, the developers are great, they were able to make Nyukem one step closer to consoles and further from users' PCs.
There is no Jetpack in the game, it is a jetpack for flights. More precisely, it is, but we are destined to fly on it only in multiplayer.
As for the graphics and sound. Frankly speaking, the graphic component does not shine with something interesting. Looking at the screen, you get the feeling that you have returned 5 years ago. The musical accompaniment also does not stand out in anything special. Yes, there are melodies that touch the string of nostalgia in the soul, but no more.
And for a snack "Russification" by Duke. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, from the subtitles the company "1C" refused. Therefore, all the characters, including Nyukem, speak Russian. Yes, the localizers have done a good literary translation. Yes, the actor worked professionally and voiced the main character. But! The text, a significant part of which is made up of obscene expressions, turns into one big "Pi-i-i-i-i-yip" and during translation some of the meaning of the original phrases has been lost. Although not everything is so bad - Duke learned several original phrases of the great and mighty, having heard which, his mouth involuntarily stretches into a smile from ear to ear.
Oddly enough, but in Duke Nukem Forever there is multiplayer. True, he made a depressing impression on us personally. There is a feeling that he was screwed into the game "what would be". The game modes are standard and time-tested: the battles are every man for himself, team fights, capturing the flag (in the game it takes place like capturing chicks), holding control points etc.
To make the dull multiplayer somehow attract people, the developers made a system of achievements and achievements in the form of levels. They consist in the fact that you have your own penthouse and your own wardrobe. By participating in battles with other players, you get points and thereby pump your level. After gaining a new level, you can open new item furniture in his penthouse and new clothes for Duke. So if you want a new T-shirt for Nyukem or a new monument to your beloved somewhere in the hall of your penthouse, then welcome to the multiplayer. The question is, how long will you last in this kingdom of boredom?
So, let's summarize. About storyline We will not talk, because there is nothing to talk about. The gameplay, in general, is designed in the style of this series: we dive through the levels, shoot at enemies and comment on all this with vulgar and obscene jokes, thanks to which we keep in good shape and scoff throughout the game. If not for jokes, then half of the game could be overslept. Opponents are not distinguished by either intelligence or ingenuity. This is probably why one of the main weapons in the game will be the shotgun. A considerably weakened Duke Nyukem can carry no more than two small arms. The graphics stopped at the 2006-2007 level. The sound also cannot boast of anything special. Localization is at a fairly high level, but for this game it looks like some kind of perversion, invented by an unknown sick mind.
The character's health came to be characterized by his coolness. Thus, the developers came to the conclusion that health itself is restored, one has only to hide behind some nightstand. There Nukem apparently persuades himself that he is cool as space eggs, after which he continues his warlike campaign. To a large extent, Duke has turned into a console character, which cannot but drive you into sadness.
At the moment, the game is a shooter with a slightly below average level, but very much publicized. Unfortunately, myself main character changed, and not in better side... Yes, his lines remained at the same level, but on some lines, even if they are uttered by the great and terrible Duke Nyukem himself, you will not go far.
Graphics: 3.0
Sound and Music: 3.5
Gameplay: 3.5
Plot: 3.2
Multiplayer: 3.0