Gearbox Should Create Another Duke Nukem Game

With a fifth grader being younger than its development cycle, Duke Nukem Forever didn’t hold much chance to live up to its hype. The fact that the game has exchanged multiple hands and game engines sure doesn’t help, either. In the end, Duke Nukem Forever launched to mostly horrible reception. While I didn’t find it to be nearly as bad as others, it did leave a lot to be desired considering how epic Duke Nukem 3D was.

Whether or not all of the vitriol being spewed is bordering on overkill, there’s one idea I couldn’t shake while playing through the game… Gearbox should build another Duke game from the ground-up. The chance of DNF becoming a blockbuster title, let’s face it, has been null for quite a while. It’s time to start fresh, develop a game that will please both the current generation of gamers and those who grew up with Duke, and I don’t think there’s a better developer to pull this off than Gearbox (well, I’d argue that 3D Realms would be the best choice, but…)

Duke Nukem Forever suffered two fatal flaws. It neither felt like a true Duke Nukem game, and it did everything poorly compared to the current competition. It was a bit too linear, and given the overwhelming levels and possibilities in 3D, that sucks. Instead, DNF feels like the result of combining a bunch of elements from different FPS titles together, and then bringing Duke in to finish off the package.

Instead, the game should have been worked on making sure the elements that made the first game so great were incorporated. Should things like keycards really have been brought back? Not necessarily, and nor is that what set Duke apart. What made Duke Nukem 3D, and even its predecessors, so unique was the interesting level design, the sheer variety, the genuinely challenging gameplay, and puzzle solving that didn’t feel like a chore. The game in all regards was memorable.

DNF had a couple of puzzles, but none were too challenging. It had a linear level design, and where the game felt challenging, it seemed to be more due to the fact that the enemies just hit too hard, not that it was a genuine challenge where actual strategy is involved. As for variety, that is one area where I will give DNF props. It had a lot of it.

“Duke, we’re here to assign you an impossible mission.”

Yes, I was one of the few who genuinely enjoyed DNF, but I am not oblivious to the fact that the game should have brought a lot more to the table. Again, when the game has been in development for more than a decade, the fact that it turned out to be lackluster to most people shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s for that reason that Gearbox shouldn’t even contemplate shelving the series, but instead get to work on another title that will make up for this one.

Gearbox has been responsible for a good number of great games, including a couple of my personal favorites, Borderlands and Half-Life: Opposing Force, and at the same time, the folks there have an outrageous sense of humor… the kind of humor that’s expected of a Duke Nukem game. A Gearbox-developed Duke game, built from the ground-up, could have some major potential.

As someone who grew up playing the heck out of Duke 1, 2 and 3D, I’d hate to see the series shelved for another super-long period. Sure, we’ve had other Duke games come out since 3D, but none of them could even come close to the masterpiece that was 3D. Some were great in their own right, but it’s hard to live up to a game like that.

Despite the initial reception, it does seem like Duke Nukem Forever has been selling decently well, but it’s hard to tell what either Gearbox or 2K Games will have to say about a follow-up title. The story in Forever does invite a sequel, so we’ll see what happens. There’s no way a sequel could be any worse, right?