Thoughts on the Duke Nukem Forever Demo

[Article first published as Thoughts on the Duke Nukem Forever Demo on Blogcritics.]

After more than a decade of promising and procrastination, Duke Nukem Forever, sequel to fan favorite Duke Nukem 3D, is finally nearing release. Fondly remembering the hours I spent playing Duke Nukem 3D as a youth, I eagerly pre-ordered DNF from Amazon, earning me a membership with Duke’s First Access Club and an Xbox Marketplace code for the demo.

I wasted no time downloading the demo and trying it out to see the recent developments in the Duke Nukem franchise. I was shocked by my disappointment with what I experienced.

Maybe it was the years of anticipation, or possibly the development of my gaming palate through stellar first-person shooters like Halo or the Call of Duty series, but the Duke Nukem Forever demo definitely left something to be desired. The graphics were not as sharp as the competition, the controls were not intuitive, and the gameplay was simply boring.

It is possible that these are merely symptoms of this being a demo and that things will be ironed out with the final release. Since I have already dropped my 60 bones on the game I certainly hope that the full version packs more punch than this feeble demo. May the name of Duke Nukem regain the fame it once knew.