Duke Nukem Forever Demo
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Like everyone else who likes the Duke Nukem franchise, my love for it is because I grew up with it. I think Duke Nukem is something you only enjoy for nostalgia; while Duke Nukem 3D stood among the best gameplay-wise back in its time, games have grown since then, more than anyone can measure. So Duke Nukem Forever doesn't try to revolutionize anything or create an amazing gameplay experience, it tries to remind you of what all the better games are lacking: the history you have with Duke.
A friend of mine expressed surprise that I would actually like the Duke Nukem series, since it just doesn't seem like my kind of thing. Which is true, to an extent, except for two things. One, as I mentioned before, nostalgia. Two, it takes every opportunity to make fun of itself and everything around it and like it. I can forgive a lot of stuff if it has a good sense of humor, and that's something lacking in military shooters like Halo and Gears of War and Call of Duty.
The demo was released yesterday, and I played it for about 15 minutes. I died, horribly, and my overall opinion of the entire thing was incredibly negative. It sucked bad and I was just going to cancel my pre-order right then and there without even finishing it. I picked it up again today, determined to at least beat the demo before giving Duke the middle finger, and I came away a bit surprised. It still has a lot of sucky aspects, and there's no way in hell I'm spending $100 or even $60 on it, but on the second playthrough, there was a certain draw it had.
Many people have expressed their opinion of the demo by saying "My expectations were already realistically low, but damn this thing sucked", and I can understand that...but I think as much as they'd like to think their expectations were low, they actually weren't. Underneath it all, I think most everyone wanted this game to come out and surprise them, that the 12-year wait would actually be worth it, and even though it might look a little dated, there was a really amazing potential GOTY underneath it all. And there's no way it could have been that - it's impossible from something with about twenty developer studios and 12 years of botched work.
Playing the game the first time actually sets your expectations where they should be - rock bottom. Playing the second time, you aren't holding out hope for a great shining breakthrough moment, or a one-liner that will be as quotable as any line in Portal. And because of that, you start to see the good points in it a little more, because you've already experienced the bad.
That said, you should never ever ever feel that way about a game. I mean, you're spending $60, you shouldn't be saying "Well, the game was okay after I thought it was the most worthless piece of shit ever and I lost all hope in it". That's bad. But, Duke Nukem Forever is a unique case: it could never win. It had no chance, no hope, of ever trying to live up to any expectations anyone had of it, even the most modest ones. There was too much built up in it, for all parties, subconsciously and consciously.
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