Jay’s Internet Log

I played Duke Nukem Forever this morning… really, I did.  You can too if you’re in Gearbox’s First Access Club and get emailed a code.  But the game does seem to exist, and it’s shaping up to be a fun experience.

I played through the two-level demo three times, once on each difficulty. The most difficult run was the first one on the easy setting.  This is because enemies spawn in the same location on each difficulty, so once you learn the pattern, the game is cake.  Near the end of the demo on my first run, I got stuck because I found some planks, and when you get close to them, Duke says that a crowbar would be handy, so I looked around the area for a crowbar for 5 minutes before trying to just melee or shoot the wooden planks and move on.  I did die in the vehicle section of the hard run because I got shotgunned and hit by rocks, which takes off a lot of damage on that difficulty.

The game has various weapons spread around the map which are fun to use, but not all are beneficial for that particular section.  I learned quickly that the sniper rifle is very cool.  I found what I think is a hidden item called a Holoduke.  I don’t think there are any other hidden items, but maybe someone else will find one.  Between levels, while the game is loading, you are shown onscreen tips like most games.  Some of these are serious, but others, like the following, are just there to make you smile:  When being shot at, try to avoid bullets

You can feel the Gearbox influence in the way Duke moves around.  It feels a lot like Borderlands.  An issue that I see right away though, and I’m not sure if this is just for the demo, or if it will propagate to the final product or not, is the stutter.  The game seems to struggle on my 360 at times, and it can be distracting.  Overall though, Duke Nukem Forever seems like it will be a really fun playthrough once or twice.