Duke Nukem Reviews Failed to Take Context into Accounts, Says Gearbox

Duke Nukem Forever, the game that many lost hope of seeing launched during their lifetimes, was finally released this year and, unfortunately, the game failed to deliver on the expectations of fans and got middling reviews and low sales.

But at least one of the developers involved in its creation says that those who reviewed it failed to take into account the context of its existence.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Brian Martel, who is one of the co-founders of Gearbox, has said, “Name another game that’s in a similar situation. This is a game that was around for 15 years and it went through a number of engine cycles. It could never be everything for everybody, right?”

The executive believes that the team managed to deliver the experience it wanted, a shooter which adhered to an old school vision of the genre but using the technology that was available today.

Martel added, “Would Half-Life today be reviewed as highly as it is, you know, even today? As a new IP coming out with the same sort of mechanics Half-Life had. I think we all have a nostalgia and love for that particular brand. But the current gamer, would they have the same love for that? It’d be interesting. I think the same kind of thing happened with Duke.”

It seems that the developers at Gearbox were never quite sure about where the negative reactions to Duke Nukem Forever came from and that prompted them to react somewhat harshly towards those who criticized it.

Martel also says that if and when a new Duke Nukem video game will be released players will be able to see how Gearbox would handle the hero and his universe if it had control over the development from the beginning.

At the moment the Metacritic average for the versions of Duke Nukem Forever is below 50.