Ars published today
an article that does explore more in-depth the game humor. I honestly don't recall the last time I saw a Ben Kuchera's article that I fully agreed with. But this is one.
Above all, Doomsday, I take issue with this notion that, if I don't find it funny I have no sense of humor. If you don't mind me lecturing, it's a fallacy known as Questionable Cause. And in fact a very easy fallacy to prove wrong if you were me...
I don't know, maybe this attitude rises from attempting to be defensive when confronted with a liking for something others consider of poor taste. Can't really blame you. After all those being vocal about their dislike for how Duke Nukem's Forever uses humor in the game tend to be offensive towards those admitting their like for it. But truth the matter is that everyone likes different things and in different degrees. And that never meant people can be compared on the basis of their preferences.
Anyways, I find the game humor boring, off-the-roof, predictable and unintelligent (the humor, not the person laughing at it), repetitive, and too imposing. The original game was a lot smarter in how it applied humor by being less common and often unexpected. I also find DNF humor to be crass and childish (the humor, not the person laughing at it), often even unnecessary.
DNF makers only saw one thing in the original game; the humor. They forgot all about what actually made the game a cult classic; level design, playability and novelty. They completely and utterly missed the target on what really made Duke kick ass. And as such, over a decade and a half later they produced an incredibly mediocre game in comparison with the original that will soon be completely forgotten and will never, ever, rise to the level of the original. Make no mistake. In fact, it's already happening; the only thing this game did to me and a few friends, for instance, was a desire to install the original and have some fun fragging each other like the good ol' days.
This didn't ever stop me from buying DNF. The game had a place on my shopping list. It's the one and only sequel to Duke FPS. And with the whole history behind the development of DNF, how could I not buy it!?
But that the game is utter crap, that it is.
