The first Duke Nukem Forever reviews are in, and the overall consensus is quite negative. Does the game really suck, or does it simply mean that because of all the delays, the expectations have been set so high that the developers just can't match them?
ComputerandVideoGames has done a quick roundup of five major reviews: IGN (5.5 out of 10), Joystiq (2 out of 5), The Guardian (2 out of 5), Eurogamer (3 out of 10), and PC Gamer (80 out of 100). In short, four out of five publications didn't like it. On Metacritic, the Xbox 360 average is 50, the PS3 version sits at 62, while the PC version has a score of 76. This is likely because of how many PC gamers are appreciating the game for nostalgic reasons.
Gamers have waited over a decade to play the official sequel to Duke Nukem. The title was originally announced by 3D Realms in 1997. The project experienced all types of problems, however, and it was passed over to Triptych Games and Gearbox Software in 2009, with multiplayer components provided by Piranha Games.
Half a year ago, Gearbox confirmed that development on the title was being completed. Given how long the game had been in such a state (some 14 years), there were still many skeptics. Then the game was demoed live, but many would still not believe.
Five months ago, the game was given a set of release dates: May 3, 2011 in North America and May 6, 2011 in the rest of the world. Two months ago, this was pushed back to June 14 in North America, and on June 10 in the rest of the world.
Last month, the official PC requirements were released. This was followed by an announcement that the game is coming to OnLive, meaning you can skip the requirements if you want. Finally, the companies announced that the game has gone gold. A demo was released for some earlier this month.