Duke Nukem Forever Previews Hit the Web

With an official known release date for Duke Nukem Forever (May 3, 2011), it’s just a matter of time before we’ll all be able to give the latest Nukem release a spin and see if, after 12 years of development time, the game aged like a fine wine. Last week, Gearbox invited select members of the press to join them at an event to give a preview of the game, and those previews have now been published all over.

The two previews I enjoyed the most were found at Ars Technica and Joystiq. Both of these sites and their respective editors don’t seem to see eye-to-eye on everything, although that’s to be expected with a big name game like this with such hype built up around it. While Ars Technica writer Ben Kuchera found the game to not look very good, Joystiq’s Alexander Sliwinski didn’t really seem to mind.

It’s true though… even judging by the preview trailer, Duke Nukem Forever simply doesn’t look that stellar by 2011 standards. But, that could also be said for most PC games lately, as most of them are mere console ports with updated graphics – not a true native PC game. But, we should all know by now that graphics don’t equal gameplay.

Duke Nukem 3D, and even the earlier releases, were known for being fun, regardless of how immature Duke and the game’s humor might be… as long as it’s fun to play, that’s what matters. I still think for Duke fans, DNF is going to deliver, although I do hope that Gearbox can use the time remaining before the game goes gold to make sure that the release is as good as can be. Fans have waited far too long to play anything less than “great”.

Somehow DNF still comes out an authentic followup, exuding the blatant — and, by some accounts, even delightful — immaturity of its predecessor. If you came of age with Duke Nukem 3D, then you’re probably going to have to suspend some years of maturation to enjoy DNF. I’d say it could even be a sort of bonding experience if you’ve got your own teens now, but then they probably hate your guts, and even if they don’t, it would be excruciatingly embarrassing to play DNF with them.