Why Duke Nukem Forever Will Succeed

Written by kube00, Erik Kubik Tuesday, 07 June 2011 11:00

Hail to the King boys and girls. That’s right, Duke is back. And the game couldn’t be released at a better time.

The start of June usually signals the slowing of the video game industry for the summer as everyone gets ready to crank out games in the fall. By July gamers have little to look forward to in the next month or so. There is Madden, and maybe some of us will enjoy a little NCAA football, but most of us replay last year's games, work through our ever expanding back logs, or put away the games and enjoy what summer offers.

DNF's release has perfect timing. Gamers are hungry for a different kind of FPS. Most gamers have gotten tired of playing CoD and its knockoffs throughout the year. Outside of Brink and Portal, most of the FPS market is saturated with redundancy.

Duke Nukem Forever is going to be different. I’m sure it will have the traditional FPS moments as well as its corny moments to make gamers’ laugh and cry. Its the kind of game that won’t take itself too seriously. There’s the ladies, Duke’s guns, and the weapons. Those things alone would sell me. What about boss battles that let gamers do terrible things to the corpses afterwards?

Gamers know Duke will crack one-liners about being in a video game. If anything, gamers could compare it to Portal 2. Portal 2 is a game that’s fun, well executed and is a much needed break from everything that screams traditional FPS. This is what Duke Nukem Forever should represent.

Concerning DNF's release, gamers have been waiting for the game to come out for over 10 years. Some of these fans haven’t touched a video game in years. Do I dare say some fans might go out and get a PC, 360, or PS3 to play Duke Nukem Forever? I wouldn't be surprised if DNF sells a few consoles or high end video cards. I know after seeing what I saw and playing the demo at PAX last year I knew hands down this was a must have game for me.

Looking back at Duke Nukem 3D, gamers know it hasn’t aged well. But it was a defining moment for FPS games. The game created all sorts of controversy from the women to the violence, it went where FPS games, or for that matter, games in general hadn’t gone before. Commercially the game did well selling over 3.5 million copies and was ported to everything from the Saturn to the N64. What can gamers expect with Duke Nukem Forever? How about an all around good time?

Well readers, will you buy it day one? What are you most looking forward to in DNF?