for the past two days I've been playing Duke Nukem Forever on and off - on and off because it just can't hold my attention.
After all this time I expected the game to be average but I only wanted 2 things - action and humour. It stumbles on both.
The references in DN3d were cool because they were kinda obscure. here Duke makes reference to everything from Aliens to Starship Troopers.
the action in the game is in quite small doses as feels extremely scripted, it's pretty much -
walk into an empty area, solve some mundane puzzle, fight off a few waves of monsters that suddenly appear...continue through the empty area....
I'd be very surprised if any single element they planned in 1997 exists in the game today - it really feels like they shoe-horned in anything they saw in other games - two weapon limit? check. physics puzzles? check....
the level I just played through feels too much like the flood / gravemind levels i the halo games. complete with egg sacks and sphincter type doors.
it's the sort of game you couldn't make in 1997 due to technology and shouldn't make in 2011 because it's all been done in better games.