Top-Down Trash Talk: Duke Nukem - Mass Destruction

If the NeoGAF community's swift data extraction is to be believed, Interceptor, the team that rebooted Rise of the Triad, are due to announce a new Duke Nukem game. They have history with the man who stole a thousand catchphrases, having initially attracted Apogee's attention while working on a remake of Duke Nukem 3D. Mass Destruction does not sound a continuation of that remake. Instead, if the briefly operative website is to be believed, it's "a top-down action role-playing game...including experience points and tech trees". Earlier comments by Interceptor's CEO Frederik Schreiber suggest a possible return to the square-jawed intergalactic heroics of the original side-scrolling Duke, in place of the failure of a parody of a satire of a spoof that haunted Forever. The website is currently undergoing maintenance but reportedly contained a 24 hour countdown timer. You can follow NeoGAF's detective work here, or cast your eyes down the page for quoted details.

The description of the game's ARPG nature was apparently translated from an alien message, which seems like an odd way to announce a game but, hey, a possibly accidental early exposure of a coded paragraph is still better than some video announcements.

Here's the translation:

The king makes his next generation debut in Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction, a top-down action role-playing game for PC and PlayStation. Duke Nukem kicks ass across planets in an Unreal Engine-powered galactic adventure to save the President from an apocalyptic alien threat. All new enemies, a never-before-seen arsenal of devastating weaponry and series-first mechanics, including experience points and tech trees, will let Duke rip ‘em a new one in a way he never has before.

And here are Schreiber's earlier comments, made over at the Duke4net forums:

I'm also personally tired of Pigcops, Turd Jokes, and a Goofy Duke Nukem.
I would love to see a Duke Nukem game, taken in a completely new direction. A way more serious and "Badass" Duke, with an epic plot. Something that really brings back Duke as an Action Hero.

That reminds me of how tired I am of strippers, babes etc. in Duke Nukem games, which only degrades Duke's intelligence even more (there is nothing wrong with Duke Liking strippers and babes, but it shouldn't be the main plot of a game). Give us a Duke game without strippers, a great sinister villain than can break Duke (Think Bane from DK:Rising), a slightly older, and way more badass/gritty Duke, and a galactic plotline that can be taken seriously, and I'm Sold!

Despite my long-standing affection for Duke Nukem 3D, my inner Livejournal is registering 'Mood: Apathetic'. The development of Forever was an incredible story and the greatest disappointment, sadly, is that it was ever released at all. It seemed a fitting end for a hero so defiantly out of time.