[float=left][attach=1][/float]I can't really call this a preview since it's just the demo, and I can't really call it a review because it's not the full game, but I felt that having something was better than nothing. Now, to start things out, I have never played a Duke Nukem game before. I am familiar with them by reputation only, but what a reputation they have and like Duke says "After 12 **** years it ought to be".[cutoff]
Graphically, the demo is pretty good looking. I wouldn't go so far as to say they're "gorgeous," but the flaws are not too numerous and in motion you don't see them. Screenshots, however, show things to be a little lower poly and not as well textured as I would hope of a game being released at this stage. While the environments and weapons are a little lacking, characters are severely below the quality I have come to expect. Visual quality dropped even further when I lowered visual settings and finally turned off my capture in a vain hope to raise the performance. Sadly, dropping the res to 1024x768, turning off shadows and lowering the texture quality did nothing to improve my framerate, which shows a distinct lack of optimization. Neither did disabling my screenshot capture.
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Not as detailed as I'd like, but decent.
What they did do is cause my system to go spastic for several minutes as the game switched back and forth from desktop to in game as it attempted to comply with my request. Upon relaunching the game it decided to do this again. Now, I could forgive something like this when I paused in the middle of a battle to change my video settings. When
launching with these settings, it is simply unforgivable. I was lucky to break 30 FPS at any point, with 15-20 being typical, and the occasional drop to slideshow level for no discernible reason.
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Somewhat lower quality than I would like to play at.
The game play was decent but nothing to write home about. Opening with the jokes we've seen already such as pissing in the toilet, throwing turds at the wall and "Operation: Cockblock", the demo got into some of the weaponry that's been shown and touched on the vehicle sections. The jokes are childish and immature and I would expect nothing less. Fighting, however, leaves something to be desired. Ammo reserves are lacking and you don't seen to be able to carry more than 2 weapons. In a "realistic" game these are fine but in a game where you literally punch aliens in the crotch I have to say I'm disappointed. The vehicle section demoed was poor. Handling felt disconnected and I repeatedly ran into walls and failed to run over enemies. Enemies had nearly killed me by the time I did hit them, despite my being in a monster truck and them being foot soldiers. Having died 5 times on a 2 minute vehicle section on normal, I'm wondering how exactly one was supposed to make it through that.
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Not only did this happen, this is how it started.
There were a number of "quicktime" events throughout the demo. I use quotes, as they didn't require any sort of speed or quick reflexes but there were certainly button presses popping up in the center of my screen. There was also a complete lack of indication as to if I needed to keep hitting them or if I could let go, and the delay between pressing the button and the action beginning was long enough to question if I was even doing what I was supposed to. I wasn't keen on having E, space and left mouse being used for these things at different times either. Pick a use key and stick with it please.
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Tap repeatedly to make developers stop putting these in games. Seriously. This is not fun.
My final word is that for 12 years of development, I'm disappointed. I had hoped to make this our first big game review but as it stands I have a hard time justifying spending $50 on it, let alone praying it runs well enough to make it through. I'd blame my system's age but altering video settings did nothing to affect my framerate and there wasn't nearly enough happening to justify a cpu issue. I'm afraid I'm probably going to have to pass on this one.
I'll leave you with a few more screenshots just for good measure. You can never have enough screenshots.
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You let me draw on the white board and this is the res you choose for "ultra"?
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This happened... This -is- Duke Nukem so I don't know what else you'd expect. No you can't look down. Yes I tested that.
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In your face! Yeah!
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This is the ultra settings from before my attempt to rectify my framerate issues. Still lacking a bit.
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Again on ultra. Just seems lacking. Couldn't that overlay be a little higher res?