Who'd have thought we'd ever outgrown the Duke? Always a complete douche, sexist and exceptionally amusing back in the day, Duke finally returned to our gaming systems in the last generation with the game that had constantly been in development hell, Duke Nukem Forever. Perhaps it should have stayed dead. Years out of touch with both gaming and the humour of its audience, Duke Nukem Forever truly made most people realise that the Duke's time had come and gone. The once amazing hero had spent too long in the cupboard of forgotten game protagonists to ever reclaim his crown and was destined only to be remembered as the person who wrote with an actual piece of excrement. The future of the Duke franchise remains hazy but unless something really drastic is done, there's no way to recover from Duke Nukem Forever. A game that long in development should have been amazing and revitalised Duke's fortunes. Instead the Duke can now be found drinking from a brown paper bag in an alleyway down the town centre, drawing on walls with his own bowel movements. A not-so-valiant effort Mr Duke.
Dan Curtis is approximately one-half videogame knowledge, and the other half inexplicable Geordie accent. He's also one quarter of the Factory Sealed Retro Gaming podcast.
