Something I think could work better than the current system, if they absolutely had to go with the ego thing, would be if you got ego boosts by actually doing something really spectacular and bad-ass. Like say, kicking a battlelord to death while on steroids, or killing five pigcops at once with a bunch of pipebombs, not by doing mundane stuff like playing pinball, throwing frisbees or slapping alien wall-tits (what the hell). 

From doing those kind of things. The poo throwing thing - well I didnt see that because i didnt pick up any poo from any toilets.
You get an ego boost from killing monsters in a spectacular way, you get to rip monsters horns off and shove them in their eyes, you get to feild-goal-kick a bosses' eye. I repeat - you get EGO from killing monsters. 

But those things are more like quick-time events though, right? Like climbing on top of the cycloid emperor and having to tap a button to rip out the hydraulic tubes or whatever, and then kicking the eye through the goal as part of a script. I'm thinking more of things you do while you're in the action, without having to stop and tap a button repeatedly. 

You get permanent EGO boots from boss monsters, and the spectacular ways only work for boss monsters too. Interacting with certain objects in the works increases your max EGO too, like taking a piss or throwing a frisbee. You don't get EGO for regular monsters, but if you manage to stun them and perform an execution move, it instantly refills your meter (only ever worked with pigcops for me iirc). And your health automatically regenerates after a couple of seconds if you don't get hit. 

 

Just kidding.

But that's my point concerning the ego boosts - why do you get it by doing mundane things like taking a piss? It'd be better if you got it by performing some amazing feat that isn't just restricted to execution moves, scripted sequences or interacting with world objects.

There's this fantastic DN3D mod called "Weapons of Mass Destruction" where you have all sorts of insane abilites, like setting off a timed nuke and additional kick types (and in DNF, the mighty boot is gone completely except as an execution move. Shame). Really over the top, which is what I wanted to see come out of DNF. This is the only video I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5jrIekzpQk

Gotta reinstall this... 

You get it because it's Duke and it's silly jokes like that that carry the game. This isn't really something I would hold against the game.
Other games also increase your health if you find certain items which is basically the same.
And sometimes there's a bit more to it - minigames like pool billard or getting the highscore on a pinball table. Or benchpressing 600 pounds for which, I think, you have to find an additional weight disc and find a way to return, so it's almost like a secret/achievement.

Seems like a non-issue to argue about. Or rather, the game has more pressing flaws to critize. 

The benchpress and having to hunt for a weight disc is actually a pretty good idea though, definitely suits Duke. Would have been neat if you'd get an even greater boost if you'd do the benchpress after drinking a few beers, but I digress. 

 

So far I've got as far as the first level with a lot of swimming and am generally having fun. By fun, I can go so far as to say that it's enjoyable.

Some section of the game have been a lot of fun; The shrunken platforming sections were great, and there have been a few memorable battles that were memorable because they were epic and involved me nearly running out of ammo or actually running out of ammo and having to use steroids to take out a commander (the flying fat things that say "suck it down" and "die human" a lot). The monster truck driving section was fun in parts, and the hoover dam and duke burger levels were pretty decent.

However, there is so much in the game (so far) that just feels terribly unfinished. Most combats involve a bunch of enemies spawning when you enter a room, pull a switch or get an item. This is ok in itself, but not when the fight is just endlessly spawning dual pistol insta-hit pig-cops and then when its over there is nothing for 10 minutes. Also, as several people have pointed out, the game borrows many ideas from Half-Life 2, but nothing is pulled of quite as well as in Half-Life 2. The physics puzzles are more tedious, the driving section less interesting... well, everything I've seen in Duke that has been done in Half-Life 2 has been done better by Valve.

I have a pretty juvenile sense of humour, so I still laugh at toilet humour and enjoyed the stupid poop trailer, thinking it was an indicator of the level of interactivity you would get in the game in general. Unfortunately, although there are many things you can play around with, there are many instances where there is something you really want to do but cannot. Near the beginning of the game there is a scene aping the famous incident during the filming of Terminator 4 where Christian Bale starts shouting at a sound guy. In this case, you can punch the guy who is in the role of Bale to shut him the fuck up, but there is not a single friendly npc in the game (so far) that you can do any harm to, aside from the women in the alien hive. When the boy asks for Dukes autograph at the start of the game I wanted to punch him and his father in the face, but it wasn't possible :(

As I was saying about the humour, it's something I thought I would like, but to be honest, most of Duke's one-liners aren't funny or are just copied directly from Duke 3d or 80s movies (I liked the "you think this is the real Duke? It is!" line from Total recall though), and the sex and toilet humour just isn't working. I thought the poop would be more fun, but it was kind of boring and the only one that was reacting to it was duke himself.

There was one bit on the Hoover dam where a troop gets crushed that I laughed at, but moments like that are few and far between.

In general, I agree with CZG and ZealousQuakeFan about the game so far. It does seem to have generally gotten better and better as I've played it, so hopefully the last few levels will be better.

By the way, how long has it taken people to finish? 

13 hours haha.

I read the Rock-Paper-Shotgun review, and whilst i think it a bit cynical (naturally) i think it is fair. I guess I fall into the category of people who are defending it XD. 

i'm stuck in the hive-2, near the explosive container and dead marine , don't know where i have to go next

screenies
http://www.quaketastic.com/upload/files/screen_shots/Shot0000.jpg
http://www.quaketastic.com/upload/files/screen_shots/Shot0001.jpg
http://www.quaketastic.com/upload/files/screen_shots/Shot0002.jpg 

I remember watching that part... think you have to throw a pipebomb at the jumping pad thingy and then detonate it once it lands in the opening with the ball. 

just figure out by watching utube wt 

Let's not give gb ideas here...

Dude... How long has it been since you ragequit RMQ? Isn't it time to move on instead of posting offtopic shit in some thread about Duke Nukem? 

. 

 

I just deleted a post.

Enjoy this empty space.






























Did you? 

It definitely got better toward the end of the game and overall I think it was a fun, if ultimately average shooter, with a lot of shit toward the first third that is likely to stop many people playing early on.

The unlockable stuff you get when you finish the game is pretty neat, and watching some of the trailers makes you wonder just what kind of state the game was really in back in 1998 and 2001 when 3DR released those early (awesome) trailers. The 2001 trailer in particular makes the game look like it would have been awesome. Maybe it was all smoke and mirrors? 

There's a breakdown of the 2001 trailer by an ex-3DR employee here:

http://forums.duke4.net/topic/4164-dnf-2001-breakdown/ 

Thanks for that. Seems like a lot of it was playable back then, so I wonder why they completely ditched all that and started over.

I wonder if George B was worried about the game looking dated next to the other games coming out around then... but what was there that was comparable? Wolfenstein? Medal of Honour? Fuck that. They should have finished what they had back then and made loads of money instead of an industry running joke that lasted more than a decade. 

Perhaps it still had 2 years of development, by which time it'd be close to 2004's Doom3, Half-Life2, FarCry. And how would it look compare to those games? Probably utter shit, even for 2001 that trailer looks a little bit dated.

But yeah I would still have finished it instead of starting all over again. 

most of Duke's one-liners aren't funny or are just copied directly from Duke 3d or 80s movies (I liked the "you think this is the real Duke? It is!" line from Total recall though)

Wasn't Duke 3D's one-liners copied from 80s movies too though? 

eg. an underwater battle with the snake-boss, very limited air supply and only 5 rockets to finish the boss. water movement is choppy and all that jazz. fuck it 

Yeah the fact that they didn't give you the fucking scuba gear... one of the main aids to fun exploration in Duke 3D.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall at a Take Two board meeting, when they discuss the current financial value of the Duke name and whether it's worth funding a sequel.

"Yeah sure, just don't let George near it..."