What fans want from the next Duke game

Duke Nukem is an icon in video gaming history, and Forever, despite its long development time, left room for improvement in the areas of graphics, interactivity, and general gameplay.  So what are hardcore fans of classic Duke looking for in a future title? 

1) Creativity and Interaction

Games in 2012 are different beasts, and in order to keep up with games like Modern Warfare 3 which pass for "shooters" these days, the next installment in the Duke Nukem franchise is going to need to have more originality.  Duke Nukem 3D and the various Duke Nukem console games (Zero Hour, Duke Nukem 64, et al) all brought new weapon ideas and gameplay mechanics to the table, and DNF could have gone beyond relying on these same decade-old ideas.  In 1996, Duke Nukem 3D was hailed as a game changer because it let players do things like shrink monsters and play pool.  In 2011, Duke Nukem Forever was criticized because these features standing on their own were not viewed as being as innovative as they were 15 years earlier.

Many of those who played Duke Nukem 3D have long since moved on to other games of all types, from other shooters to high-stakes PartyPoker.  The one thing that might tempt them back to the King is legitimate challenge, in terms of combat, level exploration, and game objectives.  Duke Nukem 3D was famous for its non-linear maps and weapon/health mechanics, and the next Duke game should follow in this line. 

This was one the best features of any shooter back in the nineties.  Secret areas, often containing bonus power-ups, were hidden just well enough to evade discovery by the casual gamer, but also cleverly enough to reward players who would take their time to smell the roses.  Duke Nukem Forever sought to offer a return to this classic notion, and Gearbox President Randy Pitchford hinted about secret levels in a short video interview.  Unfortunately, the game contained little actual secrets to speak of.  Understandably, creating an entire secret level is a pretty daunting task in a day and age where content creation is so difficult and time consuming, but a few more secret rooms wouldn't hurt.

 

These were just minor suggestions, seeking to remind everyone that we've always got our hero's back.  Duke Nukem is a legend and Gearbox has a big legacy to live up to in continuing the franchise.  In the mean time, we'd like to start posting more Duke Nukem 3D map updates to keep the website updated more frequently.