Duke Nukem Forever: Demo Impressions

The Duke Nukem Forever demo hit on Friday for the first access club members, so after twelve years since its announcement will Duke is able to make a mark in this current generation of gaming?

The demo features two short sections of larger levels one being the final boss from Duke 3D on the football field and the other is in a desert canyon environment that includes a driving sequence and an on foot section that takes you around the canyon and through a mine. The two levels are a nice touch with the first showing off some of the interactivity in the environment while the other is more of what you would expect from gun on gun action.

When it comes down to the meat of the game, the gameplay is fun but you just have to remind yourself this is not modern shooter like Call of Duty it is faster paced and relies more on experimenting with the weapons and fast movement. I especially enjoyed the ripper gun on the canyon level that is a staple Duke weapon and handles perfectly. The ever-favourite shotgun returns though I felt it lacked a little punch but it might be more useful in more confined environments. Shooting feels fine though zooming on the left trigger does not bring up iron sights but zooms in the camera which looks a little clunky.

Interactivity is especially noticeable on the stadium level with toilets, showers, dryers and white boards can all be used. It’s not so much that they are useful but the fact that you can walk up to water fountain to drink from it.

Something I really liked was the commitment to the first person view no matter what Duke is doing you will always see it from his point of view.

When it comes to the graphical presentation the game is a real mixed bag with some locations around the football field with the rain effects on the camera that look great. While in large open environments, the game looks very rough with low-res textures and lack of detail in the world, in the canyon level, it just feels a little plain and empty it just lacks any character.
The indoor sections look considerable better especially on the second level going through the mine which features some nice lighting and overall looks more like a game coming out in 2011 while the canyon section looks more like something that came out on 07.

After playing the demo, I had mixed impressions on one side the game has some nice highlights but the flaws can be quite glaring at times. I found on my second play through if you go into it knowing it Is a little messed up and you don’t expect it to be highly polished the experience will be far more enjoyable.

With the demo it is very hard to actually judge what the final game will be like though considering the demo is an old build from PAX which was around 8 months ago and a lot can happen in those 8 months, so any flaws in the demo might be gone in the full retail release but we will have to wait and see. I still have the game on pre order as no matter what impression I got from the demo I feel this is a game people should check out considering the history surrounding and the 12-year development cycle.
Look out for more coverage of the game later this week.