Does Duke Nukem Have a Future?

When Duke Nukem Forever finally gathered its strength and pulled itself out of development hell (you could practically hear the muck sucking from the Duke’s boots), we were all intrigued, if not a little bit excited. We tidied up and put a few brewskis in the fridge, and anticipated the return of a rowdy old acquaintance.

Well, Duke arrived, and within half an hour of our reunion, most of us were blushing, shifting uncomfortably, and gripping our warming cans of beer hard enough to make the aluminum crinkle. Though we had matured since Duke Nukem’s last visit–maybe to our surprise– The Dukester’s maturity had seemingly regressed. In fact, the game review collective stood up, put its hand on Duke’s arm, and said, “Dude–rape jokes and poop humor ain’t funny.”

We still don’t know if Duke took the game review collective’s words to heart. In fact, despite garnering cruddy reviews, Duke Nukem Forever actually sold quite well. Duke’s success may only inspire further incorrigibility, self-proclaimed bad boy that he is.

However you look at it, the Duke Nukem franchise is in a unique position. Despite the profitability of Forever, the game was so poorly received by critics that Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter guesses it may have put the franchise to bed for good, this time. After all, Forever wasn’t only docked marks for its mind-blowing instances of misogyny and toilet humor: Critics complained that the game was clunky, uninteresting, and an impotent joke of a first-person shooter, a genre that has come a long, long way since Duke last ruled the landscape.

Duke is no stranger to radiation-blasted wastelands and impossible odds, but even he might not be able to muster a prayer of survival. On the other hand, he might have just enough resources to scrape together one last chance.

“Duke Nukem is a rare case where the anticipation of its release was so large that many gamers didn’t want to ‘believe’ the game critics or in other cases really just didn’t care, they just wanted to play Duke Nukem, whether it was good or bad,” EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich told IndustryGamers. Divnich is right: There’s a lot of money to be made through nostalgia. Nostalgia is probably what saved Forever‘s bacon at retail, and it might be what grants the franchise one more life. There are still fans of Duke out there. Some just want to re-capture those particularly twisted childhood memories, and others aim to strike out against “political correctness” by supporting Duke Nukem, though it’s arguable whether or not these armchair crusaders have a clear idea about what the term actually means.

As for the rest of us, Forever‘s notoriety might be the very thing that prompts us to give the Duke a second glance. Forever was so crass, so poorly put together, that we can’t help but wonder how Take-Two (or whomever next decides to give the Duke Nukem franchise a home) will, er, top itself.

We’re not sure if we want to know–and yet, we cannot turn away.

About Nadia Oxford
Nadia is a freelance writer living in Toronto. She played her first game at four, decided games were awesome, and has maintained her position since. She writes for 1UP.com, Slide to Play, GamePro and other publications, and is About.com’s Guide to the Nintendo DS.

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