THE STORY

There is no story in DNF, there never has been.

DNF is a throwback in many ways, it retains the mantra of the original game and does not include any kind of deep or intrusive narrative. Over the course of the entire game there are about three segments where you will have to stop and listen to another character talk for more than thirty seconds and these sections don’t last very long. I could sum up the entire story in a sentence: Duke is called in to save the earth (which he succeeds in doing) from aliens who have taken his two girlfriends and invaded the Hoover dam, the end. Duke is not trying to be call of duty or half life, it does not want or need a story: its just a bunch of good first person shooter game play and a lot of rude jokes. If the story fails at all in DNF its in the segments where the action takes a backseat to comedy and has you running around a strip club looking for dildos and popcorn (and even that sounds fun). A lot of people have criticized the game for not including a deeper more thematic satirical note and I can see why that would add a more intellectual connection with DNF but this game really is not trying to get you emotionally invested or change your politics. The Humor and character of Duke for many critics is too offensive, I laughed at every joke Duke made. The game does not take itself seriously, its not a guide to treating women (or people in general for that matter) and its an M rated game which means kids should not be playing it. The jokes in DNF are funny because of how ridiculous they are, why critics expect Sienfeld observational comedy in shooter games is beyond me seeing as how we are analyzing a genre of video games in which you mass murder people (how many people have you shot, blown up or knifed by the end of modern warfare’s campaign?). DNF is for people who like dirty jokes, disgusting jokes, butt hole jokes. There are a few things that are off limits in comedy; Kennedy, the September 11th attack, the holocaust, terry fox.. and Duke does not touch on any of them. Duke is the ultimate misogynist and its funny because it is so ridiculous, so over the top and so very unreal. Its not as if there is a level where Duke is telling his secretary to blow him for a salary bump. If you can take a shooter game as extreme as this at face value (just fun) and you think fart jokes are funny, Duke will probably make you laugh.