What’s next for Duke Nukem?

“After 15 years of development, Duke Nukem Forever is a worthy successor to PC classic Duke Nukem 3D. With its vast features, intricate level design, genre-defining physics, detailed graphics and excellently-executed sense of humour; 3D Realms has crafted one of the best FPS games of all time.”

Or that’s how it should have gone.

After the universally panned Forever re-defined the meaning of over-hyped disappointment and developer over-indulgence, we ask the question; what’s next for Duke Nukem? And look at what Borderlands developer Gearbox must do to return the series to past glories.

Back to Basics

When Duke arrived on the scene in 1996 (Yes, I know he first officially appeared in a series of early 90s 2D platformers) after a decade of piss-poor action flicks, gamers were gripped by the character’s macho-parody of the likes of Arnie and Stallone.

Heavy on popular culture references and memorable quotes, the shooter was driven by brilliant open 3D level-design and a playful originality the likes of Doom could only wish for.

Who could forget their first experience with a shrink-ray? And the inevitable crushing-to-death of a Pig Cop with Duke’s size 12s. Or the brilliant holo-Duke’s? Yes they were lifted straight from Total Recall, but nothing was more satisfying than watching enemies shoot at your hologram as you sneaked behind and lit rip with the rocket-propelling devastator.

These fun gameplay elements were central to what made Duke such a success; a larger than life character with larger-than-life weaponry. Duke Nukem Forever failed by rehashing ideas from the past and not moving forward with these principles. Combat was a clunky, drawn-out affair.

With their newly acquired license, Gearbox must introduce a fresh over-the-top arsenal rather than borrowing from the past. How about a shotgun which turns the wounded into monkeys? Giving Duke access to hallucinogenic drugs?  X-Ray glasses which allow Duke to see enemies (and hopefully babes), completely starkers? The ability to build your own weapons, perhaps an SMG with a egg-firing barrel attached?

Gearbox must do to Duke what Saints Row has done for sand-box, in short; killing pig cops must be fun again.

Relevant humour

Some of Forever’s scripted gags went a little too far with jokes of abortion and rape leaving a bad taste.

With a 15 year development cycle, DNF‘s pop-culture references mocked everything from Halo (a rare funny moment) and World of Warcraft, all the way back to Pulp Fiction and Donkey Kong. In short; you could tell whole sections of the game had been developed over a decade ago and references felt a little out-of-date.

Future Duke has to maintain the sense of humour which made the series so great and to do so it must stay relevant to its time.

How about gags mocking Call of Duty’s tired, on-rails gameplay? Jokes about the current crop of torture porn horror; Duke could find a pig-cop hilariously caught up in one of Jigsaw’s traps. Or sections which make you laugh at Gears of War’s rubbish voice-acting; Duke could discover a hidden area with Dom and Marcus figurines made from wood.

Throwing poo may have been funny back in 1996, when the Farrelly brothers ruled comedy, but in 2011’s Forever it just didn’t work. Sharply written popular culture references are key for future titles.

Open-world level design

I always thought Duke Nukem 3D was more influential than Doom and that was largely down to the level design. The game was all about exploration and interaction with what you could see, whereas in DNF, a poorly-scripted boss battle never felt too far away.

I’m not suggesting the series should go all Skyrim on us but maintaining the open-world possibilities of the past is crucial.

Cleverly hidden secret passages, bonus items and the possibility of different routes would make the game great again. I’d also welcome a proper comeback for Duke’s jetpack, which brought tense air-combat scenarios to gaming way before Halo Reach.

Introduce a love-interest

Die-hard Duke fans may call for my head on this one, but I think a future title could benefit from a female storyline.

Yes, I’m more than aware that Duke’s sexist undertones, petting of ‘babes’ and seedy strip club visits are central to the character’s macho-image, but adding a female storyline could do wonders in repairing the game’s politically incorrect associations.

After all, this is 2012 and the likes of Metroid have consistently proven FPS heroines are every bit as engaging as their male-counterparts.

A potential love-interest could poke fun at Duke’s dinosaur-testosterone and give the series a much needed opportunity to prove it’s clever enough to make us laugh at the stereotypes of more than one gender.

Arkham City’s Catwoman sections were a crucial addition to the franchise and Duke could improve with something similar. The thought of Duke finally meeting his match in a chain-smoking, feminist-hating chick in the mould of action-star Michelle Rodriguez, presents an endless list of comedic opportunities.

Come get some

In trying to keep up with its ever-changing rivals, Duke lost sight of what made it so great in the first place. If Gearbox can bring some of the clever RPG-touches of Boderlands and the sharp FPS elements of their upcoming Alien: Colonial Marines to the franchise, the combination would push Duke into the 21^st century.

I’ve purposely not mentioned multiplayer despite Duke Nukem 3D’s memorable high-pace arenas and that’s because I think the series must get the basics right before focusing on online combat. 3D Realms put down the blueprints of a quality shooter back in 1996, Randy Pitchford (Gearbox CEO) & the boys must strike the fine balance of following them whilst moving things forward.

In an era of super-serious marine-based shooters, there is still a huge gap for an FPS caricature like Duke Nukem to fill. Call of Duty may let you kick ass with a headset but I just want to kick ass and chew bubble gum.