Duke Nukem Forever

Did You Know?

• The game includes minigames such as air hockey, whack-a-mole, and pinball.
• A Flash game titled Duke Nudem was released on the promotional website Boob Tube, where players shoot targets against a woman to remove her clothing.
• Duke Nukem Forever was made available a day early on June 9, 2011, after the street date was broken.

Plot

Twelve years after his last alien-fighting gig, Duke Nukem is a rich and famous celebrity. He plays a video game based on his own past adventures before heading to a talk show for an interview. On the way, a news report says aliens are back, but this time they seem peaceful at first. The talk show gets canceled so the networks can cover the invasion, so Duke goes home to his Duke Cave.

There, the president and General Graves of the Earth Defense Force call him. The president tells Duke not to attack the aliens, saying he’s in diplomatic talks with their leader. But when hostile aliens attack him, Duke ignores the order and starts blasting his way through them. In his casino, he sees aliens kidnapping women, including his two pop-star girlfriends.

Graves explains the women are being held in the Duke Dome, and the aliens are using Hoover Dam to power a wormhole for reinforcements. Duke reaches the Duke Dome by smashing it with a wrecking ball. Inside, he finds the missing women have been impregnated with alien spawn; his girlfriends die after giving birth to alien babies. Enraged, Duke kills the Alien Queen but gets wounded and passes out.

When he wakes up, he fights through a Duke Burger restaurant and drives his monster truck to Hoover Dam. There, he finds his old friend Dylan, who is dying. Dylan says the reborn Cycloid Emperor is at the dam, and the only way to close the portal is to blow the whole thing up. He gives Duke demolition charges. Duke sets the explosives and destroys the dam, but the rushing water almost drowns him.

Development

In 1996, 3D Realms released Duke Nukem 3D, which received acclaim and sold around 3.5 million copies. Co-founder George Broussard announced the sequel on April 27, 1997, expecting a release by Christmas 1998. Broussard and Miller funded the game using profits from Duke Nukem 3D and other games, giving marketing and publishing rights to GT Interactive for a $400,000 advance. A 2D version was canceled due to the rising popularity of 3D games.

Development began using id Software's Quake II engine, and a trailer was shown at E3 in May 1998. Broussard became obsessed with incorporating new technology and switched to Unreal Engine, requiring a reboot. In 1999, they switched again to a newer version of Unreal Engine. By 2000, the game was still far from complete; a developer described it as chaotic tech demos, and staff felt Broussard had no fixed idea of the final game.

Because 3D Realms lacked external funding, they had no deadlines or financial pressure. In December 2000, Take-Two Interactive purchased the publishing rights, hoping for a release the following year. By 2001, the game was cited as a high-profile case of vaporware, and Wired gave it the vaporware of the year award.

Reception

On Metacritic, Duke Nukem Forever received scores between 49 and 54 out of 100, indicating mixed or average reviews on PC and PlayStation 3 and generally unfavorable reviews on Xbox 360. Critics criticized the long loading times, clunky controls, offensive humor, and dated design. Kevin VanOrd of GameSpot felt the combat lacked impact and called the game bad and boring. Eurogamer wrote that the locations lacked exploration and excitement, with levels that were too linear.

IGN felt the shooting was simple fun but criticized the platforming sequences. GamesRadar concluded that the world-record development time produced an ugly, buggy shooter that veers between average and boring. GamePro noted that unexpected moments were the game's biggest strengths but were few. Kotaku questioned design choices compared to Duke Nukem 3D, noting the game's plodding pace and limited weapons.

The Escapist agreed that the game felt out of place, having been cryo-frozen for more than a decade and peppered with modern touches.

Legacy

The Escapist included Duke Nukem Forever in its 2016 list of the worst games ever, calling it an example of hype exceeding quality. In 2021, Destructoid wrote that reactions ranged from negative to 'I guess it could have been worse,' attributing much of the failure to its imitation of other first-person shooters and lack of self-awareness. Screen Rant attributed the negative reaction to the long development and the series' humor becoming less acceptable.

On May 9, 2022, an unfinished version from 2001, including the level editor and full source code, leaked online. Broussard confirmed its authenticity, stating there was no real game to play. Miller wrote that anyone expecting a playable game would be disappointed. Ars Technica's Sam Machkovech found the gunfights surprisingly solid, with punchy sound design and powerful weapons, resembling Soldier of Fortune.

A fan mod, the Duke Nukem Forever: Restoration Project, aims to update the leak to a more complete state; an early version called The First Slice was released in December 2022. A version of the canceled 2D game from 1996 also leaked that month.