Why Duke Nukem isn’t Expendable

As the dust settles on the news that Gearbox is resuscitating the bloated corpse of gaming’s most beloved misogynist, the internet is still ablaze with debate, opinion and good old fashioned spite regarding the biggest comeback since Elvis ’68.

There seems to be two schools of thought. The first is that Duke Nukem as both character and game is nothing more than an outdated and terrible indictment of videogaming’s past that we would do well to avoid returning to. On the other hand it’s billed as a fun, almost kitsch throwback that recalls straight up accessibility and arcade sensibilities without the convoluted modern trappings of the genre.

Both of these are wrong, in their own special way.

What both sides seem to forget is that when Duke 3D launched it was a genuinely innovative game, featuring unrivaled interactivity, awesome map design, and imaginative use of (kind of) 3D space that complemented Duke’s abilities. Even now, elements of the game stand out from the FPS pack: using the jetpack, swimming through a submerged city, being on the fault line of an earthquake as it happens and, of course, shooting through the cinema screen.  These were topped off with the oft-remembered good-natured self-reflexivity and humour (‘ain’t got time to play with myself’), and all of these elements combined to form a title that took the still-nascent FPS genre and expand the possibilities of what it could do.

But that was then, and this, as you probably know, is now. Gaming has moved on, this much is true, but Duke Nukem Forever shouldn’t be immediately discarded on the basis of its long development nor of either these nostalgic memories or ignorant tirades aimed at its predecessor.

Gamers get a bad rap for being ‘immature’, and our pastime is often denounced as childish, but Duke’s enduring legacy isn’t the strippers or puns. They augment the fine gaming experience, not form it, as the shoddy PS1-era spin offs prove.

Most gamers are quite savvy when it comes down to this sort of thing, and titillation alone won’t keep us interested (otherwise we’d all be looking forward to BMX XXX 2). If anyone can pull Duke into the modern age, recall Duke 3D’s superb mechanics and sense of a solid, three-dimensional world that you explore rather than just observe, it’s Gearbox, but it needs to tread carefully.

The company will, given the release date, probably polish up the work done by 3D Realms and get it out the door. Unless there’s been a miracle, this undoubtedly won’t be good enough, and Forever will resemble Stallone’s The Expendables, an exercise in nostalgia that misses the point entirely. But if Gearbox pours even a single ounce of its own creativity into either Forever or its inevitable sequel, then expect a triumphant return for a man who would be king, because, as much as the haters want you to think otherwise, Duke 3D had the brains as well as the brawn. With Gearbox behind the franchise now, we expect the same from future titles in the series.

Shake it baby.