History VideoGame / DukeNukemForever

** The Steam version would even suspend the game with the Steam overlay key combo so you can take your time to look up whatever it is you want to look up (including YouTube videos) using Steam's integrated web browser, then let you instantly get back to the game with no time wasted using the same key press.

* MadeOfIron: The Ego bar and direct RPG hits aside, in "The Doctor Who Cloned Me", Dr. Proton seems to lampshade just how much damage Duke can take.

[[SavedFromDevelopmentHell Against all odds]], it finally became available on June 14th, 2011 for UsefulNotes/Xbox360, UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, and PC on DVD or via UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, just in time for Duke's Twentieth Anniversary. The [[http://www.dukenukemforever.com/hailtotheicons Hail to the Icons Parody Pack]] was released on October 11th as the game's first [[DownloadableContent DLC]] pack. It includes four new maps, each making fun of an iconic FPS series with a parody-weapon based on said series, and three new game modes. A second DLC pack titled "[[Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe The Doctor Who Cloned Me]]", released in December 2011, has a smaller campaign taking place right after DNF's ending which gives proper closure to the story along with four new multiplayer maps.



* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: In ''The Doctor Who Cloned Me'', Duke is apparently able to survive on the surface of the moon just fine, simply by holding his breath.
* BerserkButton: [[http://cdn.gearboxsoftware.com/dukenukemforever.com/assets/audio/DUKE_Map03_Line_04.mp3 This]] is the first time we have ever truly heard Duke angry. Not just "[[TranquilFury This really pisses me off]]", but tangible, human, rage. Duke loves his babes, and by God does he hate aliens.
--> ''"Not my babes! NOT in my town! You alien motherfuckers are gonna pay for this!"''
** Also, occasionally, when he messes up at the pool table in his mansion..

* BlingBlingBang: Duke's gold plated 1911 pistol. There's even an achievement for holding onto it for the entire game.

* CallBack: You can sign "Why I'm So Great," Duke's autobiography first mentioned in Duke Nukem II.

** The very first boss is similar to Duke Nukem 3D's [[spoiler:Cycloid Emperor]]. In fact, the entire level is pretty similar to the last ''3D''[='=]s last level, right down to [[spoiler:the field goal]].

--> ''"Take less damage to avoid being killed"''\\
''"Touching the hot grills will cause damage, touching hot girls will not"''\\
''"[[TakeThatAudience If you died from falling off of a high ledge, it’s probably your own fault]]"''

* Continuity Nod: Gameplay-wise, many of the weapons and enemies returning from Duke Nukem 3D have the exact same stats as they did in the earlier game.
* Cosmetic Award: Aside of the achievements, simply leveling up (No challenges required) earns you decorations for "My Digs", which when selected takes you to a whole separate floor of Duke's casino which you can explore at will, much like Lara Croft's Mansion in Tomb Raider. Most of these are just photos of Duke doing manly things or giant gold statues of naked babes.
* Crossing the Desert: The desert section with The Mighty Foot.
* Disc One Final Boss: In "The Doctor Who Cloned Me", after you fight and kill Dr. Proton, you'll find that the game isn't even halfway over yet.
* Does This Remind You of Anything?: Frequent. For example, while playing pool, Duke will moan suggestively. For bonus points, do this in Duke's Penthouse while the Holsom Twins are nearby.
* Holsom Twin: Duke, stop playing with your balls!
* Drugs Are Bad: Totally inverted. Not only are drugs good in this universe, but Duke remarks to a child that if he "Takes his pills... er, vitamins" he might grow up to be as awesome as Duke. Duke has his own brand of "Nukem-RX" steroids, which he can take to temporarily give him One-Hit Kill punches at the cost of slightly blurred vision and no ranged attack.
* Dummied Out: Using console commands, players can give Duke a weapon called the Mini Nuke, complete with model, textures, animations and all — everything, in fact, except the damage expected from a nuclear missile.
The console itself. You need to use an external program to re-enable it.
* Everyone Has Standards: In the DLC campaign, Duke, as hedonistic as he is, refuses to play a video game that involves pimp-slapping women.
* Evil Laugh: The twins have a wicked cackle, first seen at when, ah, playing with Duke, then again when one of them makes a joke about him.
* Exotic Weapon Supremacy: Golden M1911. It's shiny, and it's Duke's.
* Exposition Diagram: Right at the beginning. You may also add your own thoughts to the white board.
* Famed In-Story: The story was based around this trope and playing it as hard as they could. For saving the Earth, Duke was given more money and fame than he knew what to do with, building a skyscraper apartment/museum to himself on the Las Vegas strip, cashing in on the lucrative endorsement deals just to pass the time. It swings the other way too, with the entire alien army considering Duke as their arch-nemesis and primary target.
* Fanservice: The Holsom Twins provide most of this.
* Felony Misdemeanor: Multiple times. For example:
"Looks like those alien bastards drank all my beer."
* Fingerless Gloves: He's got nuke-symbol branded sport gloves as opposed to his old biker leathers.
* Flushing Edge Interactivity: The toilets can be used. Unfortunately, one of the toilets has already been used...and that person didn't flush. You can get an achievement for poking the matter in the unflushed toilet.
* Follow the Leader: The biggest criticism of the game (arguably except the sexism) is its similarities to other modern shooters.
* Forklift Fu: One segment of Duke's trip inside the Hoover Dam encourages him to use a forklift to kill a bunch of pigcops.
"Fork you!"
* Four-Star Badass: During the single-player campaign of the DLC "The Doctor Who Cloned Me", General Graves, of all people, joins up with you and Captain Dylan in battle during some segments, wielding a Ripper and throwing occasional pipebombs at enemies like a boss in his official attire.
* Gameplay Ally Immortality: Mauve Shirt Captain Dylan, who can't die because he's a named character. He does get critically wounded late in the game and "dies" of said wounds... and recovers during the single-player campaign of the DLC "The Doctor Who Cloned Me" without explanation!
* Groin Attack: Appears as a finisher against the Battlelords.
Gunship Rescue: After spending pretty much the entire game as butt monkeys and walking item-drops, the EDF gets a chance to shine in the final battle: Supplying Duke with a BFG, helping mop up the remaining alien foot soldiers, and flying Duke out of a nuclear explosion.
* Humiliation Conga: After finishing the first boss, Duke punts his eyeball for a field goal.
After you defeat the Battlelord in the Las Vegas outskirts, first you climb on him, rip out one of his horns, punch through one of his eyeballs, then punch his balls through the loincloth like a boxing speed bag drill.
"Right in the jewels!"
* Immune to Bullets: Bosses are arbitrarily immune to small arms fire when they took full damage from these weapons in previous games from the same canon. Only explosives or mounted turret guns can harm them.
Incredible Shrinking Man: Duke is shrunk down to miniature size at several points during the game by stepping on special shrink pads. The following sections (played when shrunk) allow you to jump on shelves, use various tools and implements (like small pipes, kitchen spatulas and more) to traverse puzzles, and allow you to ride in an RC car given to you by a young fan.
* Indecisive Parody: It's rather laughable to see a game with regenerating health and a two-gun weapon system attempt to deliver a Take That to Halo. Especially right before a segment that bears a striking similarity to Halo 2's second level.
* Jerkass: The President.
Duke in the Hive level.
Jiggle Physics
* Lampshade Hanging:
The LONG development cycle gets referenced in the first level, after Duke ends playing the game while the Holsom twins "do some favor" to him.
During one particular section, shooting some barrels next to a Pigcop sends him flying. "Huh. I guess pigs do fly!"
Plenty of other things get lampshaded. For example, when Duke comes across some locked double doors at the Duke Dome, he remarks, "Who locks these things?!"
* Ladder Physics: Averted. There's even an animation showing Duke's hands as he climbs, and he has to face towards the ladder while he climbs.
* Leeroy Jenkins: An EDF redshirt named Pvt. Jenkins tries to run across a bridge, only to get killed by a strafing run. Duke promptly quips "dammit Leeroy!"
* Limited Loadout: Presumably, Duke's ability to hold as many weapons as he wanted to disappeared while he worked through all of that gum. At release, he was limited to just two primary weapons, pipe bombs, trip mines, and one of each of three types of powerups: beer, the holoduke, and steroids. An update expanded his arsenal to four weapons at once, but only for the PC version. One of the boss battles lampshades it with a Shout-Out to Total Recall (1990).
Duke: Baby, you make me wish I had three guns.
* Living Legend: Because of the previous game, Duke's now quite famous.
* Loads and Loads of Loading: The loading times on consoles used to be atrocious, taking up to a minute to fully load. Further patches and an installation onto the hard drive helped push it down, though.
Luck-Based Mission: The encounter with eight Octabrains late in the game. They throw either wooden crates or steel drums at you; the latter of which cannot be deflected and will kill you with just two hits. If more than two of the Octabrains choose to throw drums at you during the fight, you're basically screwed.
Made of Iron: The Ego bar and direct RPG hits aside, in the DLC The Doctor Who Cloned Me, Dr. Proton seems to lampshade just how much damage Duke can take...
"Rammed that thick skull of yours against the mountain and it moved for you, did it? I knew you wouldn't disappoint."
* Mars Needs Women: The game's plot.
* Mauve Shirt: Captain Dylan, the named EDF soldier who appears in several levels and swears every other word.
* Medium Awareness: Numerous jokes indicate that Duke is aware that he's in a video game.
* Mêlée à Trois: "The Doctor Who Cloned Me" has a couple firefights with Aliens vs. Dr. Proton's robots vs. Duke and his allies.
* Mercy Kill: In The Hive, Duke Nukem can remorsefully put out of their misery the women that have been impregnated.
* Minigame Zone: Duke Nukem's Titty City. This is a Happy Place that comes right after Duke blacks out after defeating the Alien Queen that contains an incredible amount of Ego-boosting objects.
* Missing Steps Plan: Invoked during a conversation between two EDF soldiers. Steps one and two were already "surround it" and "shoot it until it dies", so when he accidentally says step three he trips up:
* EDF #1: Step three is... uh... uh...
* EDF #2: Uh, profit?
* Mood Whiplash: The infamous 'Hive' level.
* Multi Boobage: One of the alien bosses. Duke notes that he'd still hit that.
* Mythology Gag:
Almost certainly a reference to the 2001 trailer, in the opening level of the game, an EDF soldier taunts Duke:
"Hey pal, what are you going to do? Save the world all by yourself?"
The "Balls of Steel" special edition is named after the pinball machine in Duke Nukem 3D, which was later defictionalized into a real Balls of Steel video pinball game featuring Duke.
The game's long history of Development Hell is thoroughly lampshaded at the earliest opportunity.
Nintendo Hard: Some LPers have complained about Duke dying very easily even on the lowest difficulty. When you factor in, among other things, Duke's rather short Ego bar at the very beginning of the game (which can be doubled in length through interacting with several specific objects throughout the game), as well as enemies being capable of emptying nearly three-quarters of that amount with a single attack, not to mention Duke being the One-Man Army that he is, it's not that hard to figure out why.
Ironically, many old-school PC gamers complained how the existence of Regenerating Health, more linear levels compared to Duke Nuke 3D, and the use of waypoints made the game too easy.
* No Celebrities Were Harmed: Duke lives with the Holsom Twins. The president, whose name is never mentioned in the game, but who is revealed to be a bad guy in collusion with the aliens, looks like Richard Nixon.
* No Fair Cheating: One of the load screen hints tells you that if you ever get lost, you could always cheat by looking at FAQs online.
The Steam version would even suspend the game with the Steam overlay key combo so you can take your time to look up whatever it is you want to look up (including youtube videos) using Steam's integrated web browser, then let you instantly get back to the game with no time wasted using the same key press.
* Powered Armor: Defied. Apparently it's for pussies. Or at least that's what Duke thinks when the army present him with a suit of suspiciously familiar protection apparel.
President Evil
* Quad Damage: Perhaps as a nod to the Berserker powerup in Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project, picking up a Duke statue in multiplayer gives you double damage and glowing weapons, albeit green instead of red.
* Rant-Inducing Slight: Justified in that Beer is a power-up, and Genre Savvy aliens were trying to keep it from him.
"Looks like those alien bastards drank all my beer!"
* Rated M for Manly: Duke gives his ego a permanent increase by watching strippers, smoking cigars, appreciating himself in the mirror, lifting weights and a whole damn lot of other ways.
* Real Song Theme Tune: Duke returns to kick some alien ass to the tune of Invaders Must Die. Another trailer features "Battleflag" from Lo Fidelity Allstars. Ultimately, they make a new remix of the classic Grabbag theme from Duke Nukem 3D.
* Reasonable Authority Figure: General Graves, a remarkably even-tempered and stoic commanding officer, who tends to back Duke on the whole Aliens Are Bastards thing. The president is most definitely not this.
* Refuge in Audacity: Expected. Oh so expected.
The level Duke Nukem's Titty City. Washroom. Gloryhole. Button prompt. Do the math.
Regenerating Health: Parodied: Duke's "health" bar is an ego bar, like it was in Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project. He's not slowed down by piddling little bullets and lasers, but it does hurt his morale, which is why doing manly things like getting drunk, pissing, watching strippers, or drinking from a water fountain gives the bar a permanent increase.
Taking the above into account and with a bit of Fridge Logic too, the Strip Club level makes PERFECT sense. How else would Duke survive the injuries he picked up from the Triple Boob Monster, not even having any broken bones, unless he gets himself a huge dose of Ego from his own dream sequence?
Of course, the ego bar still regenerates passively when Duke's not getting shot. The above mentioned actions simply make it regenerate faster.
Redshirt Army: The EDF troops mostly exist to witness Duke being awesome, and die because they're not as awesome. Duke even lampshades this when going into the Hive, and finding the corpses of the advance team that was supposed to meet him.
"Advance team, my ass!"
Lampshaded even further when an EDF commander sends a rookie with you and even says "Try not to let him get his ass killed." Of course he immediately goes running into a hail of bullets at the first opportunity, a reference to his name and also probably a joke about terrible team AI in FPS games.
Retcon: In one level, you visit a museum containing artifacts from Duke's previous games, including screenshots from them. One is from the opening from the first game, where Duke says he'll kick Proton's ass and still have time to watch Oprah. The text has been changed from "Oprah" to "Lenoman", a talk show host that briefly appears in the game. Strangely, Duke's salmon shirt still remains.
* "Ride of the Valkyries": During the opening segment of the Mighty Foot level. Intermixed with the title theme, slowly creeping from orchestral into heavy metal as the level goes on. AWESOME.
* Self-Deprecation: Duke has several lines mocking the long delay.
* Sequel Snark: Duke meets a dying character and merrily quips that he won't be in the sequel. "The Doctor Who Cloned Me" reveals that he was wrong.
* Shotguns Are Just Better: Unless you're fighting a major boss (which are only harmed by explosives), the game's shotgun is generally the most useful weapon in the game.
* Shout-Out: Check the page.
* Shrink Ray: As part of Duke's arsenal.
* Stealth Pun: This game is the fourth canonical Duke Nukem game, following Duke Nukem, Duke Nukem 2 and Duke Nukem 3D. The title is Duke Nukem Fo(u)rever.
* Steam Vent Obstacle: There is a steam vent puzzle that doubles as a Take That at Valve Software.
* The Stinger: The "Press Conference" level.
"I'm going to run for President (Beat). Hail to the king, baby!"
* Sunglasses at Night: Duke is never seen without his shades. Justified in that they now have night vision.
* Take That: Towards many other games and stuff:
When Duke is offered a set of Spartan armor, he spouts this:
"Power armor is for pussies!"
The talking pink car Shrunk!Duke drives in the Meat Grinder chapter of The Doctor who Cloned Me intermittently spews inane phrases that are reminiscent of a talking version of a certain doll back in the 80s (although Gearbox also threw in a few exaggerated lines). Duke's response to those lines pretty much sums up how many people felt about the phrases.
"Shut. The Fuck. Up!"
"That's one dead space marine!"
"Duke one, gears nothing!"
In that vein, a Marcus Fenix copy mocks his 'pussy' best friend about his quest to find his wife, a take that at Dom's entire subplot in Gears of War 2.
"I hate valve puzzles!"
* Testosterone Poisoning: Duke might be the most exaggerated example of stereotypical manliness in video game history.
* Title Drop: The opening line of the game: "This is taking forever."
Also seen in a trailer close to the game's release: "What, did you think I was gone forever?"
* Toilet Humor: It's possible to pick up a turd out of a toilet, and throw it at a water fountain, then drink out of the fountain. And that's just the start of it. If the player chooses to do this, Duke will wonder what the hell is going on.
* Too Dumb to Live: The President reveals his treachery and spells out his plan to kill Duke with an ICBM... while standing less than three feet from Duke, who has a loaded pistol drawn.
Unexplained Recovery: Captain Dylan shows up alive and well in "The Doctor Who Cloned Me" after his apparent death near the end of the main game. The explanation is that he only passed out from blood loss.
* Unintentional Period Piece: The extended development makes the game an unintentional Genre Throwback to 90s FPS games such as Duke Nukem 3D itself.
* Unique Enemy: Despite the Duke Clones being the central plot point of The Doctor Who Cloned Me, you only fight about a dozen of them throughout the entire DLC, half of which aren't even armed with weapons. The skinless Terminator-style security bots are a little more common, but most of the DLC is still spent fighting aliens.
* The Usual Adversaries: Pig Cops are back, and are by far the most numerous enemy in the game.
Video Game 3D Leap: This was the game that finally brought the main Duke series into Polygons.
Viva Las Vegas: The game mostly takes place around a fictional version of Vegas, the Nevada desert and the Hoover Dam.
* What the Hell, Player?: Playing with the shit in the toilet enough will cause Duke to ponder why the player is forcing him to play with it.
"What kind of sick motherfucker picks up wet feces?!"
"What's next, shit finger painting?"
(On the loading screen) Picking up turds doesn't take away ego even though we really wanted it to.
* Womb Level: in the final level of The Doctor Who Cloned Me, Duke enters the womb of the alien empress to blow up her ovaries, so that she won't give birth to a new alien army.
* Writers Cannot Do Math: The game claims to be set twelve years after Duke Nukem 3D. However, at the beginning of the game, we are informed that the USA is on its 67th president. Even if we assume that all of the presidents in the intervening time only served a single term (four years), that would place DNF in 2104 at least. Therefore, either the writers ignored their mathematics when it comes to the passage of time, or the USA went through some serious political instability.
* Rule of Funny: The number 69 is the Arc Number, after all. Of course, considering the US in the Duke Nukem universe has gone through a Mad Scientist trying to Take Over the World, two Alien Invasions, and maybe even some time traveling baddies and mutant monsters, depending on whether you place the console games and Manhattan Project in Canon, it wouldn't be a stretch to think that various Presidents got offed during the meantime
Your Costume Needs Work: In the DLC campaign, the robot (who thinks you're also a robot) testing your voice module is initially not convinced that you sound like Duke Nukem.

Continuity Nod: Gameplay-wise, many of the weapons and enemies returning from Duke Nukem 3D have the exact same stats as they did in the earlier game.
Cosmetic Award: Aside of the achievements, simply leveling up (No challenges required) earns you decorations for "My Digs", which when selected takes you to a whole separate floor of Duke's casino which you can explore at will, much like Lara Croft's Mansion in Tomb Raider. Most of these are just photos of Duke doing manly things or giant gold statues of naked babes.
Crossing the Desert: The desert section with The Mighty Foot.
Disc One Final Boss: In "The Doctor Who Cloned Me", after you fight and kill Dr. Proton, you'll find that the game isn't even halfway over yet.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: Frequent. For example, while playing pool, Duke will moan suggestively. For bonus points, do this in Duke's Penthouse while the Holsom Twins are nearby.
Holsom Twin: Duke, stop playing with your balls!
Drugs Are Bad: Totally inverted. Not only are drugs good in this universe, but Duke remarks to a child that if he "Takes his pills... er, vitamins" he might grow up to be as awesome as Duke. Duke has his own brand of "Nukem-RX" steroids, which he can take to temporarily give him One-Hit Kill punches at the cost of slightly blurred vision and no ranged attack.
Dummied Out: Using console commands, players can give Duke a weapon called the Mini Nuke, complete with model, textures, animations and all — everything, in fact, except the damage expected from a nuclear missile.

Everyone Has Standards: In the DLC campaign, Duke, as hedonistic as he is, refuses to play a video game that involves pimp-slapping women.
Evil Laugh: The twins have a wicked cackle, first seen at when, ah, playing with Duke, then again when one of them makes a joke about him.
Exotic Weapon Supremacy: Golden M1911. It's shiny, and it's Duke's.
Exposition Diagram: Right at the beginning. You may also add your own thoughts to the white board.
Famed In-Story: The story was based around this trope and playing it as hard as they could. For saving the Earth, Duke was given more money and fame than he knew what to do with, building a skyscraper apartment/museum to himself on the Las Vegas strip, cashing in on the lucrative endorsement deals just to pass the time. It swings the other way too, with the entire alien army considering Duke as their arch-nemesis and primary target.
Fanservice: The Holsom Twins provide most of this.
Felony Misdemeanor: Multiple times. For example:

Fingerless Gloves: He's got nuke-symbol branded sport gloves as opposed to his old biker leathers.
Flushing Edge Interactivity: The toilets can be used. Unfortunately, one of the toilets has already been used...and that person didn't flush. You can get an achievement for poking the matter in the unflushed toilet.
Follow the Leader: The biggest criticism of the game (arguably except the sexism) is its similarities to other modern shooters.
Forklift Fu: One segment of Duke's trip inside the Hoover Dam encourages him to use a forklift to kill a bunch of pigcops.

Four-Star Badass: During the single-player campaign of the DLC "The Doctor Who Cloned Me", General Graves, of all people, joins up with you and Captain Dylan in battle during some segments, wielding a Ripper and throwing occasional pipebombs at enemies like a boss in his official attire.
Gameplay Ally Immortality: Mauve Shirt Captain Dylan, who can't die because he's a named character. He does get critically wounded late in the game and "dies" of said wounds... and recovers during the single-player campaign of the DLC "The Doctor Who Cloned Me" without explanation!
Groin Attack: Appears as a finisher against the Battlelords.

Humiliation Conga: After finishing the first boss, Duke punts his eyeball for a field goal.

Immune to Bullets: Bosses are arbitrarily immune to small arms fire when they took full damage from these weapons in previous games from the same canon. Only explosives or mounted turret guns can harm them.

Indecisive Parody: It's rather laughable to see a game with regenerating health and a two-gun weapon system attempt to deliver a Take That to Halo. Especially right before a segment that bears a striking similarity to Halo 2's second level.
Jerkass: The President.

Lampshade Hanging:

Ladder Physics: Averted. There's even an animation showing Duke's hands as he climbs, and he has to face towards the ladder while he climbs.
Leeroy Jenkins: An EDF redshirt named Pvt. Jenkins tries to run across a bridge, only to get killed by a strafing run. Duke promptly quips "dammit Leeroy!"
Limited Loadout: Presumably, Duke's ability to hold as many weapons as he wanted to disappeared while he worked through all of that gum. At release, he was limited to just two primary weapons, pipe bombs, trip mines, and one of each of three types of powerups: beer, the holoduke, and steroids. An update expanded his arsenal to four weapons at once, but only for the PC version. One of the boss battles lampshades it with a Shout-Out to Total Recall (1990).

Living Legend: Because of the previous game, Duke's now quite famous.
Loads and Loads of Loading: The loading times on consoles used to be atrocious, taking up to a minute to fully load. Further patches and an installation onto the hard drive helped push it down, though.

Mars Needs Women: The game's plot.
Mauve Shirt: Captain Dylan, the named EDF soldier who appears in several levels and swears every other word.
Medium Awareness: Numerous jokes indicate that Duke is aware that he's in a video game.
Mêlée à Trois: "The Doctor Who Cloned Me" has a couple firefights with Aliens vs. Dr. Proton's robots vs. Duke and his allies.
Mercy Kill: In The Hive, Duke Nukem can remorsefully put out of their misery the women that have been impregnated.
Minigame Zone: Duke Nukem's Titty City. This is a Happy Place that comes right after Duke blacks out after defeating the Alien Queen that contains an incredible amount of Ego-boosting objects.
Missing Steps Plan: Invoked during a conversation between two EDF soldiers. Steps one and two were already "surround it" and "shoot it until it dies", so when he accidentally says step three he trips up:
EDF #1: Step three is... uh... uh...
EDF #2: Uh, profit?
Mood Whiplash: The infamous 'Hive' level.
Multi Boobage: One of the alien bosses. Duke notes that he'd still hit that.
Mythology Gag:

No Celebrities Were Harmed: Duke lives with the Holsom Twins. The president, whose name is never mentioned in the game, but who is revealed to be a bad guy in collusion with the aliens, looks like Richard Nixon.
No Fair Cheating: One of the load screen hints tells you that if you ever get lost, you could always cheat by looking at FAQs online.

Powered Armor: Defied. Apparently it's for pussies. Or at least that's what Duke thinks when the army present him with a suit of suspiciously familiar protection apparel.

Quad Damage: Perhaps as a nod to the Berserker powerup in Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project, picking up a Duke statue in multiplayer gives you double damage and glowing weapons, albeit green instead of red.
Rant-Inducing Slight: Justified in that Beer is a power-up, and Genre Savvy aliens were trying to keep it from him.

Rated M for Manly: Duke gives his ego a permanent increase by watching strippers, smoking cigars, appreciating himself in the mirror, lifting weights and a whole damn lot of other ways.
Real Song Theme Tune: Duke returns to kick some alien ass to the tune of Invaders Must Die. Another trailer features "Battleflag" from Lo Fidelity Allstars. Ultimately, they make a new remix of the classic Grabbag theme from Duke Nukem 3D.
Reasonable Authority Figure: General Graves, a remarkably even-tempered and stoic commanding officer, who tends to back Duke on the whole Aliens Are Bastards thing. The president is most definitely not this.
Refuge in Audacity: Expected. Oh so expected.

"Ride of the Valkyries": During the opening segment of the Mighty Foot level. Intermixed with the title theme, slowly creeping from orchestral into heavy metal as the level goes on. AWESOME.
Self-Deprecation: Duke has several lines mocking the long delay.
Sequel Snark: Duke meets a dying character and merrily quips that he won't be in the sequel. "The Doctor Who Cloned Me" reveals that he was wrong.
Shotguns Are Just Better: Unless you're fighting a major boss (which are only harmed by explosives), the game's shotgun is generally the most useful weapon in the game.
Shout-Out: Check the page.
Shrink Ray: As part of Duke's arsenal.
Stealth Pun: This game is the fourth canonical Duke Nukem game, following Duke Nukem, Duke Nukem 2 and Duke Nukem 3D. The title is Duke Nukem Fo(u)rever.
Steam Vent Obstacle: There is a steam vent puzzle that doubles as a Take That at Valve Software.
The Stinger: The "Press Conference" level.

Sunglasses at Night: Duke is never seen without his shades. Justified in that they now have night vision.
Take That: Towards many other games and stuff:

Testosterone Poisoning: Duke might be the most exaggerated example of stereotypical manliness in video game history.
Title Drop: The opening line of the game: "This is taking forever."

Toilet Humor: It's possible to pick up a turd out of a toilet, and throw it at a water fountain, then drink out of the fountain. And that's just the start of it. If the player chooses to do this, Duke will wonder what the hell is going on.
Too Dumb to Live: The President reveals his treachery and spells out his plan to kill Duke with an ICBM... while standing less than three feet from Duke, who has a loaded pistol drawn.

Unintentional Period Piece: The extended development makes the game an unintentional Genre Throwback to 90s FPS games such as Duke Nukem 3D itself.
Unique Enemy: Despite the Duke Clones being the central plot point of The Doctor Who Cloned Me, you only fight about a dozen of them throughout the entire DLC, half of which aren't even armed with weapons. The skinless Terminator-style security bots are a little more common, but most of the DLC is still spent fighting aliens.
The Usual Adversaries: Pig Cops are back, and are by far the most numerous enemy in the game.

What the Hell, Player?: Playing with the shit in the toilet enough will cause Duke to ponder why the player is forcing him to play with it.

Womb Level: in the final level of The Doctor Who Cloned Me, Duke enters the womb of the alien empress to blow up her ovaries, so that she won't give birth to a new alien army.
Writers Cannot Do Math: The game claims to be set twelve years after Duke Nukem 3D. However, at the beginning of the game, we are informed that the USA is on its 67th president. Even if we assume that all of the presidents in the intervening time only served a single term (four years), that would place DNF in 2104 at least. Therefore, either the writers ignored their mathematics when it comes to the passage of time, or the USA went through some serious political instability.
Rule of Funny: The number 69 is the Arc Number, after all. Of course, considering the US in the Duke Nukem universe has gone through a Mad Scientist trying to Take Over the World, two Alien Invasions, and maybe even some time traveling baddies and mutant monsters, depending on whether you place the console games and Manhattan Project in Canon, it wouldn't be a stretch to think that various Presidents got offed during the meantime

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Enemies with guns never reload, but you have to, which makes combat unfair at times.

----
!! Tropes related to the game include:

* AdaptationalWimp: The first fight in the game is a recreation of the final boss fight from ''Duke Nukem 3D''. Needless to say, he's a lot easier here than he was back then. In ''Duke 3D'', the Cycloid Emperor had an extremely high rate of fire and his missiles could kill you in just a couple hits at 100 health and armor. Here he has a ''much'' lower rate of fire on his missiles and they do quite a bit less damage too.
* TheAhnold: Duke. Even more in the French version, since he is dubbed by Arnold Schwarzenegger's official voice actor.
* AffectionateParody: "Hail to the Icons", Downloadable content made almost entirely of references to other shooters.
* AirVentPassageway: Multiple occasions.
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: UsefulNotes/LasVegas gets pretty mashed up by the aliens. Unfortunately for them, it's also where Duke lives, and he's not pleased that they took, of all things, his girls, while he was caught in the middle of all the action.
* AllThereInTheManual: General Graves' full name, Phil Graves ("[[PunnyName fill graves]]"), is revealed in ''History, Legacy & Legend: Duke Nukem Forever'', the art book that comes with the ''Balls of Steel'' edition of the game.
* AlternateHistory: Duke's universe is pretty much like ours, except that it has had alien invasions a few times in the past. And, well, he exists.
* AmericaSavesTheDay: Zig-Zagging. Duke saves the day, but before the final boss battle, [[spoiler:it was revealed that the president of the USA was hoping that the aliens would assist him in taking over the world if he co-operated with them]].
* AndYourRewardIsClothes: Used in the multiplayer's experience system. Killing other Dukes earns you XP, there are various challenges to complete that give you bonus XP, and it all adds up to hats and costumes you can wear. Hats that you can gain include an Uncle Sam hat (with red, white, and blue shirt), an afro for Duke, and a Conehead hat.
** Taken UpToEleven with the My Digs location. Everything you can unlock for it is either cosmetic, a babe you can ogle, a trophy, or an interactive distraction that serves no other purpose than to be interactive. And it is awesome.
* AnythingThatMoves: Including gigantic [[MultiBoobage triple-titted]] alien queens, apparently.
* ArcNumber: 69, for obvious reasons. It's the number of rockets the Devastator can hold, Duke lives on the 69th story of a building, and, if the ending is correct, [[spoiler: Duke will be running to be the 69th president]].
* ArtificialBrilliance: Octabrains don't shoot psycho waves straight to the player's position if he is moving. They shot to wherever the player is heading, predicting his moves.
* AscendedMeme - The "Balls of Steel" special edition. (For some backstory, the "Balls of Steel" line was used to harass a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE3KdcTgrno Ventrilo server constantly]], causing the admin to devolve into extreme, rabid {{angrish}}. The resulting video was incredibly popular and popularized Ventrilo harassments.)
** In one boss fight, Duke says "I'm gonna kill you old style!' a reference to the woman who threatened the harasser. After defeating the boss, Duke will say "I've got balls of steel.", one of the mainly spammed phrases from Duke during the harassment (also made popular due to BALLSBALLSBALLSBALLSBALLS being spammed as well)
*** The spamming of "BALLS BALLS BALLS" got its own separate reference in "The Doctor Who Cloned Me."
** Creator/PattonOswalt's "Flagon of Chuckles" line from one of his routines was referenced as an Achievement.
* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:The President]]
* BackFromTheDead: Dr. Proton, in ''The Doctor Who Cloned Me''.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Enemies with guns never reload, but you have to, which makes combat unfair at times.
* ContinuityNod: Gameplay-wise, many of the weapons and enemies returning from ''Duke Nukem 3D'' have the exact same stats as they did in the earlier game.
* CosmeticAward: Aside of the achievements, simply leveling up (No challenges required) earns you decorations for "My Digs", which when selected takes you to a whole separate floor of Duke's casino which you can explore at will, much like Lara Croft's Mansion in ''Franchise/TombRaider''. Most of these are just photos of Duke doing manly things or giant gold statues of naked babes.
* CrossingTheDesert: The desert section with The Mighty Foot.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Duke is FamedInStory so ridiculously that what would normally be [[DudeNotFunny crass, rude, often misogynistic remarks in real life when made to total strangers]] don't solicit much reaction from anyone else in the fictional world. The entire point is that Duke can do no wrong; this is Duke's world, not the real world.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: In "The Doctor Who Cloned Me", after you fight and kill Dr. Proton, you'll find that the game isn't even halfway over yet.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Frequent. For example, while playing pool, Duke will moan suggestively. For bonus points, do this in Duke's Penthouse while the Holsom Twins are nearby.
--> '''Holsom Twin''': ''[[DoubleEntendre Duke, stop playing with your balls!]]''
* DrugsAreBad: [[InvertedTrope Totally inverted.]] Not only are drugs ''good'' in this universe, but Duke remarks to a child that [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop if he "Takes his pills... er, vitamins" he might grow up to be as awesome as Duke.]] Duke has his own brand of "Nukem-RX" steroids, which he can take to temporarily give him OneHitKill punches at the cost of slightly blurred vision and no ranged attack.
* DummiedOut: Using console commands, players can give Duke a weapon called the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSMas--jjE8 Mini Nuke]], complete with model, textures, animations and all -- everything, in fact, except the damage expected from a nuclear missile.
** The console itself. You need to use an external program to re-enable it.
* EveryoneHasStandards: In the DLC campaign, Duke, as hedonistic as he is, refuses to play a video game that involves pimp-slapping women.
* EvilLaugh: The twins have a wicked cackle, first seen at when, ah, playing with Duke, then again when one of them makes a joke about him.
* ExoticWeaponSupremacy: Golden M1911. It's shiny, and it's Duke's.
* ExpositionDiagram: Right at the beginning. You may also add your own thoughts to the white board.
* FakeDifficulty: Your RegeneratingHealth of Duke's ego isn't very durable and all, but Duke seems to decide at complete random how much damage can keep on taking once it's emptied. One more hit can instantly kill you at that point, or he can take several blows and still last long enough to regenerate. Naturally, there's absolutely no indication of this.
* FamedInStory: The story was based around this trope and playing it as hard as they could. For saving the Earth, Duke was given more money and fame than he knew what to do with, building a skyscraper apartment/museum to himself on the Las Vegas strip, cashing in on the lucrative endorsement deals just to pass the time. It swings the other way too, with the entire alien army considering Duke as their arch-nemesis and primary target.
* {{Fanservice}}: The Holsom Twins provide most of this.
* FelonyMisdemeanor: Multiple times. For example:
-->''"Looks like those alien bastards ''drank all my beer''."''
* FinalBoss: [[spoiler:The Cycloid Emperor you fought in the beginning; only this time, he's got 3 phases instead of just 1, and his attacks and health get better each phase.]]
* FingerlessGloves: He's got nuke-symbol branded sport gloves as opposed to his old biker leathers.
* FlushingEdgeInteractivity: The toilets can be used. Unfortunately, one of the toilets has already been used...and that person didn't flush. You can get an achievement for poking the matter in the unflushed toilet.
* FollowTheLeader: The biggest criticism of the game (arguably except the sexism) is its similarities to other modern shooters.
* ForkliftFu: One segment of Duke's trip inside the Hoover Dam encourages him to use a forklift to kill a bunch of pigcops.
--> ''"Fork you!"''
* FourStarBadass: During the single-player campaign of the DLC "The Doctor Who Cloned Me", General Graves, of all people, joins up with you and Captain Dylan in battle during some segments, wielding a [[GeneralRipper Ripper]] and throwing occasional pipebombs at enemies like a boss in his official attire.
* GameplayAllyImmortality: MauveShirt Captain Dylan, who can't die because he's a named character. [[spoiler: He does get critically wounded late in the game and "dies" of said wounds... and recovers during the single-player campaign of the DLC "The Doctor Who Cloned Me" without explanation!]]
* GroinAttack: Appears as a finisher against the Battlelords.
* GunshipRescue: After spending pretty much the entire game as [[ButtMonkey butt monkeys]] and walking item-drops, the EDF gets a chance to shine in the final battle: Supplying Duke with a BFG, helping mop up the remaining alien foot soldiers, and [[spoiler: flying Duke out of a ''nuclear explosion.'']]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The Octobrains' propensity for telekinesis can be exploited. Throw a pipebomb at one, see it grab it with telekinesis, and blow it up in the Octobrain's face.
* HumiliationConga: After finishing the first boss, Duke punts his eyeball for a field goal.
** After you defeat the Battlelord in the Las Vegas outskirts, first you climb on him, rip out one of his horns, [[EyeScream punch through one of his eyeballs]], then ''[[GroinAttack punch his balls through the loincloth like a boxing speed bag drill]]''.
--> ''"Right in the jewels!"''
* ImmuneToBullets: Bosses are arbitrarily immune to small arms fire when they took full damage from these weapons in previous games from the same canon. Only explosives or mounted turret guns can harm them.
* IncredibleShrinkingMan: Duke is shrunk down to miniature size at several points during the game by stepping on special shrink pads. The following sections (played when shrunk) allow you to jump on shelves, use various tools and implements (like small pipes, kitchen spatulas and more) to traverse puzzles, and allow you to ride in an RC car given to you by a young fan.
* IndecisiveParody: It's rather laughable to see a game with [[FollowTheLeader regenerating health and a two-gun weapon system]] attempt to deliver a TakeThat to ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''. Especially right before a segment that bears a striking similarity to Halo 2's second level.
* {{Jerkass}}: [[spoiler: The President.]]
** Duke in the Hive level.
* JigglePhysics
* LampshadeHanging:
** The LONG development cycle gets referenced in the first level, after Duke ends playing the game while [[{{Twincest}} the Holsom twins]] "[[TwinThreesomeFantasy do some favor]]" [[RefugeInAudacity to him]].
** During one particular section, shooting some barrels next to a Pigcop sends him flying. "Huh. I guess pigs do fly!"
** Plenty of other things get lampshaded. For example, when Duke comes across some locked double doors at the Duke Dome, he remarks, "Who locks these things?!"
* LadderPhysics: Averted. There's even an animation showing Duke's hands as he climbs, and he has to face towards the ladder while he climbs.
* LeeroyJenkins: An EDF {{redshirt}} named Pvt. Jenkins tries to run across a bridge, only to get killed by a strafing run. Duke promptly quips "dammit Leeroy!"
* LimitedLoadout: Presumably, Duke's ability to hold as many weapons as he wanted to disappeared while [[DevelopmentHell he worked through all of that gum.]] At release, he was limited to just two primary weapons, pipe bombs, trip mines, and one of each of three types of powerups: beer, the holoduke, and steroids. An update expanded his arsenal to four weapons at once, but only for the PC version. One of the boss battles lampshades it with a ShoutOut to ''Film/TotalRecall1990''.
--> '''Duke''': Baby, you make me wish I had three guns.
* LivingLegend: Because of the previous game, Duke's now quite famous.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: The loading times on consoles used to be atrocious, taking up to a minute to fully load. Further patches and an installation onto the hard drive helped push it down, though.
* LuckBasedMission: The encounter with eight Octabrains late in the game. They throw either wooden crates or steel drums at you; the latter of which cannot be deflected and will kill you with just two hits. If more than two of the Octabrains choose to throw drums at you during the fight, you're basically screwed.
* MadeOfIron: The Ego bar and direct RPG hits aside, in the DLC ''The Doctor Who Cloned Me'', [[spoiler:Dr. Proton]] seems to lampshade just how much damage Duke can take...
-->''"Rammed that thick skull of yours against the mountain and it moved for you, did it? I knew you wouldn't disappoint."''
* MarsNeedsWomen: The game's plot.
* MauveShirt: Captain Dylan, the named EDF soldier who appears in several levels and swears every other word.
* MediumAwareness: Numerous jokes indicate that Duke is aware that he's in a video game.
* MeleeATrois: "The Doctor Who Cloned Me" has a couple firefights with Aliens vs. Dr. Proton's robots vs. Duke and his allies.
* MercyKill: In The Hive, Duke Nukem can remorsefully put out of their misery the women that have been impregnated.
* MinigameZone: Duke Nukem's Titty City. This is a HappyPlace that comes right after [[spoiler:Duke blacks out after defeating the Alien Queen]] that contains an incredible amount of Ego-boosting objects.
* MissingStepsPlan: Invoked during a conversation between two EDF soldiers. Steps one and two were already "surround it" and "shoot it until it dies", so when he accidentally says step three he trips up:
--> '''EDF #1''': ''Step three is... uh... uh...''
--> '''EDF #2''': ''[[WesternAnimation/SouthPark Uh, profit?]]''
* MoodWhiplash: The infamous 'Hive' level.
* MultiBoobage: One of the alien bosses. Duke notes that [[ExtremeOmnisexual he'd still hit that]].
* MythologyGag:
** Almost certainly a reference to the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDlB2P1leRM 2001 trailer]], in the opening level of the game, an EDF soldier taunts Duke:
---> ''"Hey pal, what are you going to do? Save the world all by yourself?"''
** The "Balls of Steel" special edition is named after the pinball machine in ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'', which was later defictionalized into a real ''VideoGame/BallsOfSteel'' [[DigitalPinballTables video pinball game]] featuring Duke.
** The game's long history of DevelopmentHell is thoroughly lampshaded at the earliest opportunity.
* NintendoHard: Some [[LetsPlay LPers]] have complained about Duke dying very easily even on the lowest difficulty. When you factor in, among other things, Duke's rather short Ego bar at the very beginning of the game (which can be doubled in length through interacting with several specific objects throughout the game), as well as enemies being capable of emptying nearly three-quarters of that amount with a single attack, not to mention Duke being the OneManArmy that he is, it's not that hard to figure out why.
** Ironically, many old-school PC gamers complained how the existence of RegeneratingHealth, more linear levels compared to Duke Nuke 3D, and the use of waypoints made the game ''too easy''.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Duke lives with the ''Holsom'' Twins. The president, whose name is never mentioned in the game, [[spoiler: but who is revealed to be a bad guy in collusion with the aliens,]] looks like UsefulNotes/RichardNixon.
* NoFairCheating: One of the load screen hints tells you that if you ever get lost, you could always cheat by looking at [=FAQs=] online.
** The Steam version would even suspend the game with the Steam overlay key combo so you can take your time to look up whatever it is you want to look up (including youtube videos) using Steam's integrated web browser, then let you instantly get back to the game with no time wasted using the same key press.
* PoweredArmor: ''Defied.'' Apparently it's for pussies. Or at least that's what Duke thinks when the army present him with a suit of suspiciously familiar protection apparel.
* PresidentEvil: [[spoiler: The president turns out to be planning a team up with the aliens.]]
* QuadDamage: Perhaps as a nod to the Berserker powerup in ''VideoGame/DukeNukemManhattanProject'', picking up a Duke statue in multiplayer gives you double damage and [[PowerGlows glowing weapons, albeit green instead of red.]]
* RantInducingSlight: Justified in that Beer is a power-up, and aliens were trying to keep it from him.
--> ''"Looks like those alien bastards drank all my beer!"''
%%
%% The non-ingame related examples go in the Development section
%%
* RatedMForManly: Duke gives his ego a permanent increase by watching strippers, [[SmokingIsCool smoking cigars]], appreciating himself in the mirror, lifting weights and a whole damn lot of other ways.
%%
%% The non-ingame related examples go in the Development section
%%
* RealSongThemeTune: Duke returns to kick some alien ass to the tune of [[Music/TheProdigy Invaders Must Die]]. Another trailer features "Battleflag" from Lo Fidelity Allstars. Ultimately, they make a new remix of the classic Grabbag theme from Duke Nukem 3D.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: General Graves, a remarkably even-tempered and stoic commanding officer, who tends to back Duke on the whole AliensAreBastards thing. [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent The president]] is most definitely ''not'' this.
%%
%% Mention below only in-game examples. Development examples go in the development section.
%%
* RefugeInAudacity: Expected. Oh so expected.
** The level ''Duke Nukem's Titty City''. Washroom. '''Gloryhole'''. Button prompt. Do the math.
%%
%% Mention above only in-game examples. Development examples go in the development section.
%%
* RegeneratingHealth: Parodied: Duke's "health" bar is an ''ego'' bar, like it was in ''VideoGame/DukeNukemManhattanProject''. He's not slowed down by piddling little bullets and lasers, but it does hurt his morale, which is why doing manly things like getting drunk, pissing, watching strippers, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking or drinking from a water fountain]] gives the bar a permanent increase.
** Taking the above into account and with a bit of FridgeLogic too, the Strip Club level makes PERFECT sense. [[spoiler: How else would Duke survive the injuries he picked up from the Triple Boob Monster, not even having any broken bones, unless he gets himself a huge dose of Ego from his own dream sequence?]]
** Of course, the ego bar still regenerates passively when Duke's not getting shot. The above mentioned actions simply make it regenerate ''faster''.
* RedshirtArmy: The EDF troops mostly exist to witness Duke being awesome, and die because they're not as awesome. Duke even lampshades this when going into the Hive, and finding the corpses of the advance team that was supposed to meet him.
-->''"Advance team, my ass!"''
** Lampshaded even further when an EDF commander sends a rookie with you and even says "Try not to let him get his ass killed." Of course he immediately goes running into a hail of bullets at the first opportunity, a reference to [[LeeroyJenkins his name]] and also probably a joke about terrible team AI in FPS games.
* RememberTheNewGuy: Captain Dylan is introduced as an old friend of Duke and mentioned being with Duke in his past adventures.
* {{Retcon}}: In one level, you visit a museum containing artifacts from Duke's previous games, including screenshots from them. One is from the opening from the first game, where Duke says he'll kick Proton's ass [[RealMenWearPink and still have time]] to watch [[Series/TheOprahWinfreyShow Oprah]]. The text has been changed from "Oprah" to "Lenoman", a talk show host that briefly appears in the game. Strangely, Duke's salmon shirt still remains.
* "Music/RideOfTheValkyries": During the opening segment of the Mighty Foot level. Intermixed with the title theme, slowly creeping from orchestral into heavy metal as the level goes on. AWESOME.
* SelfDeprecation: Duke has several lines mocking the long delay.
* SequelSnark: Duke meets a dying character and merrily quips that he won't be in the sequel. "The Doctor Who Cloned Me" reveals that [[spoiler:he was wrong]].
* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: Unless you're fighting a major boss (which are only harmed by explosives), the game's shotgun is generally the most useful weapon in the game.
* ShoutOut: Check [[ShoutOut/DukeNukem the page]].
* ShrinkRay: As part of Duke's arsenal.
* SirSwearsalot: Dylan apparently is unable to complete a sentence without using a single vulgar word. In fact, he had said "fuck" more times than Duke himself.
* StealthPun: This game is the fourth canonical Duke Nukem game, following Duke Nukem, Duke Nukem 2 and Duke Nukem 3D. The title is Duke Nukem Fo(u)rever.
* SteamVentObstacle: There is a steam vent puzzle that doubles as a TakeThat at Creator/ValveSoftware.
* TheStinger: The "[[spoiler:Press Conference]]" level.
-->''"[[spoiler:I'm going to run for President]] ({{Beat}}). Hail to the king, baby!"''
* SunglassesAtNight: Duke is never seen without his shades. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that they now have {{night vision|Goggles}}.
* TakeThat: Towards many other games and stuff:
** When Duke is offered a set of [[Franchise/{{Halo}} Spartan armor]], he spouts this:
--> ''"[[PoweredArmor Power armor]] is for pussies!"''
** The talking pink car Shrunk!Duke drives in the ''Meat Grinder'' chapter of ''The Doctor who Cloned Me'' intermittently spews inane phrases that are reminiscent of a talking version of a [[{{Franchise/Barbie}} certain doll]] back in the 80s (although Gearbox also threw in a few exaggerated lines). Duke's response to those lines pretty much sums up how many people felt about the phrases.
--> ''"Shut. The Fuck. Up!"''
** "That's one [[Franchise/DeadSpace dead space]] marine!"
** "[[VideoGame/GearsOfWar Duke one, gears nothing!]]"
*** In that vein, a Marcus Fenix copy mocks his 'pussy' best friend about his quest to find his wife, a take that at Dom's entire subplot in ''Gears of War 2''.
** "[[VideoGame/HalfLife I hate valve puzzles!]]"
* TestosteronePoisoning: Duke might be the most exaggerated example of stereotypical manliness in video game history.
* TitleDrop: The opening line of the game: ''"This is taking forever."''
** Also seen in a trailer close to the game's release: ''"What, did you think I was gone forever?"''
* ToiletHumor: It's possible to pick up a turd out of a toilet, and throw it at a water fountain, then drink out of the fountain. And that's just the start of it. If the player chooses to do this, Duke will wonder what the hell is going on.
* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler:The President reveals his treachery and spells out his plan to kill Duke with an ICBM... while standing less than three feet from Duke, who has a loaded pistol drawn.]]
* UnexplainedRecovery: Captain Dylan shows up alive and well in "The Doctor Who Cloned Me" after his apparent death near the end of the main game. The explanation is that he only passed out from blood loss.
* UniqueEnemy: Despite the Duke Clones being the central plot point of ''The Doctor Who Cloned Me'', you only fight about a dozen of them throughout the entire DLC, half of which aren't even armed with weapons. The skinless Terminator-style security bots are a little more common, but most of the DLC is still spent fighting aliens.
* TheUsualAdversaries: Pig Cops are back, and are by far the most numerous enemy in the game.
* VideoGame3DLeap: This was the game that finally brought the main Duke series into Polygons.
* VivaLasVegas: The game mostly takes place around a fictional version of Vegas, the Nevada desert and the Hoover Dam.
* WhatTheHellPlayer: [[http://kotaku.com/#!5788218/paint-the-town-brown-with-duke-nukem-forever Playing with the shit in the toilet enough will cause Duke to ponder why the player is forcing him to play with it.]]
-->''"What kind of sick motherfucker picks up wet feces?!"''\\
''"What's next, shit finger painting?"''\\
(On the loading screen) ''Picking up turds doesn't [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment take away ego]] even though we really wanted it to.''
* WombLevel: in the final level of ''The Doctor Who Cloned Me'', Duke enters the womb of the alien empress to blow up her ovaries, so that she won't give birth to a new alien army.
* WritersCannotDoMath: The game claims to be set twelve years after ''Duke Nukem 3D''. However, at the beginning of the game, we are informed that the USA is on its 67th president. Even if we assume that all of the presidents in the intervening time only served a single term (four years), that would place ''DNF'' in 2104 at least. Therefore, either the writers ignored their mathematics when it comes to the passage of time, or the USA went through some ''serious'' political instability.
** RuleOfFunny: The number 69 is the ArcNumber, after all. Of course, considering the US in the VideoGame/DukeNukem universe has gone through a MadScientist trying to TakeOverTheWorld, ''two'' {{Alien Invasion}}s, and maybe even some time traveling baddies and mutant monsters, depending on whether you place the console games and ''Manhattan Project'' in Canon, it wouldn't be a stretch to think that [[InferredHolocaust various Presidents got offed during the meantime]]
* YourCostumeNeedsWork: In the DLC campaign, the robot (who thinks you're also a robot) testing your voice module is initially not convinced that you sound like Duke Nukem.
----

--> '''EDF #2''': ''Uh, profit?''

->'''Holsom Twin:''' ''"What about the game, Duke? Was ''it'' any good?"''\\
'''Duke:''' ''"Yeah, but after 12 fucking years, it '''should''' be."''
-->--[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5svP9Wu0nk This trailer]].

[[SavedFromDevelopmentHell Against all odds]], it finally became available on June 14th, 2011 for UsefulNotes/{{Xbox360}}, UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, and PC on DVD or via UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, just in time for Duke's Twentieth Anniversary. The [[http://www.dukenukemforever.com/hailtotheicons Hail to the Icons Parody Pack]] was released on October 11th as the game's first [[DownloadableContent DLC]] pack. It includes four new maps, each making fun of an iconic FPS series with a parody-weapon based on said series, and three new game modes. A second DLC pack titled "[[Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe The Doctor Who Cloned Me]]", released in December 2011, has a smaller campaign taking place right after DNF's ending which gives proper closure to the story along with four new multiplayer maps.

* SirSwearsalot: Dylan apparently is unable to complete a sentence without the using a single vulgar word. In fact, he had said "fuck" more times than Duke himself.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The extended development makes the game an unintentional GenreThrowback to 90s FPS games such as ''Duke Nukem 3D'' itself.

* GenreKiller: ''Duke Nukem Forever'' came out in 2011, where it bombed spectacularly. A look at mainstream AAA games from 2012 onward suggests a period in which {{Fanservice}} and {{MsFanservice}} characters rapidly became a DiscreditedTrope, at least amongst Western-developed games in the AAA bracket. Ironically, other than a short strip club level and the Holsom twins (who only interact with you for a couple of minutes), ''Duke Nukem Forever'' actually had relatively little of either, though Duke's hedonistic reputation preceeded him quite a bit.

* [[spoiler: PresidentEvil]]: [[spoiler: The president turns out to be planning a team up with the aliens.]]

* RantInducingSlight: Justified in that Beer is a power-up, and GenreSavvy aliens were trying to keep it from him.

** RuleOfFunny: The number [[FreudWasRight 69]] is the ArcNumber, after all. Of course, considering the US in the VideoGame/DukeNukem universe has gone through a MadScientist trying to TakeOverTheWorld, ''two'' {{Alien Invasion}}s, and maybe even some time traveling baddies and mutant monsters, depending on whether you place the console games and ''Manhattan Project'' in Canon, it wouldn't be a stretch to think that [[InferredHolocaust various Presidents got offed during the meantime]]

* {{Badass}}: Duke, of course, but special mention goes to Crusty Old Man, the crane operator during Duke's fight with the Octoking, who not only survived the battle but also hurled a few insults during it as though it's all part of his contract.
--> ''"Whoa! There's somethin shakin' the crane! Come on out, ya bastard! I'll donkey punch ya in the blow hole!"''

* FinalBoss: [[spoiler:The Cycloid Emperor you fought in the beginning.]]

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Duke is FamedInStory so ridiculously that what would normally be [[DudeNotFunny crass, rude, often misogynistic remarks in real life]] don't solicit much reaction from anyone else in the fictional world. The entire point is that Duke can do no wrong; this is Duke's world, not the real world.

* TheAhnold: Duke

* AchillesHeel: The Octobrains' propensity for telekinesis can be exploited. Throw a pipebomb at one, see it grab it with telekinesis, and blow it up in the Octobrain's face.

* RealSongThemeTune: Duke returns to kick some alien ass to the tune of [[TheProdigy Invaders Must Die]]. Another trailer features "Battleflag" from Lo Fidelity Allstars. Ultimately, they make a new remix of the classic Grabbag theme from Duke Nukem 3D.

[[SavedFromDevelopmentHell Against all odds]], it finally became available on June 14th, 2011 for [[{{Xbox360}} Xbox 360]], PlayStation3, and PC on DVD or via UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, just in time for Duke's Twentieth Anniversary. The [[http://www.dukenukemforever.com/hailtotheicons Hail to the Icons Parody Pack]] was released on October 11th as the game's first [[DownloadableContent DLC]] pack. It includes four new maps, each making fun of an iconic FPS series with a parody-weapon based on said series, and three new game modes. A second DLC pack titled "[[Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe The Doctor Who Cloned Me]]", released in December 2011, has a smaller campaign taking place right after DNF's ending which gives proper closure to the story along with four new multiplayer maps.

%% Everything related to the game's development should go into Development History.

For more information about the game's extensive development history, see [[DevelopmentHistory/DukeNukemForever this page]].

!!! [Please remember that tropes related to the game's development go into the [[DevelopmentHistory/DukeNukemForever Development History]] page]