After fifteen years in development, an entire studio killed, and untold millions spent, Duke Nukem Forever finally crossed over from vaporware to retail product. Unfortunately, that retail product isn’t getting the rave reviews one would expect from a game in development for more than ten years.
The PlayStation 3 version of the game has a Metascore of 56 with critics and a 4.2 with users, while the 360 version sits at 59 with critics and 6.6 with users. The Amazon reviews are all over the board with some giving the game 5 stars while others low-balled it with a single star.
“Duke Nukem Forever was poorly thought out and feels like it was designed by a bunch of highschool kids,” said one reviewer on Amazon.
There’s no question that finishing up Duke Nukem Forever was a labor of love for Gearbox Software, but one can’t help but wonder how everything would’ve ended up if they had just started from scratch. The developer has acquired the IP rights from 3D Realms, so further titles can be made in the series. Gearbox has already bought up the domains for Duke5.com, Duke6.com, and Duke7.com, so more is probably coming regardless, but can the series survive this title?
