Duke Nukem Forever is an action first-person shooter video game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 that was developed by 3D Realms and finished by Gearbox Software. It is a sequel to the 1996 game Duke Nukem 3D, as part of the long-running Duke Nukem video game series. Intended to be groundbreaking, Duke Nukem Forever became infamous in the video games industry and its name became synonymous with vaporware due to its severely-protracted development schedule; the game had been in development since 1996. Upon its release in June 2011, Duke Nukem Forever received mixed reviews from critics.
Duke Nukem Forever is an action-oriented First Person Shooter. Players take control of Nukem as they navigate through a series of levels which take place on Earth and beyond. The game allows players to interact with various in-game objects, including urinals, water coolers and whiteboards which allow players to draw their own images. The gameplay is similar in some respects to the First Person Shooter games of the late 90s and early 00s, each level culminating in a boss battle in which Nukem has to fight and kill a large, significant alien.
Items that have an effect on Nukem can be picked up by the player, these are steroids, beer and a holoduke. Steroids increase the strength of his melee attacks by a great deal for a limited time, beer makes him much more resistant to damage but blurs the screen and a holoduke creates a hologram of Duke Nukem that looks and acts in a very similar way to Duke but often says slightly twisted versions of his one-liners. Whilst the holoduke is in effect, Nukem becomes invisible, the AI characters do not recognise his presence.
Instead of the health system featured in previous Duke Nukem games in which health would be depleted when Nukem was injured and would only increase upon finding a health pack, Duke Nukem Forever employs a system involving an 'ego bar'. The ego bar depletes when Nukem is attacked, once it is fully depleted, Nukem is susceptible to damage, if the player avoids further damage the ego bar is restored, as is Nukem's health. The player can increase the size of the ego bar (thus increasing the amount of damage Nukem can take) by interacting with certain items throughout the game, a mirror, for example, and by defeating bosses.