Gaming: There's guts, but no glory for this duke - Ottawa Citizen

Duke Nukem Forever

Rated: ***1/2

Available on: PC, Xbox 360, PS3

Rating: M for Mature

The king has returned to claim his throne; too bad he doesn't really deserve it.

After waiting 12 years to once again step into the shoes of lovable tough guy Duke Nukem, who can bench press 600 pounds, Duke Nukem Forever comes off as a bit of a dud, with aged graphics, pixelated nudity, off-colour language and clunky controls.

It seems like the game's creators went on a pop-culture orgy trying to cram as much as they could into the video. Pictures adorning Duke's penthouse suite capture him in many celebrity poses. There he is holding up the shark from Jaws. There's another in a space suit. And Duke is a regular on the TV set of the fictional Damn, it's Late Show hosted by Johnny Lenoman.

Duke has his own "Duke Cave" filled with gear, and a backstage encounter with a snooty actor plays out the Christian Bale tirade from 2009 where the actor screams at a crew member for interrupting a scene while it was being taped. In the game, the actor's rant ends with Duke punching him in the face.

The references help to break up the otherwise pretty standard shoot 'em up. There are bad guys to be stopped and Duke is the world's beer-swilling, tough-talking hero. For the uninitiated, Duke Nukem is a muscle bound superstar who has saved the world from aliens on more than one occasion. People love him, women throw themselves at him, the president has a direct line to Duke so they can have private conference calls.

There is no misconception in Duke's head over how big a deal he is, either: In the game, Duke doesn't lose health as he takes a beating; instead, his ego gets bruised and battered. Let his ego drop too low and Duke is out of the battle. Working out or drinking beer helps to extend Duke's ego. Of course, there is pixelated nudity and more F-bombs than eggs at Easter. It's this hilarious mix that saves the game from being a total loss because the rest of the title is a bit of a mess.

Really, the game's flaws had to be expected. The title, which has been in development for more than a decade and has been through the hands of four different video game developers, almost has the feel of a collage. Each developer wanted to take it a certain way, only to have the next team of programmers zigzag in a different direction.

The game even makes fun of itself. In an opening sequence, one of Duke's many girlfriends asks him how the new game is. He responds, "It'd better be good. It took 12 years to make!"

The title is still fun to play, if for no other reason than to see how Duke reacts to his enemies. "It's time to kick (butt) and chew gum, and I'm all out of gum" is the kind of thing Duke belts out in his trademark raspy voice just prior to jumping into a fire fight with a horde of invading aliens.

But the graphics in the game are far surpassed by almost every other first-person shooter on the market; put plainly, in many instances Duke Nukem Forever looks its age. The controls are also a little awkward, especially when Duke is left without a weapon and forced to punch his way through hordes of bad guys. The punching gets old fast.

For fans of the franchise this is probably exactly what they have been waiting for, Duke is back in all his beer-drinking, cigar-smoking, self-centred glory and there is another alien invasion that needs to be stopped. Everyone else may find the title a bit over-the-top. Duke's ego can get old fast and once that happens, the weaknesses in the rest of the game begin to show.