Duke Nukem Forever

Duke Nukem Forever is a sequel to the legendary shooter Duke Nukem 3D, which blew gamers’ minds back in 1996. After 15 long years of waiting, the hero with excess testosterone finally returned in 2011, to the enthusiastic (and slightly skeptical) cries of fans.

Although the new part directly continues the story of the classic game, you can get to the heart of what’s happening without being familiar with the original – everything you need is right on the screen.

Duke Nukem Forever Free Steam Account

The first Duke Nukem games, released in 1991 and 1993, were pretty solid platformers — nothing special, but enjoyable to play. But when Duke Nukem 3D came out in 1996, everything changed. It was a real breakthrough. While some gamers were glued to the polygonal monsters of Quake and admiring the cinematic presentation of the plot in Half-Life, 3D Realms rolled out a shooter where sprite aliens and an “old-school” level structure suddenly became a source of wild delight.

The reason? The atmosphere. Instead of dull corridors — brothels, movie theaters, strip clubs. You could pop into the toilet, sing “Born to be Wild” at karaoke, or throw balls in a pool table between shootouts. Enemies? Mutant pigs in cop uniforms. A hero? A charismatic alpha male, spouting cool action movie lines left and right. Weapons? Freezer, shrinker, laser mines and other madness. Easter eggs – you can collect them. Who cared that it wasn’t real 3D or that the resolution left much to be desired?

Such a success couldn’t go without a sequel. In April 1997, just a year after the release of Duke Nukem 3D, Duke Nukem Forever was announced. No release date was announced, but they promised to make it before Christmas 1998. And just imagine: the game comes out under the Christmas tree – competitors like Half-Life, Quake 2 and Unreal nervously smoke on the sidelines, and we get another holiday of madness. Yes, the Build engine had already begun to lose ground by that time, but remember: Quake was also not at the pinnacle of graphic progress when it came out, and this did not prevent it from becoming a cult classic. Duke Nukem 3D didn’t shine with technical innovations either, but did that stop it from being adored?

And now, in addition to the charisma of the hero, there was also an army of fans behind the developers – not just with applause, but also with money. It’s no wonder that 3D Realms believed: Duke could become the new Mario. Only in a leather jacket and with a shotgun.

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How Ambition Killed Duke Nukem Forever

But they missed one important thing. The Mario series has always kept up with the times. Moreover, at times it set the pace itself. And in the late nineties, time was racing at breakneck speed. New technologies were appearing, developing and dying so quickly that it was almost impossible to keep track. Look, id Software was already talking about a new engine – Quake 2 Engine (aka id Tech 2), while the old man Build was already clearly inferior even to the original Quake.

And here George Broussard and Scott Miller – the same ones who gave the world Duke – made the first mistake. And maybe the main one in the entire history of 3D Realms. They decided to abandon the old Duke Nukem Forever engine and switch to the then fashionable Quake 2 Engine. Thus rolled the first snowflake, from which an avalanche began – the very one that eventually buried one of the most ambitious games of its time.

At first glance, everything seemed fine. A ready-made, albeit expensively purchased engine, should have actually sped up development. All that was left was to “just” assemble the game from the already familiar elements:

• come up with and design levels,
• create character and enemy models,
• add an arsenal of weapons,
• throw together a plot, albeit a conditional one,
• flavor it all with the signature voice of John St. John,
• and don’t forget about the vulgar humor in the spirit of Duke.

If everything had gone according to plan, the fourth part could have been released by the end of 1998.

The team worked with passion, shared screenshots, and in May they rolled out a bombshell trailer at E3. There were planes falling, trucks racing, everything burning and exploding to a cheerful soundtrack. Fans were delighted and waited for the game with trembling hands. But Broussard dreamed of more. He wanted Duke Nukem Forever to become a true standard of technological progress. For the smoke from the fires to be like real. For every detail to look like in life. Ambitious? Of course. But here a logical question arises – how important is this for a shooter with a slacker in the lead role? At what point does smoke become more important than the game?

This desire for perfection became a fatal trap. Instead of simply releasing a solid game on time, the team chased a mirage. And lost. At first, work on the Quake 2 Engine was going well. But then Unreal Engine came on the scene — and everything had to be redone. For the second time in a year. Technically, this was justified: Unreal handled open spaces better, offered excellent tools for animation (for example, those same dancing strippers with motion capture), and was generally more flexible for implementing new ideas. And Broussard had a sea of ​​these ideas — and he wanted to implement each one.

The result? The game was not released in November or December 1998. It did not appear at E3 1999. And this was already a wake-up call. And a very loud one at that. But the most alarming was yet to come.

The Story of Duke Nukem Forever: How Expectation Killed a Legend

The problem was that 3D Realms could afford the luxury of taking its time. After the phenomenal success of Duke Nukem 3D, money was flowing in — everything was sold: the game itself, add-ons, and even the Build engine, which was old in every sense. The cash flow was so stable that the developers felt absolutely at ease. They decided to publish the sequel themselves, without unnecessary pressure from the outside. The release was not supposed to happen when the publisher ordered it, but when George Broussard personally decided that “now it’s ready.” GT Interactive, and then Take-Two, which replaced it, were needed only for show — a little marketing and help with the release of disks. Nevertheless, 3D Realms did not refuse a generous advance of 400 thousand dollars. There was even more money, and the release… naturally, was postponed again.

Nobody liked it. The publishers were on edge, especially considering that Broussard didn’t mince words about them. The studio was also seething: the team was tired, salaries were low, and everyone was hoping for fat bonuses after the release. But how long could they wait? People didn’t want to get stuck on one project for their entire careers – even if it was the legendary Duke. And the fans? The fans were already going crazy – they wanted a normal sequel, not constantly postponed promises.

Here are just a few of those who were driven to a dead end by endless development:

• Publishers who had to endure missed deadlines and insults from the lead developer;
• The employees of 3D Realms themselves, exhausted by the protracted project and low wages;
• Fans who waited for a sequel for years and received only trailers and promises in response.

In 2001, 3D Realms finally decided to at least calm down the fans and brought Duke Nukem Forever to E3. And, I must say, the trailer was simply bomb: Duke was racing on a bike, shooting from a golden gun, and, of course, saving girls from nasty aliens. In the form in which the game was shown – if it had been released then – the public would have forgiven everything. But… at the end of the trailer, the ominous inscription appeared again: “When it’s done”. And instead of a full-fledged game, everyone was waiting for silence – which lasted for many years.

The project could not be finished either in 2001 or in 2006. The team was burning out – not because of money, but simply from endless, exhausting work. Ironically, by the mid-2000s, the game was almost ready. The few who managed to play the working builds responded enthusiastically: everything worked, it was beautiful, lively, funny – a real Duke game, as it should be. Only one thing was missing: a sensible manager. Someone who would come and say: “That’s it, we’ll release it in six months, period.” Neither Broussard nor Miller were like that. Instead, they tried feverishly to expand the team, hoping that new people would both speed up the process and help tame the inner perfectionist. Alas, the effect was almost zero.

And then 3D Realms simply… ran out of money. In 2009, the studio had to return to the publisher with an outstretched hand. But they were unable to reach an agreement with Take-Two. On May 6, 3D Realms officially announced its closure. The subsequent trial finished off the studio once and for all – and, it would seem, put a fat point in the history of Duke Nukem Forever.

The Main Cons of Duke Nukem Forever That Needed to Be Fixed

But no. No one was going to finally bury Duke. Tens of millions of dollars had already been poured into the project, and the potential was much higher – a solid profit was promised. In 2010, Take-Two announced: Duke Nukem Forever is alive, and now Gearbox Software is working on it – the same guys who made Brothers in Arms, Borderlands and Aliens: Colonial Marines. According to the head of the studio, Randy Pitchford, the game was almost ready. The release was scheduled for next year. And, alas, it really happened. The legendary long-term construction, the main meme of the industry, has finally come out. 14 years of waiting is an entire era. During this time, three generations of consoles have changed, many AAA series have appeared and disappeared, and eight games about Duke himself have been released – not counting mods and fan remakes of Duke Nukem 3D.

But what the developers were actually doing all this time remains a mystery. Because Duke Nukem Forever looked like a blast from the past: tired, worn out, like a product that had been sitting in a warehouse for a while. The enemies looked like they were cut out of glossy plastic, everything was covered in a soapy film, and it hurt your eyes. The physics were poor, the textures were blurry, the levels were narrow and lifeless. It all looked more like a game from 2007, if not earlier. In terms of technology, Duke clearly lost the race. But the original Duke Nukem 3D didn’t become a cult classic because of its graphics, right?

But they also missed the mark with the atmosphere. They seemed to have tried to recreate the spirit of the original – add some gimmicks, interactivity, humor… But it turned out to be strained. They added everything from pinball and drawing to a bunch of Easter eggs and pop culture references. It seemed like it should have been cool, but it turned out to be a parody of teenage fantasies: with swearing, vulgarity and crude “humor”. It was as if the game itself didn’t understand what it wanted to be. Here you have attempts at tactics, and boring trips on transport, and puzzles inserted for some reason. But that same cheerful, impudent and cheerful shooter about Duke is almost gone. And this is especially offensive, because the game was expected! They followed leaks, looked for screenshots and trailers, discussed it on forums… Almost 15 years of hope. And all in vain.

Time turned out to be the most merciless critic. As one review correctly noted: “If DNF had come out at least a year earlier, it would have been accepted. Back then, players were already tired of shooters about special forces and “bad Russians”, and Bulletstorm seemed too strange. A little more – and fans would have forgiven even the old graphics.” But in 2011, the train had already left. Everything that could have worked is outdated.

Duke Nukem Forever fell victim to ambition, high expectations, and perfectionism. The result is not a game, but a patchwork monster: it’s kind of Duke, but kind of not anymore. If you want the real Duke, you’d be better off playing Megaton Edition or Duke Nukem’s Bulletstorm Tour. His soul lives much more vividly there than in the game that took 14 years to make. Sometimes, alas, “too late” is worse than “never.”

Duke Nukem Forever System Requirements

How to play Duke Nukem Forever for free on Steam via VpeSports

Do you dream of immersing yourself in the atmosphere of madness, explosions and legendary humor in the style of Duke Nukem Forever, but you don’t want to pay for it? There is a way to do it absolutely free – and without any fuss with torrents or hacked assemblies. Everything is honest, simple and convenient: get access to a shared account and play right now.

See how it all works. Go to the VpeSports website – nothing complicated, just register in a couple of minutes and go to the section with free steam account. In the list of games, you find Duke Nukem Forever – the very game where you can let off steam, shooting aliens and letting out signature lines in the spirit of “Hail to the king, baby”. On the game page, you will find a download button, and behind it – simple instructions. No dancing with a tambourine: a couple of steps, and you are already in the game, throwing grenades and crushing everything that moves.

When you’ve played enough and the adrenaline has died down a bit, don’t be lazy — leave a review. This isn’t just a formality: your few lines can greatly help other players understand what awaits them. In addition, this is an important step — after your comment is moderated, you will receive your login and password for your account by email. And if the review doesn’t go through the first time — don’t worry, we’ll tell you how to tweak it a little so that everything works.

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