[RELEASE] Duke Nukem Forever (2013)

[Forge]

lol

the county i live in, and the state in general, would probably have a fit if they seen what you did
they're kinda anal about that stuff. if i don't get it fixed up to code, they'll shut off my power permanently, if they shut off my power then no duke
i can do without tv, stereo, lights, hot running water, etc. But take away my duke3d and now we're on fighting terms

it won't last forever. thing should be back to "normal" within the next week and i'll play the mod in its entirety instead of a piece at a time and get back to writing reviews instead of randomly and sporadically irritating people on forums

[Gambini]

I was trying to raise a smile on your face. I´d not do such thing. I´m a member of society alligned with all its laws

[Puritan]

@Gambini: 
You made my day, at least!

[ck3D]

i just finished the third level and am enjoying the mod a lot so far. the first level was awesome, incredible looking city scenery and use of sprites and palettes, the new art fits right in, the bike jump was a nice funny touch too. mind you i am not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to the early DNF trailers (i have watched them before, but i am not the type to know them by heart), so i am merely speaking from a pure player perspective. the second level was great too, i personally loved the intro with the bike (yet again), the train, highway chase and stop at the toll spiced up the gameplay oh so well, only complaint is how some of the bike code-related glitches got in the way and caused me to die for no apparent reason a few times (ie. just going down a sloped road ?), i also got 'lost' once on the highway section because i followed the vehicles all the way around instead of making a turn, not too bad but being able to witness how the highway was just a little looped sector ruined some of the impression of grandness that section of the level had for me. i also thought it was funny and unrealistic to take damage and come to a stop after running into a discarded carboard box sprite, if anything a solid crate or something of the kind would have made more sense. anyway i am just nitpicking, because that section was some of the most intense duke action i have experienced in a while, really loved it. then the headquarters themselves were pretty nice too. morningwood was a very good canyon level as well, my only little complaint would be those invisible blocked walls which are completely unnecessary in my opinion (i also found a cliff that was not properly blocked and i had to dnclip my way out). the open fights at the beginning, and having to climb my way up the canyon felt immersive and coherent. taking a little coffee break right now because i have spent hours on this already, but i am having a blast !

[ck3D]

just finished it. the fourth map (the mine map) was the less memorable of the pack, but it was fun nonetheless. the fifth one really won my heart though, despite that donkey section at the start which was painfully slow and annoying (i know it is supposed to be a joke and i can take it, but still). that map might just be one of the most conceptually grand levels ever done for duke. the outdoor area is HUGE and incredibly coherent. part of me would have wished for even more indoor areas to explore, but i guess they would not have been necessary and the limits might have got in the way. the outside design and landscape left me speechless with great texturing, terrain construction and ideas. the boss fight wasn't as bad as most people on duke4 make it out to be, if anything i wouldn't have minded a larger or more spectacular arena, the combat felt a bit too claustrophobic and the surroundings felt secluded and contrasted with the openness of the rest of the map (i almost felt like i was fighting the boss in a little closed room). i liked how fast the boss was and how easily it could catch up with the player if they get a little carried away. and loved the fact that it could fly (or something remotely closed to flying), one of my 'dream' bosses has always been a flying overlord using its rocket launcher device as a jetpack and using it for some power moves. the overall aspect of the boss did feel a bit random, but enemies in the original game already seem to come from the same race so the sprite mash up didn't feel that wrong in that regard.

[ck3D]

sorry for having to split my post in two halves, the laptop i am on right now gets painfully slow whenever i type a reply longer than a couple of lines on this site (and this site only, which is weird ?).

anyway as a whole i really liked the mod, it definitely includes some of the greatest, most immersive maps made for duke as of late, it really feels like an extension of the original episodes too by retaining their feel and expanding upon it with the new art and monsters (i really liked the infected soldiers and new slimers, as well as the modified tanks and pigs, not a fan of the terminators at all because i personally do not think they fit in the duke universe but i understand you had to include them as a DNF enemy), as a whole the entire thing feels (once again) very coherent, some of the landscapes are spectacular, gameplay-wise there is nothing to fault whatsoever, the difficulty was just challenging enough to be interesting and make for some good flights. a really enjoyable experience, thanks to everyone involved in the makings of this masterful craft.

[Forge]

speaking of t800s
why is there one lonely random terminator in the desert canyon of the third map?
i understand what they're doing in the lab in the second map, but talk about out of place

if there were more i didn't encounter them, but an old mining ghost town in the arid plains of the southwest + terminator = bad combo

[Gambini]

ck3d: Thanks for playing and I´m glad you enjoyed it. Mikko´s Dam map is indeed maybe the most conceptually great map ever made for Duke. Just it´s massive view, at the road, shocked gamers from the new era by how large the draw distance is in Build.

speaking of t800s
why is there one lonely random terminator in the desert canyon of the third map?
i understand what they're doing in the lab in the second map, but talk about out of place

It was sad for me that they were only in that section of the 2nd map. It´s two rooms to fight an enemy that took us quite a lot of work to do. I wanted to add some random ones at later points, as a recordatory. With those exceptions (because there´s another one in the mines) we went very cohevise regarding the use of enemies: You can see the wild pig at the very first part of the mod, but you won´t be able to fight it until the third map (although there´s one locked in the labs, as scientistics are experimenting with it). When I did that, I imagined myself as a player and I would have found some kind of WOW factor with that door sequence... Then I´d be eager to fight those pigs again and I´d have to wait until the desert, which is infested of them.

The terminators, in our story, were bought to Skynet by the EDF to support troopers in their missions. They´d never get to be used as the aliens hack the EDF system and turns them against their owners. It´s expectable some of them were deployed around the Dam area.

the laptop i am on right now gets painfully slow whenever i type a reply longer than a couple of lines on this site (and this site only, which is weird ?).

It´s not painful here but I do sense some slowness when typing on this site too.

[MSandt]

Glad you enjoyed it, mrck!

the outdoor area is HUGE and incredibly coherent. part of me would have wished for even more indoor areas to explore, but i guess they would not have been necessary and the limits might have got in the way.

Yeah that coherence is pretty much a result of the map being based on an actual location. And yeah, we did hit the resource limit with that. Interestingly all the indoor areas the map has were relatively late additions.

[Merlijn]

Replayed the whole thing on come get some. I'll try to write a review this weekend.

One thing though: the 4th map suddenly has 2 minibosses on come get some, and no extra explosive ammo to compensate for it. IIRC they weren't there on let's rock. I wonder if this was intentional?

[ck3D]

if anyone needs an extra review for any site i can try to get that covered myself and it should be ready tonight or tomorrow, i am full of spare time this week. but it seems that Forge and Merlijn are already covering both this site and MSDN, so i wouldn't want to step on anyone's toes.

[Merlijn]

Puritan can always post multiple reviews, so go ahead and review it.

[Forge]

not stepping on my toes
i'm behind the power curve on this one and won't have anything for a week
if one of you guys does one for here and the other submits one to MSDN that'd work out pretty good all around
i can come in late and CGS can use mine as a second review

[MSandt]

Okay, so which one of you perverts is gonna cover MSDN? Since Forge is unavailable, either mrck or merlijn should offer a review to MSDN but the same review should not be offered to CGS at the same time, because that'd be stupid as this site would then end up with three reviews.

[ck3D]

i am down with writing one for MSDN as long as neither Forge nor Merlijn see a problem with it (they do not seem to, though). i guess i will just hit you up when it's done via PM or email. do you mind if i let you pick the screen shots or do you want me to do that as well ?