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If we were turn Duke Nukem Forever into an equation we’d get this one:
Halo + Half-Life 2 + Duke Nukem 3D = Duke Nukem Forever
It shares so many of the same design decisions with both of them it’s remarkable how popular Halo and Half-Life 2 are considering just how terrible DNF is.
All three are very linear, all three use vehicles to add variety, all three suffer from a lack of variety in terms of enemy with generic Covenant/Combine/Pig Cops being the main opposition, all three plan what weapons should be used where and provide the required tools just before, all three use heavy scripting for their battles. There’s not even a big difference in the complexity of the map design and HL2 and DNF share the same puzzle design ideas.
If DNF is such a complete failure, with broken mechanics et cetera, et cetera then surely that must mean that Halo and Half-Life 2, while great at their release have game mechanics and design decisions that simply do not hold up to todays standards and cannot be considered two of the best FPS games ever, as they very much are.
The truth is DNF was in the impossible position of needing to fit into peoples preconceptions of what a Duke Nukem game is (As it happens these preconceptions never match up to any other Duke Nukem game and make zero sense). People wanted DNF to be Painkiller, Serious Sam or Bulletstorm even though it was always quite clear that it wasn’t going to be anything like that if people took even a glimpse at the 1998 or 2001 trailers.
DNF is a well above average FPS game that’s light years ahead of stuff like Medal of Honor, which involved mostly watching cool stuff happen nearby you and one-hit killing Muslims with a variety of weapons that all acted the same. Lets not even get onto other FPS games where you can complete entire sections on the hardest difficulty without even shooting.