Preview by: Jeff McAllister

Obviously, 14 years is a hell of a long time for any game to be in development. Duke Nukem Forever was announced back in 1997 and over the years it made brief appearances here and there with nothing more than a screenshot or two reminding gamers that it was still out there, somewhere. It became the poster child for the term vaporware.

At PAX East last year it was finally revealed that 2K Games and Gearbox would be taking over the development duties from 3D Realms and that the game would ship in early 2011. For those that had a chance to see it at PAX it was a fun, small dose, filled with potty humor and bad language. It was Duke.

I had a chance to go out to Las Vegas, on 2K’s dime, to get a hands on look at the game. The event was hosted at, I kid you not, Duke Nukem’s Titty City – a real strip club turned into a gaming haven. As we gathered inside the club and sat down at our consoles, the main man himself, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, gave us a brief introduction and history of how Duke ended up at Gearbox. Once the rather heartfelt and sincere history lesson was over, I turned to my screen and was ready to finally dive into the world of Duke and see just if the wait was worth it.

The game begins where Duke 3D ended oh so many years ago, in the football stadium where you fought against the Cycloid Emperor and used his eyeball to kick a field goal. Before you head out to the field to relive that moment, you first find yourself taking a whiz at a urinal. Once your business is taken care of you can then either head out to fight the Emperor or continue to play around in the washroom, leisurely drawing on a whiteboard or picking turds out of the toilet which you can then fling about the room. Why would you want to do that? That question sadly remains unanswered.

While this eyeball punting scene was a rather well-known event in the original, seeing it in the new engine brought back memories of just how hilarious it was the first time around. Once the battle is over, it is revealed that you were just playing a game from Duke’s perspective while being pleasured by two women. It left me feeling a little awkward, but that’s all part of Duke’s, well let’s just call it “machismo”.