Duke Nukem Forever Demo: The Death of a Classic?

After confirming difficulty and starting the demo I was met with a lengthy loading screen, a still image and a number of somewhat amusing tips. After waiting a number of minutes I was signalled to start the demo. Having been kept waiting for the demo for an inexcusable number of months, I was expecting a long, polished experience from the demo. Having heard a number of suggestions and rumours as to the contents of the demo, you can imagine my surprise seeing that the demo was in fact the same two levels previously previewed. I wasn't necessarily disappointed, as at this time I wasn't aware of the shortness of the demo.

And so I set about playing the demo, chuckling here and there at the amusing remarks by the Duke and members of the EDF, the first level of the demo was enjoyable, whilst the battle with the Cycloid was straight forward and simple, it did contribute to the sense of the return of a classic. Being only 17 I didn't grow up with the Duke, but I have had experience with his Video Games over the last few years. The graphics weren't phenomenal but, they were good, with the rain drenched locales of the stadium looking particularly great.

After completing the opening level of the demo I found myself yet again surprised by the following levels identity, another previously previewed level. The desert looked less beautiful, in fact, it looked down right ugly in places, which was a huge disappointment. However, my hopes for DNF weren't regarding it's visuals, it was regarding the gameplay and comedy value. Unfortunately, the latter seemed non-existent in this level, and my opinion of the first, mixed. The driving seemed like a tacked on aspect of the game and whilst sequences such as this featured in most contemporary video games are a great moment to highlight epic scale, showing huge numbers of enemies, huge explosions and set pieces, in DNF, or at least the demo, it only seemed to act as a breather from on foot gameplay. I found myself itching for some on foot shotgunning action. Fortunately, the vehicle soon ran out of fuel, an experience that came as somewhat a relief.

Returning to the first person perspective, I was met with a depressing sight, an up close view of the horrendous desert landscape graphics, I found myself almost reduced to tears, but carried on in the hopes that the detail was yet to load. I picked up the rail-gun, an unoriginal sniper requiring no skill what so ever, with it obtaining one shot kills even on the hardest difficulty available even on body shots. However, Duke Nukem was never about shooting from a long distance, and so I found a shotgun and a number of pipe bombs before continuing on. After shotgunning a number of pigs, I began to enjoy the demo slightly more, whilst finding the lack of a weapon wheel frustrating (some games suit a two weapon choice, Duke isn't one of those) I mowed through my opponents. Again, I found myself complaining, with dismemberment and gore lacking, sure you can shoot an enemies head off, but on most occasions this only occurred when executing an enemy or shooting an already dead enemy.

After a tedious fire and retreat fight against an airship I found Duke in the mines, pushing mine carts and riding them, crashing, platforming and then repeating the process with again riding a mine cart, the on rails moments of the game were, yet again, disappointing, having no control what so ever regarding the speed or direction of the cart and being unable to fire, the sequence was a boring ending to the mission, I wasn't even kept entertained whilst waiting with witty remarks. Again the cart crashed, I stood killed two pigs, refilled the monster truck and seated myself, preparing for my next driving sequence, however, the screen started to fade to black before the launch trailer was played, I almost screamed in anger and frustration. After months of waiting for the demo, repurchasing Borderlands having traded it in a year earlier I was rewarded with a short, disappointing demo. I know it may sound as though all I'm doing is complaining, but I expected more from Gearbox. Most likely the final game will redeem the franchise but I can't help but feel let down. Luckily Gearbox released a trailer for Alien Colonial Marines, a game I've been waiting since 2008 for, otherwise I'd have been even more angry at them... Perhaps it's due to my growing up with more innovative games, or the game being overhyped, but the final game has a lot to prove and I've lost trust and hope that it will do so.