I’m a big fan of Duke Nukem.
As a child of the 90′s, I found and still find the cartoonish violence and casual immature raunchiness of Duke Nukem 3D to be hilarious. Whenever I’m feeling stressed, I open up the game on my computer and go through a level or two. Few things are more satisfying than watching a Pig Cop on the receiving end of a rocket-propelled grenade splatter into little pieces as Duke exclaims “Holy shit!”. Every time Duke opens his mouth spouts a ridiculously macho one-liner, I am filled with glee. I feel like a total badass, kicking ass and chewing bubble gum, as I shoot grunts out of the air with my trusty shotgun. Whether it’s 15 years ago or on this day, Duke Nukem 3D is just a fun, fun experience.
Fast forward to today. Duke Nukem Forever was finally released, and damn, it’s looking bad. Clunky controls, puzzling gameplay choices, and textures straight out of 1997. Even I, a huge Duke fan, couldn’t even complete the demo because of how rough the whole thing felt. The framerate was choppy and the load times went for ages, on a demo! And it’s really a shame, because the game starts awesomely, with a huge fight against the Cycloid Emperor from 3D that felt like everything we could have wanted in a Duke game, except with muddy graphics.
In fact, the only other saving grace of the demo was Duke Nukem himself, back on top form with his witty one-liners and the propensity for violence we’ve come to know and love. I have to admit, after I learned I could punch dead Pig Cop bodies and watch them flop around with amusing ‘smack’ noises, and kick cacti so hard they exploded, I was willing to give the game another chance. But the issues just piled up, drowning the fun of being the Duke.
If this had been any other main character, I would have shut the game off immediately. This is what leads me to the point I want to make – The personality of the main character in a videogame is incredibly important, and this is something some game designers seem to have forgotten.
Let’s face it – A lot of player characters you play as in games today are blank slates, meant for you to project your own interpretation on them. This can be fine to an extent – For example in the PS2 game Steambot Chronicles the main character has amnesia, so being able to pick and choose what he says and how he reacts is an interesting and fun game mechanic that is incorporated into the story pretty well. Plus, characters like Mario or the original Mega Man just wouldn’t work if they were given much more personality than a cheerful hero sort, because their worlds just aren’t like that. On the other hand, I’m currently playing a fun little DS game called Avalon Code, and while the mechanics are solid, so far I just don’t care about the main character. It’s just some girl (or boy, you pick at the beginning of the game) who doesn’t talk, or really do anything at all except hit things with a sword and complete the quest. There’s no substance there, and it’s really hurting my enjoyment of the game.
IGN and other reviewers have claimed that Duke is “dated” and that he doesn’t fit in the current landscape of shooters featuring silent protagonists and grim settings. I completely disagree. If anything, I think this proves that there is definitely a place for some stupid humor and a character that doesn’t take himself too seriously. Shooter protagonists are blending into one another, just like their games are. They’re all grumpy people in suits with weapons facing some big enemy in a dreary grey environment. Who wants to play yet another same-old same-old? Why can’t we have a colorful game with a wisecracking protagonist in a bright red shirt?
Videogames are escapism. Videogames are entertainment. While it can be fun to project ourselves onto a game character, sometimes a character should project itself onto us. Characters with defined personalities can be interesting, and one can lose themselves inside someone they aren’t. I’m a big a fan of character creation and customization as anybody, but there’s definitely something to be said about witnessing a story as it goes, with a character that works with the story themselves. An active observer with something to say.
I think there’s definitely room for a bit of fun in today’s gaming market, and for more protagonists unafraid to set themselves apart from the rest. Duke Nukem knows this, and it was one of the few things Forever got right. More developers need to take some risks and give us more differences in a character than just aesthetics. Give us someone who legitimately enjoys what he does and will play the game with a smile on his face and a bright side for every situation. Give us someone with an internal struggle. Give us a hyperactive psychopath with severe daddy issues. Give us a hypermasculine muscleman with an inflated ego who constantly fails at impressing the ladies. Give us something to channel through, to get invested in. Right now, people are supporting villains and supporting characters more than they are the heroes and heroines of the game world, and it’s because they’re the ones with the fleshed out character traits and interesting backstories. I want to see this changed.
A good character doesn’t make a good game – But it can help.
As a child of the 90′s, I found and still find the cartoonish violence and casual immature raunchiness of Duke Nukem 3D to be hilarious. Whenever I’m feeling stressed, I open up the game on my computer and go through a level or two. Few things are more satisfying than watching a Pig Cop on the receiving end of a rocket-propelled grenade splatter into little pieces as Duke exclaims “Holy shit!”. Every time Duke opens his mouth spouts a ridiculously macho one-liner, I am filled with glee. I feel like a total badass, kicking ass and chewing bubble gum, as I shoot grunts out of the air with my trusty shotgun. Whether it’s 15 years ago or on this day, Duke Nukem 3D is just a fun, fun experience.
Fast forward to today. Duke Nukem Forever was finally released, and damn, it’s looking bad. Clunky controls, puzzling gameplay choices, and textures straight out of 1997. Even I, a huge Duke fan, couldn’t even complete the demo because of how rough the whole thing felt. The framerate was choppy and the load times went for ages, on a demo! And it’s really a shame, because the game starts awesomely, with a huge fight against the Cycloid Emperor from 3D that felt like everything we could have wanted in a Duke game, except with muddy graphics.
In fact, the only other saving grace of the demo was Duke Nukem himself, back on top form with his witty one-liners and the propensity for violence we’ve come to know and love. I have to admit, after I learned I could punch dead Pig Cop bodies and watch them flop around with amusing ‘smack’ noises, and kick cacti so hard they exploded, I was willing to give the game another chance. But the issues just piled up, drowning the fun of being the Duke.
If this had been any other main character, I would have shut the game off immediately. This is what leads me to the point I want to make – The personality of the main character in a videogame is incredibly important, and this is something some game designers seem to have forgotten.
Let’s face it – A lot of player characters you play as in games today are blank slates, meant for you to project your own interpretation on them. This can be fine to an extent – For example in the PS2 game Steambot Chronicles the main character has amnesia, so being able to pick and choose what he says and how he reacts is an interesting and fun game mechanic that is incorporated into the story pretty well. Plus, characters like Mario or the original Mega Man just wouldn’t work if they were given much more personality than a cheerful hero sort, because their worlds just aren’t like that. On the other hand, I’m currently playing a fun little DS game called Avalon Code, and while the mechanics are solid, so far I just don’t care about the main character. It’s just some girl (or boy, you pick at the beginning of the game) who doesn’t talk, or really do anything at all except hit things with a sword and complete the quest. There’s no substance there, and it’s really hurting my enjoyment of the game.
IGN and other reviewers have claimed that Duke is “dated” and that he doesn’t fit in the current landscape of shooters featuring silent protagonists and grim settings. I completely disagree. If anything, I think this proves that there is definitely a place for some stupid humor and a character that doesn’t take himself too seriously. Shooter protagonists are blending into one another, just like their games are. They’re all grumpy people in suits with weapons facing some big enemy in a dreary grey environment. Who wants to play yet another same-old same-old? Why can’t we have a colorful game with a wisecracking protagonist in a bright red shirt?
Videogames are escapism. Videogames are entertainment. While it can be fun to project ourselves onto a game character, sometimes a character should project itself onto us. Characters with defined personalities can be interesting, and one can lose themselves inside someone they aren’t. I’m a big a fan of character creation and customization as anybody, but there’s definitely something to be said about witnessing a story as it goes, with a character that works with the story themselves. An active observer with something to say.
I think there’s definitely room for a bit of fun in today’s gaming market, and for more protagonists unafraid to set themselves apart from the rest. Duke Nukem knows this, and it was one of the few things Forever got right. More developers need to take some risks and give us more differences in a character than just aesthetics. Give us someone who legitimately enjoys what he does and will play the game with a smile on his face and a bright side for every situation. Give us someone with an internal struggle. Give us a hyperactive psychopath with severe daddy issues. Give us a hypermasculine muscleman with an inflated ego who constantly fails at impressing the ladies. Give us something to channel through, to get invested in. Right now, people are supporting villains and supporting characters more than they are the heroes and heroines of the game world, and it’s because they’re the ones with the fleshed out character traits and interesting backstories. I want to see this changed.
A good character doesn’t make a good game – But it can help.
