The immature child in me who enjoyed the Duke’s first 3D adventure all those years ago couldn’t help but giggle when he was awarded the ‘Turd Burglar’ achievement, worth 0G, for finding a piece of excrement in a toilet and picking it up. Sure, it was no game changer, it lacked decent graphics and level design, but a fair amount of it was fun and a little amusing to play. Personally, I found Duke Nukem: Forever to be a fairly tolerable game despite it being evidently poor. Having spent 15 years in development (an industry record), one would have hoped to have a more updated, fleshed-out character once Duke Nukem: Forever hit the shelves back in 2011. He’s an ass-kicker (and bubblegum-chewer) from the 90s with attitudes towards women from the 70s, a total anachronism we have all since grown out of. His machismo is made up of all the classic action heroes, mirrored in his bottomless pit of stolen or altered one-liners he utters throughout the games. His many games are self-aware and openly refer to the subject matter on which he is based. Well, for one thing there is nothing original or interesting about the Duke Nukem character. So what went wrong for the man who has single-handedly saved us from countless alien attacks?

A handful of games later over the course of 15 years and all things Duke have hit the fan, crushed by the weight of ageing fans’ expectations and his own ego. Starting life as a largely silent, uninteresting hero, Duke jumped from 2D platformer obscurity to iconic early-days 3D first-person megastar thanks to the large and controversial success of Duke Nukem 3D, both in the game itself and in real life. Last month saw the release of Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition, an updated version of the Duke’s classic 1996 game, so maybe it’s time to re-evaluate the “equal opportunities ass-kicker” as arguably his best game arrives on Steam after so many low career points.

Articles // 12th Apr 2013 - 10 years ago // By Gary Durston Duke Nukem: Hail To The King Or A ***king Embarrassment?

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