Duke Nukem Forever Demo Impressions

[NoExtraLife]

So first access keys went out last night for most pre-orders, having spent the past hour or so running through the demo afew times, I'm left feeling abit conflicted with it, sure its the old demo from PAX, and its easy to look past the visuals considering the development history, but the game does have some obvious and in fairness expected issues, poor animations, some outdated gameplay mechanics and general jank.

Its great to finally be playing as duke again after all this time and I am still looking forward to the full version, but it will be interesting to see what people think coming out of the demo.

[venn177]

The demo seems hastily thrown together. The first level was amazing, but the second one was quiet as hell, Duke never talked, the driving was short and seemed mostly pointless, and I'm just hoping based on things like the unfinished jumping animation that the demo is the one from PAX, because if they consider this anywhere near a finished product, I'll be crying myself to sleep.

Also the demo was 15 minutes long.

[dyst]

According to the internet, it's the exact same PAX demo from last year. I wonder how much they polished it up and how much better/worse the final game will be?

I enjoyed the first level, but outside of that it was a bit too slow for my tastes.

[venn177]

Look in the mirror while jumping, and you'll see only the legs are animated. I have to imagine the game will be a helluva lot more refined for the final release.

A shame they pretty much shat the demo out, though. I was secretly hoping for a 1-map Capture the Babe demo.

[_Jackalope_]

It seemed interesting at first, I've never turned on so many showers and taps or thrown quite so much poo all at once before. It's the first time I've ever had to go and fiddle with the mouse controls, it's all set up for a 360 controller. It just feels a bit slow. Movement and pace wise. I liked the weapons, although why bother with a realistic two weapon inventory in something like Duke Nukem? I'm not gonna play it for realism, so why can't we just keep the weapons we find? I was enjoying it most when it felt like I was playing Duke 3D but with nicer graphics but most of it didn't even feel that good. I'm almost tempted to say it feels like a fan mod with nice model work and a bit of money spent on the presentation, but with no idea about gameplay. I wouldn't pay the full price for this. The £39.99 Steam price tag is ridiculous, I'm not even willing to pay the £30 pre-order price. Definitely a future sale purchase for a rainy day but unless it gets some stellar reviews I can wait.

Did anyone else get a sound error in the mines? Restarting the demo fixed it for me and it was all over quite soon after so I don't know if it would reoccur.

[G915]

Um, where exactly do I get the demo? I've got the First Access Club key on Steam but I can't activate it via Steam...

[VA1N]

Um, where exactly do I get the demo? I've got the First Access Club key on Steam but I can't activate it via Steam...

They should have sent you an email. I bought the PC version off of Amazon and they sent me the Xbox 360 demo. Doesn't bother me because I have a 360 but I did think it odd.

[venn177]

Um, where exactly do I get the demo? I've got the First Access Club key on Steam but I can't activate it via Steam...

You have to sign up using that key at www.dukenukem.com/access, then they'll email you the key for the beta.

[G915]

They should have sent you an email. I bought the PC version off of Amazon and they sent me the Xbox 360 demo. Doesn't bother me because I have a 360 but I did think it odd.

Right, found it, 1st I had to enter the Steam key on this site - http://www.dukenukem.com/access/
//edit: thanks venn :)

[Schaulustiger]

I also didn't get a mail, but I found my old First Access Club registration and entered that key on the aforementioned site to get my Steam key for the demo. Installing now and my impressions will follow later.

[Simon]

http://www.mike65.ukfsn.org/main/uploads/files/dnf/


Hmmmmm

Some of it is excellent, some of it is meh.

+weapons, shrink ray, shotgun, pipe bombs, devastator etc. They felt a bit flimsy at first but feel pretty chunky after awhile.
+humour, lots of it. Lots of popculture references straight of the bat as well
+ graphics are good but dated,
+ lots of interactivity with poo, white boards, etc

-regen health
-two weapons at a time
-god awful vehicle section



I quite like it but it does feel real dated and not a good sort of dated like replaying quake and I hate all the "modern" fps concepts give me health packs any day.

[Notch]

I assume the full game is better than this demo.

I don't mind the regenerating health, but I DO mind the extremely linear level design and the disgustingly bad attempt at macho humor. Either joke about it or do it seriously, don't joke about not doing it seriously. It doesn't work. Postal 2 got the gross-out humor right. DNF, not so much.

The biggest problem, however, is that I didn't die one single time while playing this. The first boss didn't hit me once, and I wasn't even trying to dodge him. That might've been by design, though.. But later on, I was playing very carelessly, and enemies got me down to zero health several times... and just stopped shooting. They stood around, waiting for my health to regenerate (from zero!) and/or for me to shoot them. Heck, I didn't even have to use the shed in the fight against the dropship.

I have great respect for gearbox, and I realize this demo is old, so I expect the full version to be better than this.

[venn177]

My friend actually had trouble with the demo, dying three or four times.

More than anything I just don't want the awkward silences like during the second demo level. Duke should be spouting about three times as many lines as he is.

[Simon]

why? He didnt talk too much in the dn3d

[venn177]

They didn't know he was going to be an iconic piece of gaming when they were making DN3D. There's no excuse for not having all the extra content for him, either.

[Simon]

Having him spouting off after every kill would get old quick. If we wanted a witty one liner after every kill they would have made the blood guy (caleb?) give a witty retort after every kill.

Mmmm Blood. what a game.

[venn177]

Not like that, just have more comments about the levels, and whatnot. You can't say it wasn't an awkward silence in the second level.

[Simon]

which was the second level? That crappy truck bit?

I admit i got out the truck before it ran out of gas and walked to the boost jump bit and then had to walk all the way back for the car. that bit was silent and boring.

[Shakermaker]

I really didn't like it. Posted this on another forum:

I have just played the demo. It is embarrassingly bad. And I don't mean the puerile humor nor the archaic gameplay. I guess that goes with the territory, this being an old school game and all. No, it is bad in a technical way. Check out this screenshot of the depth of field effect for example. This would have looked awful in 2001, let alone 2011. The graphics in general give the impression that this game was made in the original Quake engine. Okay, that is a tad hyperbole-ish maybe, but still. I mean, look at this screenshot. Check out that sky box. Were they even trying? And don't get me started on the way this game is ported. Just think Borderlands and you'll get the idea. Not ever going to buy this game. It is a turd.

[lhzr]

i don't see any problem with those screens you posted. they look fine to me.