Sunday, July 24, 2011

Big Changes on the Horizon!

We might be slow during the next week, but its because we are hard at work on some big changes that are on the way.

Though I originally started this site as a basic blog, I had big plans as to where I wanted to take it.  In the couple months that this site has been live we have been progressively improving the content and exponentially increasing our traffic.  I am very proud of where we have been able to go in such a short amount of time, and am very excited about the next phase that we will be moving to.

Though we will be growing past this blogger stage, our goal of bringing excellent content will remain the same.  You can expect us to continue to offer unique perspectives, produce honest reviews, and delve into gaming news that is often overlooked by the mainstream media.

We are hardcore gamers at heart, and it is our mission to produce content for the hardcore gaming community.

At this time I would like to personally express my thanks not only to our readers, but also to my team.  Getting to the point we're at has been a group effort, and everyone has done so much for so little.  I greatly appreciate it, and am eager to pursue the next phase of our site with you.

We will be working hard to move into this next phase as quickly possible, and will update everyone when we are completed.  We hope you will find the changes to be as exciting as we do!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

RAGE - The Wasteland

id Software have released another excellent RAGE dev trailer, this time focusing on the game's NPCs and multiplayer.

As you've probably already figured out from my previous posts on RAGE, I'm totally stoked about this game.  The graphics, weapons, story, and gameplay look superb.  I'm a long time fan of id Software, and it looks like they're really going to deliver with this game.

October 4 can't come quickly enough.  Check out the video below,and make the wait even more difficult!


Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Live Action Trailer

A live action trailer for Deus Ex:  Human Revolution has been released, and is something you'll definitely want to see if you're interested in the game.

The trailer shows that using augmentations might not be as cool as it seems.  It shows a future where people have had their lives ruined by augmenting, and the addiction to the drugs required to keep their bodies from rejecting the augmentations.  Also, there is discussion of the corruption of the fictional "Sarif Industries"; making it apparent that conspiracy will be just as big a part of this game as it was in the previous titles.

The trailer is very well done, and gives some insight at the depth of the story we will see in DE:HR when it is released on August 23rd.


Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Violence in Video Games: How the Mainstream Media has it all Wrong

Originally written by Daddybrown73 of ROSETINTEDGAMERS  


Video games have always been kept at arms length, even sneered at, by those who simply don’t understand or are confused by them. In its infancy video gaming was predominantly the pastime of young men who-as it has often been thought- chose to lock themselves away in darkened rooms tapping furiously away at keyboards, gazing unblinkingly into TV monitors, communicating in lines of code that too many were a complete mystery; the realm of the geek, the nerd and the loner.

This was the widely accepted view, a stigma if you like, of the videogamer and those who created these quirky, yet extremely complex, slices of electronic entertainment.  While it probably didn’t do one much good in the eyes of the opposite sex, it was an otherwise harmless depiction of video games and those who partook in them.

When the Sony Playstation exploded into the conscious mind of the mainstream in 1994 in Japan and 1995 in the US and Europe respectively, video games were given whole new lease of life. Using an aggressive marketing campaign largely aimed at the twenty-something male demographic with a disposable income, (who at this point had probably only had fleeting moments with video games during their childhood), Sony, quite literally, turned the entire industry up-side-down.  Sony had brought the arcade into your living room with ground breaking titles like Ridge Racer, Tekken and Wipeout then later with Tomb Raider, Metal Gear Solid and Gran Turismo; some of the stigma that had become attached to video gaming began to wash away.  As the brand grew in strength with the release of the Playstation 2, Sony upped its campaign for front room domination, steering their product in the direction of whole families with innovations such as the Eyetoy, Singstar and Guitar Hero. In time having a Playstation, or indeed any games console, in your front room was as common place as the family DVD player. Video games hadn’t just become ‘acceptable’; they had, to some extent, become ‘cool’.  But over the pursuing years, even as video games were becoming more widely accepted as a valued form of entertainment, there were those who began to take a very ugly view of the pastime. For some, video games were about to become the new video nasties.

On the 27th February 2004, 14 year old Stefan Pakeerah was murdered by his friend Warren Leblanc, 17. The police cited the motive as a drug-related robbery but this didn’t stop the media bringing video games into the furore; in this case it was British based developer Rockstar North’s violent, adult themed survival horror Manhunt. It was claimed that Leblanc was ‘obsessed’ with the game and was suggested that it [Manhunt] played a major part in this heinous crime. During court proceedings it was discovered that it was in fact Stefan Pakeerah that owned the video game, not his killer. That didn’t stop the media of course. What followed was an unashamedly brutal attack directed at the games industry, most notably from The Daily Mail who, during the week surrounding the news of the murder, ran with the headline “Murder by Playstation” This was quickly followed up the following day with “Ban These Evil Games” Both issues featured a colourful collection of box art and screen grabs from various adult video games. Unsurprisingly these images, combined with some juicy sound bites, were completely taken out of context in an attempt to drive home whatever message the Daily Mail was trying to convey to its readership.

As you might expect everyone jumped on the band wagon. From the red-top tabloids, women’s lifestyle magazines, prime time news channels, in fact pretty much everyone with an opinion and who had an outlet to express that opinion were lining up to have stab at the games industry.  Even some MPs began to voice their ‘concerns’, particularly Labour MP and prolific anti-violent video game campaigner, Keith Vaz, who still maintains to this day that Manhunt, contrary to the evidence, played a key role in Stefan Pakeerah’s tragic death.  Sadly even key players in the retail side of the industry had their part to play as they hurried to pull the game from shelves for fear of a media backlash.

Then there’s Florida Attorney, Jack Thompson, whose own campaign against video games, or ‘murder simulators’ as he coined them, (particularly the multi-million selling franchise, Grand Theft Auto, -another Rockstar title), became synonymous with every anti-video game campaign that ever took up residence outside a developers front door. From gangland murders to school shootings, Mr. Thompson was leading the charge in trying to bring violent video games to the forefront of everybody’s mind as the catalyst in many of the gun related crimes taking place up and down America.

As the games industry has grown so has the number of people eager to stick the metaphorical boot into video games. Even the animal rights group, “The Academy of Notre Dame’s Animal Rights Club” has had a pop, stating that the killing of guard dogs in Activision’s Call of Duty: World at War was cruel and “should not be a form of entertainment”.

There was also another shameless attempt by the press-namely Fox News- to drag the games industry through the mud with its attack on Bioware’s space epic Mass Effect.  The report, with the obligatory panel of non-gaming experts thrown in for good measure, claimed that the game had ‘full on sex and nudity and explicitly describes sexual situations’.  Of course it was nonsense, but Fox News weren’t about to let the facts get in the way of a good story.  As expected, (given that it had been developed by one of the industries finest studios), Mass Effect was a huge success, so much so that it has gone on to spawn two sequels, (with the third and final act being released later this year), but it had nothing to do with non-existent porn, it was simply a well put together, intelligent, thought provoking video game. No more, no less.

It doesn’t end with video games turning us all into monsters either. More recently there are those who would have us believe that the ever growing issue of obesity, (particularly amongst our children), sits squarely at the feet of interactive entertainment. Even in the light of motion controlled systems like the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft’s Kinect and Sony’s Playstation Move-gaming systems that would have us all jumping around like numpties-for a small majority, video games are the root of us all piling on the pounds.  Far be it for me to suggest that playing video games for hours on end each day is a healthy lifestyle choice-like with anything moderation is the key-but in a society where there’s an ever growing concern that a whole generation is slowly becoming dangerously un-healthy through poor lifestyle choices it doesn’t take a leap of faith to see that laying the blame directly at the door of just one [probable] cause is counterproductive to finding a solution to what is a much wider issue.

So why such hatred, nay fear, of what is predominantly a fun, exciting and often rewarding pastime? One that has in more recent times brought people from all over the world together-particularly since the launch of the Nintendo Wii in 2006-in the enjoyment of playing games? Yes there are violent video games, (all of which are rated accordingly I hasten to add), and yes for the most part it is a passive form of entertainment, but as adults, (and for some of us, as parents), surely we’re allowed to make our own decisions and not be told as to what is deemed suitable when it comes to what video games we play and how long we play them for?  Isn’t the freedom to make our own decisions on any aspect of our daily lives part and parcel of a free thinking, democratic society?

To quote the late Bill Hicks: “Did I miss a meeting?”

More and more people are playing and enjoying video games than ever before, but why our beloved hobby is still continually sneered at, looked down upon and condemned by so many is anyone’s guess.  Video games still have a long way to go before they find true acceptance as a valued slice of entertainment, an art form if you must, but we are getting there if only a bit at a time.  For some though, it would seem, that time will never come; a case of fearing what they don’t understand, and much like in the tale of Frankenstein’s Monster they gather en masse, pitchfork and flaming torch in hand, ready to smite down that which they have, through their lack of understanding, come to loath.


Check out ROSETINTEDGAMERS to see more of Daddybrown73'S work.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Top 10 Games That No One Played


As a huge fan of gaming it has always been disheartening to see incredible games see little success.  It doesn’t take a genius to know that if a game doesn’t sell well it could spell doom for a franchise.  This is especially true if it’s a new intellectual property, as poor sales will most likely mean that we will never get to see future sequels.

This do-or-die sales reality has rung true for many of what I consider to be some of the best games that I have ever played, which inturn has inspired me to create this list.


Carmageddon in L.A.




It appears the city of Los Angeles has named this weekend Carmageddon, as Max Damage puts it "to let the Carmageddon racers do their thing" He's also happy about the extra splatter bonuses on offer. (Source)

Also head over there and join the forums and vote on their Poll to keep the PratCam. If you're not sure what that cam is its this....

Thursday, July 14, 2011

RAGE - Behind the Scenes: The Arsenal

Monday, July 11, 2011

Alice: Madness Returns - Review!


Please note that this Review pertains specifically to the PC version of the game.  However, much of the information may be relevant to other versions.

Opening

A decade ago, EA published American Mcgee’s Alice.  I had my first encounter with this game several years after its initial release and, although the graphics and gameplay mechanics were extremely outdated by that time, I absolutely loved it. American Mcgee had taken a story that we all know and turned it on its head; creating an absolutely twisted, but undeniably fantastic, version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland stories.

Fast forward to the present and the sequel that no one expected has been released.  I probably speak for many when I express how excited I was when I first found out that this game was in development, and I had eagerly devoured and digested every bit of media released for it as I awaited the release.  Every screenshot and video released seemed more impressive than the last, and it appeared that this was going to be one Hell of an amazing sequel; and it looked like it could even outdo the sheer genius of the original.

Unfortunately, the bad thing about building such anticipation over something is that expectations can become too high to satisfy.  Or, even worse, you might get a product that has no chance of pleasing any level of expectation.  Sadly, this is the case for Alice:  Madness Returns.  Not only failing to live up to my hype, this game is actually heartbreaking to play. 


Before you read any more, I want you to know that I do think this game has the potential to be amazing, and it may even be salvageable.  With some well thought out patching, this game could definitely be saved.  However, I am not reviewing the game that this could be, or the game that I want it to be.  I am reviewing the game that it is.

So, what went wrong?  Well, read on to find out.

Story and Presentation

This is a tough one, as Story and Presentation make up both the best and worst parts of this game.  In one hand, you have a very mature, gothic take on a timeless classic.  In the other, you have a game that lacks so much polish that you’ll wonder if they even tested it before release.

Let’s start with the positive.  The story in this game is very good, and is actually even more fleshed out than the story in the original.  It takes place pretty much immediately after the events of the first game and has Alice living in an orphanage in Victorian London under the care of a psychiatrist by the name of Angus Bumby, who uses hypnotism to help patients forget terrible events.

Still haunted by the events that lead to the death of her parents ten years earlier, Alice’s mind continues to be shattered.  Throughout the course of the game, she constantly bounces in and out of reality; with her hallucinations taking her to a disturbingly distorted Wonderland.  On her first revisiting of her imaginary world, she’s told by the Cheshire Cat that wonderland has become corrupted under a new law that rules it.  Like in the original game, Alice believes that the only way she can save herself is to save Wonderland.


Alice is f***ing nuts!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Doom II Mod that is Full of Win!


The Doom games hold a special place in my heart.  Not only was it the franchise that introduced me to the FPS, but the original was also the first game to ever scare the shit out of me!  The games may have aged much since I first played them, but the gameplay is still as solid and addicting as ever.

Fast forward to the present, and you get a mod that looks to be filled to the brim with 100% win!  As seen in the video bellow, there has been an awesome looking D2 mod released that gives it a Modern Warfare twist.  Haters of Call of Duty can relax, as the classic Doom gameplay has barely been tweaked.

The mod is called Real Guns Advanced 2, and can be found on Doom II server:  Skulltag 174.54.67.21:10672.  For more information, as well as download links, you can view this topic seen in the Skulltag Forum.

I'm definitely going to give this mod a download!




I got Balls of Steel (Edition) Duke Nukem Forever Review

Duke Nukem Forever Review
Format: PC

If you prefer your films to be more Saving Private Ryan and less Die Hard, or if you prefer to watch 5th Gear over Top Gear then you probably won't like Duke Nukem Forever. If, however, you prefer your action to be over the top, your one liners to be delivered with so much cheese they come with a free bottle of Lea and Perrins and your comedy to be loud and offensive then you probably would enjoy Duke Nukem Forever as much as I did.


Great with cheese on toast
The Script
The story is is a direct continuation of Duke Nukem 3D (as direct as you can get being set 12 years later) and its pretty much the same, an assortment of aliens arrive on Earth once again to steal all the women and impregnate them Aliens style (when you see their queen you will understand why they want our women) and that's about it. Oh and the aliens are bitter after Duke handed their arses to them in DN3D and completely humiliated them by ripping the head off their Overload, taking a shit down his neck and forgetting to flush, so they are after a little payback too.
The game starts off in Duke's penthouse (on the 69th floor no less) with the aliens already hovering over Las Vegas Independence Day style!
It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)

From there the game starts off slow but still enjoyable, you wander round the backstage of a TV show interacting with things, such as drinking all the fizzy drinks from a vending machine, all the food, then tossing the empties on the floor and just generally making a mess of the place, there are plenty of people hanging around with their own things to say to you, including one fan who just has a fit and faints when he sees you, with the exception of Little Jimmy (a little kid wearing a t shirt with the DN3D front cover on it who wants you to sign his book) there are a number of other fun moments backstage but I wont ruin it.

All the while the aliens are still hovering over the city making people nervous when Duke finally decides he needs to see what's going on, he heads over to the Duke Cave to have a conference with the General and the President. The President, being a complete wimp, tells Duke not to interfere with the aliens as he wants peaceful negotiations (they made that mistake in Independence Day) but Duke's gut tells him otherwise.
The president: A complete wimp in need of some power armour.

So the game kicks off from there. As I said before, it starts a bit slow, finding your way around the Duke Cave and fighting the first few enemies without weapons at all, you can punch them, throw weights at them or golden statues that Duke was awarded for saving the world. This game can't help but be compared to Duke Nukem 3D, so compared to that, which starts off instantly with a gun shooting Troopers in the face, this might seem a little restrictive but its not long before you get your first weapon.

Blowin' shit up
Which brings me to the weapons. You may have heard people complaining about the fact that the majority of the weapons are a carbon copy of those from Duke Nukem 3D and that you can only hold 2 weapons at once, one site even complained that the weapons lacked imagination and slated it for not having iron Sights, I guess unless the weapons are replicas of real world guns they don't want to know.

Well, being a carbon copy of DN3Ds weapons isn't bad at all, it's what the fans wanted, and there are some extra added weapons, though they aren't that special they do add a bit more variety, such as the rail gun and the Trooper's rifles. Pretty much all of the weapons work the same as in DN3D, except with a lot less ammo, with the exception of the Freezethrower which is now a short range weapon and recharges itself, which is a pretty sound feature. And of course when you have frozen someone you can run up and boot them in the chops!
Right in the chops!

Now, the 2 weapons limit (which is all thanks to 3D Realms not being able to map all weapons properly on a controller, so thanks to them and thanks to consoles the PC gets shafted once again), I'm not a fan of it, I hated the idea of it for a Duke game, I mean, he could he carry all weapons at once with full ammo in
Duke3D and that's what he should be able to do this time, not just because its the sequel but also because he is rock hard and can carry them all at once, being the one man army that he is. Well I did get a bit used to 2 weapon limit, I'dstill prefer to have 10 weapons at once but because the game is designed around the limit it works OK, but it would have been far better being able to use the full arsenal. There is usually an abundance of weapons, especially just when you need them, so you will conveniently find certain weapons (like an RPG) just as you’re about to fight a boss, which is an approach I liked as you tend to get the right weapons for the right situation, also only explosives can hurt a boss, it's no use shooting them with a shotgun as it simply won't work, even if it's “right in the jewels” as Duke himself would say.

As the weapons are, they are fun to use, except for the low ammo limit, especially in some weapons. The shotgun still being my favourite and most used weapon next to the ripper, these both make many appearances in the game so you find them everywhere, another old favourite (though I hate the new model of it, it's too much of Aperture Science going for it) is the shrink ray, which is still fun but doesn’t show up nearly enough in the game. When the weapons do run out you can replenish them by getting a new one off the floor (like some tramp) or just restocking them from one of the many EDF ammo crates you find throughout the game.
An EDF soldier with ammo crate and some pussy power armour, yesterday.


The new weapons are the Rail gun, which is your standard long range sniper rifle that makes heads swell up and explode if you get a head shot, as well as 2 weapons from the Assault troopers which fire lasers and the Enforcer gun which fires a volley of missiles, though ammo is very limited for this gun.

The all too funny trip mine is back, place it in a corridor or across a walking path and watch something get blown to smitheries as they walk through the laser, you can now also place them on enemies and watch them running around trying to remove it before the inevitable happens (which you can also do in Multiplayer too)

Also returning is the pipe bomb, which now gets set off using a key fob (also makes a nice little tune when you press it, listen out for it). The pipe bomb and trip mine are not counted in the 2 weapon limit, they get their own dedicated hotkeys which is nice, so you can toss them off at any time (little innuendo that most British people should get). The pipe bombs can now be bounced off certain alien plants in the game that are used to bounce duke around, good for bouncing them around corners and blowing someone up.
"hehe what a mess"

As well as the weapons you get Beer which makes you very resistant to damage (much like real beer) too bad after one can Duke gets completely smashed and his vision goes all over the place. To go with the booze you got Steroids (yes you can have them both together) which is like Berserk mode in Doom, you can run round punching heads off and conserve your ammo at the same time, as well as your ego regenerating extremely quickly (after all, what person on steroids wouldn't be able to do that?), it's always fun to watch a head roll, and they do quite often.

You also get Duke Vision which is just night vision, helps you see in dark places, which is quite handy at times because you can see the enemy but they cant see you, so you creep up behind them and take their heads off! And lastly you get Holoduke, which is a lot more effective than the one in DN3D. Holoduke is very good at distracting enemies and actually fights them while you remain invisible to go round the back and kill them from behind. The Holoduke itself is very funny, it tries to copy Dukes one liners but gets them all slightly wrong, a bit like Biff Tannen in Back To The Future when he says “make like a tree and get outta here”. If someone wanted to make a cheap counterfeit Duke and try to sell it as the real thing, it would turn out like the Holoduke.
Cheap knock off Holoduke doing confusing the pig cops.

The only weapon that is missing is Duke's Mighty Foot! I can't imagine why they removed it, it was so much fun to go round kicking aliens, toilets, windows and fire hydrants, especially fun when booting pig cops through the window on the Death Row row level just after you get out of the electric chair (my favourite because its just so unrealistic, a bit like walking up a ladder and kicking at the same time)
You can, however, use the boot (and your fists) to perform executions moves on weak enemies, which usually results in a lot of blood on the screen and a head half way across the room.

Bosses are Boss!
For me personally, the enemies are one of my favourite aspects of Duke Nukem Forever. The first enemies you meet are the standard no frills Assault troopers, either shooting you in the face with their fancy blue lasers or, if you get close enough, trying to claw your eyes out.

Although the Pig Cops are a bit different from their DN3D counterparts they are still a lot of fun to fight, they are tough and brutal and can go into their own Berserk mode when their health gets low, they are also quick and jump about the place like grasshoppers taking swipes at you, I love to fight these and the troopers at the same time, it can be quite difficult. Another change to them is that they are no longer limited to the shotgun, they also use the Ripper and the RPG. They also jump on your face and try to rip your head off, at which point there is some frantic button pressing till you snap their necks, which is a good laugh.

The Octabrain, one of my favourite enemies are back and a little different than DN3D too, while they still fly around and shoot at you, they now also have telekinetic powers (for those that don't know what that means it
means they can toss shit at you using their minds, a bit like The Force) and when you get a group of them together they can be a bitch to fight as they start throwing all sorts in your diction and can sometimes be hard to dodge, there is an easy way to dispatch of the Octabrains but you will have to find that out yourself.
The one thing that's missing is that they no longer teleport in when you euthanise a cocooned woman, I miss that little feature.
Octabrain that ran out of boxes to launch at me.

As well as them you got the Enforcer, the Assault Commander and instead of the Protozoid Slimers (which have been removed) you now get the Impreganator, which is essentially a knob on legs trying to deep throat you (think of the Facehuggers from Aliens) they also shoot some sort of white goo at you from a distance, I got no idea what that could be. To go with them there is also the Octababy, a cute little infant Octabrain that scuttles around on the floor and you can stomp on it's head, unless you get 6 or 7 of them all jumping on you then you're in trouble.

Just like in DN3D there are bosses in this game, unlike DN3D they now have boss metres, which I love, just like many old games, and they can now only be killed by explosive weapons or mounted turrets, which again I quite like, since they are a boss they should be much harder to kill and it makes the game a lot more fun. Killing each of the different bosses involves a death move at the end, when you kill each boss you get your maximum ego increased and each boss dies in their own amusing way (as you've seen from the trailer, one boss is constantly punched in the scrotum until he submits)

I found some bosses easy to kill and others hard to kill, I suppose part of that is my fault as I kept forgetting to use my pills and the cheap knock off holoduke! But a lot of the time it's just strafing around firing at them, which I fine by me, one good thing I like about the fight with the battle lord is that he start booting cars at you, which do a nice chunk of damage if you catch one in the face.
Damn you! Damn you all to hell!

Yeah but what does it sound like?
The music in Duke Nukem Forever isn't as enjoyable as in DN3D, mainly because the music in Hollywood Holocaust is so awesome, but also I like the old simple music like that that just loops around over and over like in DN3D and in Doom. However, the music is still good, there is a mix of background suspense music when you're just moving from place to place, to cheese 50's B movie music when the mothership appears and some metal music too. Duke also whistles the main theme so I guess that counts too.

I did find myself getting to some places in the game where I was fighting enemies and there was no music, and I was thinking it would feel better with some music playing rather than being quiet and just hearing the sound effects. I don’t mind it going quiet when you’re walking and nothing is happening, but there should be music whenever there is any action.

When I was fighting some bosses the music didn't really fit the scene, it didn't make me feel like I was in mortal danger, which it should do considering I'm fighting bosses 4 stories high, though a minor niggle it didn't bother me that much, but I felt it could be better.

The new Duke theme is very good it plays on the game's website www.dukenukemforever.com and in the very good intro video that plays when you start the game, it's not as good as the Megadeth version but it is still very good, and they went through a couple of versions of this tune on the website in the months up to the games release, they chose the best one

A lot of the music sounds like it has used Aliens as a reference, which some of it probably has, especially right near one particular piece of music sounds just like near the end of Aliens, you may notice it when you get there.

At many points in the game you hear music from Duke Nukem 3D, such as when playing the pinball game in Dukes Gym you can hear the Hollywood Holocaust music, you hear the DN3D theme tune in various other places and when you are in lifts you hear the music that is played in DN3D when you are in the supermarket level. So it's got a very nice touch of nostalgia, I can sit there for ages listening to the music at times.

The sound effects are all pretty good too. The melee attacks sound nice and brutal and the grunting when fighting hand to hand with some enemies then snapping their necks, like the pig cops, all sounds good. I especially like the sound of the RPG as it fires and locks on, and there is also a nice little Easter egg in the fact that the sound effect of the Trooper teleporting is the exact same one as is used in Duke Nukem 3D.
Troopers teleporting in from all angles can be a pain.

Some parts of the game sound too quiet too, like with some explosions or when there is a big crash like when a crane falls over, some sound effects could doing with being a bit meatier and with more oomph!

The noises the enemies make could be better with the same make over, especially with some bosses, they make a roar but its not loud or scary enough, especially the battle lord, in DN3D the roar of the battle lord scared the shit out of me and I'd be sneaking my head round corners to see where he was before his Minigun tore me to shreads (it's a shame he's not that formidable anymore).

The voice acting is not bad, just what you would expect from this game, other characters in the game do their job and tell you what needs to be said, or get pissed off if you keep shooting them. The president sounds like a pussy and you just wanna slap him and every other word out of Dillon's god forsaken mouth is an expletive, but the very fact that he is over the top with his expression of the English language (replace English with the language of your version providing the localisation isn't a load of shit) is what makes it so funny.

Duke's voice is as good as ever, with all of the old favourite lines rerecorded some didn’t sound as good as the originals, don’t know if that’s because the bad quality of the old ones made them sound grittier or the lines just weren’t delivered as good, but overall the lines Duke delivers are great and some had me pissing myself laughing, the only gripe is that he doesn't talk enough. Now just hold the phone! Duke not talking enough? What are you on about? Well obviously he never shuts up when kicking ass, that's the best part, but when other people are speaking to him he doesn't talk back to them much, maybe just one line, sometimes not at all, he's got a touch of Gordon Freeman about him and I really hate that in a game when someone is talking to the main character and they just stand there not responding, especially later in the game when a certain character has a right go at Duke and he just takes it quietly instead of mouthing off at him then slapping the taste right out of his mouth and sending him to a watery grave! Maybe in the sequel.
Dillon. His mouth is filthier than the shite they serve at Duke Burger.


Playing Duke
Feels great to be controlling Duke again (especially when you get him to pick up some shit from the toilet and he starts protesting) he is still the same loud foul mouth arrogant bastard that he's always been and that's why many of us still like him and have waited for the game (and why others have given it a poor review and tried to label him as misogynistic in a misguided attempt to jump on some proverbial bandwagon of hating Duke, either that or they are trying to impress someone, you know who you are!)

There are a few things that I don't like about DNF while playing it and I'll get them out of the way first. Checkpoints! They aren't necessarily a bad thing but when there is no option to save on a dedicated save slot as well it gets very irritating. If you start a new game it will wipe over your previous checkpoints and ego and thus you will be back to square one. What if more than 1 person wants to play your copy of Duke? They can't, they got to wait till you've finished, then even when you have finished you're gonna tell them to fuck off because it will wipe your save off anyway! PC FPS games used to have the ability to save on many save slots at a time, it wasn't a magical feature, it wasn't even complicated to do, but we could save as many times as we liked and go back and forth to different parts of the game that we enjoyed, that was, of course, until consoles got more popular and PC games started getting treated like shit because companies wouldn't put the effort in any more to take advantage of what the PC can do, hell! Even consoles have lots of storage now for saved games and what not, so why are we forced to use checkpoint without the ability to save whenever we bloody well like?

The weapons feel mostly like they do in DN3D, although annoyingly with a lot less ammo, it doesn't really affect some guns as their ammo is more frequent than others, but some weapons like the Enforcers gun run out too quickly. The freezethrower is the only weapon that isn't the same as the original. In DN3D you could fire ice crystals and bounce them off walls to freeze people which was really cool, in Forever it is a close range weapon, closer than the shotgun, where it fires a stream of ice about 4-5 feet in front of you and will take a second or 2 to freeze whatever you are shooting, then you can shatter them with bullets or boot them (unfortunately they don't come together and reform like in Terminator 2, though that would have been great if it happened occasionally). When you finish the game however you get an option to use the original freezethrower just like in DN3D. Just don't try to use them underwater.

Occasionally you run into invisible walls, where it looks like you can jump over some rubble or run under a small bridge somewhere and you get stopped by thin air, it's not something that really bothers me, after all it's a game, but it means lack of exploration in the levels, and exploring is something that was rewarded well in DN3D by giving you parodies (such as dead Doom Guy or Luke Skywalker) extra ammo and other goodies such as messages from Levelord.

As is with the levels in DNF, they are very linear, move along a path through the level and get the job done, I got no problem with that, I don't mind being funnelled down a path to progress with the game, it is better than DN3Ds wide open and complex maps because you can't get lost in them, but also exploring and getting lost and finding secrets is part of the fun.
A small village in the desert that looks like a movie set, perfect for an ambush.

The levels themselves are varied and look pretty good, from Dukes mansion to fighting in Vegas (though it would have been better if there was more of the game set here and if it was at night) then you got Nevada, Hoover Damn, a Strip Club (a level with no actual gun play or baddies that got slagged off by some reviewers, I guess some people just don't know how to relax and have fun) and the Alien Hive (a level in which one reviewer seemed to think Duke was laughing at someone being raped, which simply isn't the case).

I found most of the levels to be fun to play though, except for maybe the level driving Duke's Monster Truck, I felt like the driving went on a bit too long, it could have been shortened and still would have been fun, although when you do stop you get some good fights, especially the one on the bridge, when you are getting to the end of this level it starts getting darker and darker as you reach the dam which is a nice touch, it's fun to fight in the dark.

Throughout most levels there are breaks in the action, such as driving Dukes Monster Truck, sometimes you might stop to get on a turret and gun down a host of Pig Cops galloping towards you, or to shoot down a fleet of their ships. Sometimes this break feels nice, other times it doesn't, I'm not really fond of the idea of sitting on a turret and waiting for every wave of enemy to finish before I can move on again, it gets a bit dull and frustrating because you are sitting there not knowing when the waves are going to end. Although the first turret sequence is when you are fighting the alien mothership, that one I did enjoy as it was a boss fight and you knew when it was gonna end, when either the ship got fucked up for Duke did.

Occasionally you get puzzles too, they aren't very advanced, some of them are physics puzzles (like in Half Life 2 although not as sophisticated) such as tossing barrels in certain places to shift the weight of something so you can progress, one of them has you controlling a radio controlled car so you can push a fuel rod out of a room and into your waiting hands (Which I believe is homage to Shadow Warrior in which you could also drive a radio controlled car).

In some of the levels you get shrunken down and have to take a different path to progress,one such path takes you through some dangerous cog wheels and another is running through Duke Burger no bigger than the size of a bun. When running around as tiny Duke standard sized enemies become bosses and those tiny Octababies that you thought were cute are now huge monsters ready to swallow you whole (not the kind of swallowing Duke likes)
The stuff of nightmares!

The ego system is what takes place of your standard health in Duke Nukem Forever. I prefer to have health packs and to carry around a medkit for emergencies (something which you cant do here) but the ego system isn't all bad, the hiding until it regenerates part is, although I guess it's meant to be Duke getting his ego bruised and he has to wait for it to grow again until he can get back into the action, it plays too much like regenerating shields and forces you to hide like a baby while it recharges. The good thing about the ego system is the fact you can increase your maximum ego by doing things to boost Duke's ego, such as lifting weights, winning at the many minigames that are dotted about the game such as pool, air hockey, video poker and Balls of Steel Pinball.

There are other more, lewd methods of stroking your ego such as watching porn, watching babes in bikinis, finding adult magazines about the place or flicking through a calender full of fit women. Many of these methods of ego boosting are hidden and it is fun to try and find them, some of them are really good when you do find them. The ego boost is permanent too, some things you find may only boost it slightly by +1 point, others boost your ego more by +2 points. Another way to boost your ego is by killing bosses, once Duke does a death move on them and they finally die your ego gets boosted, it's also one reason to play the game again, going through and looking for more ego boosts that you may have missed before.
An ego booster and a handy way to keep track of the days.

It's the little things
One of the best things about playing DN3D and DNF is the humour and endless parodying that goes on throughout the game, a lot of which you may miss the first time round. For example, during my second play through when I first got the rail gun I'm zoomed in and looking all around the landscape and see some funny signs off in the distance that you can't see without using the scope, and when you set off your pipe bombs using the key fob it makes a little Duke Nukem theme tune, which you may not notice at first but its a very cool feature.

Forever is crammed full of one liners, parodies and Easter eggs. Again referencing many popular films such as Aliens, Starship Troopers, They Live and others, they even have references to others games, one such reference is to World of Warcraft which you may pick up on when an NPC gets killed. Humour is a hard thing to do, and most games just don't seem to bother, many just take themselves far too seriously these days and have forgotten how to have a laugh.

You may find some of the humour falls flat, some of it you may love, I was pissing myself laughing at many parts, especially when Duke proclaimed that he had “Balls of Fail”. Another thing to do, and this will get you an achievement, is to listen to all phone messages on every phone you find in the game (without deleting them of course like a certain newspaper would do) and some of them themselves are parodies of things or just funny messages to listen to.
Yes thats right, Duke has a phone, in here.

Unfortunately some of the little things are missing from DNF that you find in DN3D. For example, leaving Duke idle now means bugger all, he will just stand there and do nothing about it, I left him idle for 10 minutes in a lift and he just stood there doing nothing, didn't even query as to whether or not I'm waiting for Christmas. (although I did have the nice lift music to listen to that you hear in various parts of the game and is in DN3D too)

The good old “ugh ugh where is it?” is gone too, it may seem like a small point, but that always made me laugh and the fact that it's not in Forever shows that there are no hidden walls to be found, no point in him asking where it is if it doesn't exist. Hidden walls as a great feature of old FPS games and it should be brought back, it's great to open a wall and find a stack of ammo or someone hanging upside down or a reference to some game or film.

Another fun thing to do in DN3D was to smash the toilets and drink from them, that feature isn't present either, not a huge disappointment but not great for a game that prides itself on interactivity (though there are still tons to interact with, it's a shame to have some features removed) You can still smash fire hydrants though and drink from them, then go relieve yourself in an unbreakable toilet. In DN3D it would increase your health, not so here since it's regenerating.

Multiplayer
I'll be honest, I'm not a huge multiplayer fan these days but what I did play of Dukes multiplayer was quite fun. The maps are generally good, my favourite being Duke Burger where you are shrunken, its a good map to use the rail gun on.

All the usual modes are here, Duke match, Team Duke match and Capture the Babe (A mode which rubbed a few people up the wrong way but it's all in a light hearted fun way)

The maps are limited to 8 players where everyone plays duke, there are ways to customise him by giving him different hair, or hats, different shades as well as new clothes.

To be able to customise Duke you earn points through killing or winning in the MP games, you also get points for doing specific things which is fun, such as stomping on an another duke or putting a trip mine on him, there are many challenges to do and it's fun to try them all in MP, the more you do the faster your XP racks up and the more items you can buy for customisation, also the faster you level up.

Each time you level up you unlock a new item in Dukes mansion, which you can access from the multiplayer menu. The mansion starts off bare with wooden boxes everywhere, each one is an item to be unlocked so you can decorate your apartment, you can also unlock babes too and they wander around the place looking pretty, you can also talk to them a bit, giving Duke an excuse to come out with some innuendos.
If Duke was this strong he would be able to carry more than 2 weapons.

I wish there could have been more players as 8 seems a bit limited, especially since some games can go up to 32 players (and should all be able to on PC)

There are also no dedicated servers, it's all peer-to-peer so when the host leaves the game that's it, game over, doesn't matter if YOU were having fun or not, if the host loses connection or rage quits it's game over. This idea of peer-to-peer is very cheap and is a main reason why I wont bother with MP any more (do you think Counterstrike would have lasted over a decade without dedicated servers?)

OK so what's the bottom line?
Does Duke Nukem Forever live up to 14 years of hype and development, no, of course it doesn't, nothing ever could (if you find something that can let me know) Even though some people seem to think it has been developed constantly for 14 years you would be wrong, it's been scrapped and worked on again several times, so this version we are on started about 2006-2007 (Christmas 2007 was when we got the first look at it)

Does it live up to the 2001 Duke Nukem Forever trailer? No it doesn't, the trailer itself, for me, is the best game trailer ever made and they just couldn't live up to it (again, if you know of any game that is as good as that trailer looks let me know)

Duke Nukem Forever is a fun game not as bad as many people are making it out to be, it's not as good as DN3D and it feels more modern than it does old school, with features like regenerating health and 2 weapon limit. However, the game does still feel like duke, it's fun with the good old classic weapons and enemies and lots of humour and references to pop culture to keep an eye out for. At times it does feel like stop-start stop-start when the turret and puzzle sequences show their faces but it's not too distracting. The game is more limited than it should be thanks to the 2 weapon limit and linear level design, it's still a good game but not as fun as the original.

The lack of dedicated servers is a poor move and will impact the MP, it takes nothing away from the singleplayer game though, the same as lack of mod tools, it will impact the life of the game but takes nothing away from the singleplayer itself.

Oh and I'll say one thing about the graphics too, while not mind blowing, they are very nice in some places (as long as you switch off the horrible post processing), one thing annoying about the graphics is depth of field when you zoom in, I got no idea whose stupid idea that was , games are far better without it, just because I zoom in it doesn't mean I want the rest of my vision to be blurred, I'll decide what I want to focus on thank you very much!

On the consoles the graphics may be rubbish, blurry textures, long load times and low resolution, but on the PC you don't get that, as you can see from the screenshots it looks far nicer than the console versions. People should play the PC version of DNF before slagging it off and not just the console versions, give yourself an inferior version to play and you can't really be surprised.

The ending of the game leaves it open for a sequel, and I really do hope there is one.




Story and Presentation: 3
Graphics: 3.5
Sound: 3.5
Gameplay: 3.5
Longevitiy: 3.5

Score 3.5/5

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