Can we really be just over a week away from Duke Nukem Forever? It seems like just yesterday it was first announced. No, wait – it seems like forever ago. I was going to pass it over for now and come back for it to review later, but I’m having second thoughts.

Duke Nukem Forever

For one, I – like most PC gamers during it’s heyday – played the hell out of Duke 3D. My best friend and I would play this game for hours and even spent days making our own maps. I even installed it on computers at school (shows how long ago that was) and the class would gather around to blow away aliens and pay strippers as a group. How’s that for a social study?

Another reason is that this was going to be a slow month for us, thanks to various factors. We need something to review and Duke can fit the bill handily. After all, is there a gaming icon more oversized then Duke?

Most importantly, though, is the sheer morbid curiosity. What would we see in a game after fourteen years of development and restarts? Is Duke even relevant these days? Can the game live up to 10% of it’s predecessor’s reputation? Will we see a train wreck that makes Ion Storm’s Daikatana disaster look like a fender bender? Or will it simply pass by our boards as another failed evolution of a classic franchise?

Best case scenario is that Duke is back and better then ever. The worst is that Duke find himself completely out of his depth in 2011 and comes off flat and insulting. What may have flown in June ‘01 won’t necessarily fly in June ‘11. I guess we’ll all find out on the 14th – unless it gets pushed back again.

Not that anyone would be surprised.