History YMMV / DukeNukemForever

* NightmareFuel: The Hive is a visceral, body horror level exploring sickly alien nests of chitin and mucus, before discovering the aliens have been using human woman (who are present, sobbing in pain, and can't be saved in any way besides mercy killings) as hosts for their children. We even see the Holsom twins graphically bursting into bloody chunks and murderous aliens while begging for help, as Duke cruelly jokes about it. It's ''deeply'' upsetting. Incidentally, if you think this seems [[MoodWhiplash wildly tonally dissonant]] with the rest of the light hearted action game? [[TropesAreTools Sure is!]]

* MyRealDaddy: May people consider Brian Hook to be the real hero of the story, since he was the first project lead that was able to say no to George's request for tweaks and changes, which greatly contributed to the game finally being able to progress.

* NauseaFuel: The Hive. Between the "slap the wall boobs" and the eventual fate of the Holsom twins and several other babes.

** The LimitedLoadout, especially in the default setting (or only setting, if you're playing on console) of 2 weapons. With 4 weapons enabled in the PC version, it becomes more tolerable, ''unless'' you're holding onto the golden pistol for the achievement. Since the shotgun, ripper, railgun, and various explosive weapons are all useful for specific things, you have to juggle weapons a lot, and won't get as much freedom to try out the more specialist weapons; it's very clear that the limit is an afterthought, only added [[FollowTheLeader because other games were doing it]], and that much of the game was intended for Duke to be able to carry every weapon at once but with a limited amount of ammo for each forcing him to swap between weapons for specific threats, since Duke can only ever carry three or four full mags for any given weapon, and every combat situation has to plop down a [[BottomlessMagazines crate of infinite ammo]] as a result.

* ValuesDissonance: The game has HumorDissonance thanks to its decade of DevelopmentHell. The previous games of the early nineties were considered funny and the eponymous character was a fresh take for being an actual protagonist with a voice and personality rather than being a faceless, voiceless space marine. However, when ''Forever'' came out, Duke's dialogue, humor, and the overall tone of the game felt wildly out of date to some.

* OnceOriginalNowCommon: In a meta way. George Broussard wanted the game to be a collection of every new and awesome mechanic he could find, but with all the delays the game was released well after those mechanics stopped being novel. Circumventing a keycard puzzle by manually opening a door via [[PressXToNotDie quicktime event]] in the first half-hour or so of the game is probably one of the most notable cases, as the game tries to present it as a unique and hilarious subversion of a common gaming cliché, but is doing it by falling into what has long since become an even bigger cliché.
* OvershadowedByControversy: The game's reputation for being stuck in one of the longest {{Development Hell}}s in video game history, failing to meet expectations when it ''[[SavedFromDevelopmentHell was]]'' released, and containing very outdated views on race and sex which are considered extreme even by the standards of [[VideoGame/DukeNukem the eponymous franchise]], is more well-known than the game itself.

* PresumedFlop: The game's legendary DevelopmentHell is more famous than its final release in 2011. Despite reviews ranging from "the most atrocious, outdated, insultingly bad game I have ever played" to "barely average", ''DNF'' still managed to turn a profit for Take-Two in the end, thanks to George Broussard self-funding most of the development. Didn't prevent the game from becoming a FranchiseKiller, but still.
* SalvagedStory: ''The Doctor Who Cloned Me'' DLC has Duke react badly to a joke made at the expense of the deceased Holsom twins, after his glib reaction to their deaths in the base game rubbed a lot of players the wrong way.

** The LimitedLoadout, especially in the default setting (or only setting, if you're playing on console) of 2 weapons. With 4 weapons enabled in the PC version, it becomes more tolerable, ''unless'' you're holding onto the golden pistol for the achievement. Since the shotgun, ripper, railgun, and various explosive weapons are all useful for specific things, you have to juggle weapons a lot, and won't get as much freedom to try out the more specialist weapons; it's very clear that the limit is an afterthought, only added [[FollowTheLeader because other games were doing it]], and that much of the game was intended for Duke to be able to carry every weapon at once but with a limited amount of ammo for each forcing him to swap between weapons for specific threats.

** Duke's Ego should be a good indicator of how much health you have, until it drains. Suddenly the game seems to decide at complete random if Duke can tank more damage or even indirect ''explosions'', or if mere scratch damage drops him dead. There's no consistency to it, either, which isn't helped by the fact that regardless of difficulty, that Ego bar depletes ''fast''.

* NightmareFuel: The Hive is a visceral, body horror level exploring sickly alien nests of chitin and mucus, before discovering the aliens have been using human woman (who are present, sobbing in pain, and can only be mercy killed rather than saved in any way) as hosts for their children. We even see the Holsom twins graphically bursting into bloody chunks and murderous aliens while begging for help. It's ''deeply'' upsetting, complete with Duke's cruel joke falling flat at trying to add some BlackComedy. Incidentally, if you think this seems [[MoodWhiplash wildly tonally dissonant]] with the rest of the light hearted action game? [[TropesAreTools Sure is!]]

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: In a meta way. George Broussard wanted the game to be a collection of every new and awesome mechanic he could find, but with all the delays the game was released well after those mechanics stopped being novel. Circumventing a keycard puzzle by manually opening a door via [[PressXToNotDie quicktime event]] in the first half-hour or so of the game is probably one of the most notable cases, as the game tries to present it as a unique and hilarious subversion of a common gaming cliché, but is doing it by falling into what has long since become an even bigger cliché.

** Meanwhile just beating a round of pool is an exercise in frustration, [[IDontKnowMortalKombat real-world understand0ing of pool or not]].

** Due to DevelopmentHell causing the game to be delayed continually since its inception 13 years prior to its release, it has the unintended disadvantage of seeming as though certain gameplay parts were added when they were the latest trend in gaming. The gameplay borders on GenreRoulette as it tries to mimic, almost in sequence, [[VideoGame/{{Sin}} late-90s cornball camp shooters where you can interact with everything]], [[VideoGame/Doom3 early-2000s dark sci-fi shooters]] with frequent sections where you have to [[VideoGame/Halo2 hold the line (typically with a fixed turret)]] or [[VideoGame/HalfLife2 drive a vehicle and get out at regular intervals]], and [[VideoGame/{{Killzone}} late-2000s grim realistic shooters]] where [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare nearly every NPC on your side is killed off]]. ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' noted that "you could practically cut it in half and see the entire fourteen years of shooter evolution it's tried to keep up with, like the rings in a tree stump".
** The humor of the game also appears to be rooted firmly in the mid-to-late 2000s. Among the references included are {{Exp|y}}ies of the [[Creator/MaryKateAndAshleyOlsen Olsen Twins]] (who haven't acted together since 2004), a TakeThat directed at ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' (ironically preceding a level that is [[HypocriticalHumor a close replication of]] an actual ''Halo'' level), several [[AscendedMeme one-liners lifted from]] a "Ventrilo Harassment" video from 2007, a gas-guzzling SUV mocking the Hummer (Hummer later went out of business by 2010), and a near-exact replication of the infamous Creator/ChristianBale rant from the set of ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'' (a movie that released in early 2009 and a meme that was already fading by the end of the year).

** Because of this effect, the mechanics that were added more recently (Duke having [[RegeneratingHealth a regenerating "Ego" bar instead of health]], running out of breath after [[SprintMeter sprinting short distances]], only being able to [[LimitedLoadout carry two weapons]], and [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence invisible walls around everything taller than Duke's ankles]]) stick out like a sore thumb instead of making the game more accessible to modern players, especially since several of these mechanics don't play well with how the game is actually designed (the two-gun limit clearly wasn't made with Duke's extremely limited ammo capacity or the wide variety of gimmick weapons in mind, necessitating [[BottomlessMagazines boxes of infinite ammo]] ''every'' time the player is expected to stick around and actually fight things). This also pretty clearly dates it to before the halfway point of the decade, prior to games like 2014's ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'' or 2016's reboot of ''VideoGame/{{Doom|2016}}'', both of which [[GenreThrowback deliberately eschewed several of these "modern/realistic" mechanics]] (only keeping what could actually synergize with or be reinvented to fit classic-style gameplay, like [[QuickMelee one-button melee takedowns]] and [[SecondaryFire weapon attachments]]) and were largely praised for it.

** This arguably makes the entirety of DNF worse as it shows that they could have made a better game - better story, better characterization for Duke, better gameplay, etc. - but they were so busy chasing trends, switching developers, and generally screwing up that they never did.

* RonTheDeathEater: Duke Nukem himself gets a lot of flak for his cruel remark to the captured Holsom twins, but many tend to forget that shortly after they are killed, he throws an angry remark to the aliens that burst out of their bodies. While Duke has no right to use such a lame and awful joke at the impregnated womens' expense, his response to their demise is far from apathetic, as half-hearted as it may seem to be.

** Part of the reason why this game took as long as it did was George Broussard forcing the devs to start over on a new engine whenever there was a new latest, greatest game engine on the market. The final game would turn out to be using Unreal Engine ''1'', in a time when 3 was the latest version of the engine.

* TearJerker: Of the randomized quotes Duke can say when [[spoiler:MercyKilling the kidnapped women in the Hive level]], two of the quotes stick out as genuinely somber and remorseful, as if Duke is actually being emtionally affected by what he is having to do:

* ThatOneSidequest: Three of the minigames are notable for being extremely clunky. The pinball machine is somewhat difficult to get the ego boost for, but it's generally considered insanity to go for the related achievement (unless you use the trick by keeping the ball in the upper left flipper and hitting the targets by using tilt). Meanwhile just beating a round of pool is an exercise in frustration, [[IDontKnowMortalKombat real-world understanding of pool or not]]. Worst of all is the Air Hockey mini-game, as the A.I. is a real pain to score against, and god help you if you are going for the "Air Duke" achievement which requires you to get a perfect score of 7-0. The only reliable way to beat that mini-game is to increase the vertical sensitivity in the options menu to around 7 (which lets you score more powerful shots against your opponent with less movement of the mouse) and tone down the horizontal sensitivity to around 4 (to make it easier to defend your own goal without overshooting and letting the puck through); it's a major cause of GuideDangIt as most players would never guess that changing those options would make a difference for a mini-game.

* FetishRetardant

--->'''Yahtzee Croshaw:''' This section contains about as jarring a shift of tone as you can get without splicing five minutes of ''The Human Centipede'' into the middle of ''Mallrats''.

-->"Sorry babe, it's better this way."
-->"Not even I can save you now."

*** On a related note, as horrifically unpleasant as the infamous [[spoiler:Hive]] level is, it might have worked if it had included some genuine character development for Duke. Had Duke grown and matured from the experience, or at least treated the experience seriously in the time it was happening, it could have shown a much more sympathetic side to Duke (and there is an inkling of it, see {{Tearjerker}}). Unfortunately, whatever sympathy the player could have had for Duke gets brutally stomped out as he continues to make jokes throughout the level, to the point where he cracks wise at the sight of [[spoiler:his own girlfriends being killed right in front of him]].

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The story paints Duke as the world's coolest dude and biggest badass, even after being out of action for so long, and the only person that seriously doubts him is [[spoiler:a traitor to humanity.]] He's also a massive douchebag whose ego is so extreme that he tends to shrug off most normal people that isn't a pretty face practically begging for him, and the player can even partly [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential play it up]] with certain interactions. He's also immensely apathetic or downright unconcerned with innocents and soldiers dying around him, with only the kidnapping of women truly pissing him off. [[spoiler:And then he finds these women forcibly impregnated and unable to be saved -- and makes a rape joke at the Holsom twins, while again being abnormally unconcerned with their gruesome fates.]] The result was transforming Duke Nukem from an action movie badass into a chauvinistic, sociopathic {{Jerkass}} that only seems to care about himself and none of the usually-endearing parody elements and jokes managing to save him from this, which was the exact ''opposite'' intention of the writers. As [[WebVideo/Civvie11 Civvie]] rightfully puts it:

** ''Always Bet on Duke''[[labelnote:Explanation]]A {{tagline}} from one of the game's early promotional posters. Upon the announcement of the game actually getting released, people started joking that they can finally cash in their bets.[[/labelnote]]
** ''When it's done''[[labelnote:Explanation]] 3D Realms' [[MathematiciansAnswer notoriously guarded response]] to any question about ''Forever'''s release date, which quickly became a shorthand for {{Vaporware}}.[[/labelnote]]
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} Nukem''[[labelnote:Explanation]] The Russian dub of the game (now itself a rarity to get because of bad export for Russia itself) has Duke voiced by the same person who dubbed the main character of all four Shrek movies. Needless to say, it didn't go over unnoticed by the fans.[[/labelnote]]