DUKE NUKEM FOREVER
Where do you even begin with this one? In the wake of id Software’s shooter revolution in the 1990s, many imitators followed, and we got some great games out of that too, with one of the most beloved ones being Duke Nukem 3D, a game that made its mark as much for its irreverent humour and meta commentary on things as it did for how it played. Following its success, there was a lot of confidence in almost everybody that Duke Nukem Forever would be the great next generation realization of the series, but 15 years, multiple false stars, and a relegation to “vapourware” status were not enough to kill this game. Through thick and thin, in spite of every single thing going wrong during development, Duke Nukem Forever somehow managed to eventually launch, and ended up being an outright bad game. A lot of the criticisms around the game stated that it was stuck in the 1990s- but honestly, if Duke Nukem Forever had launched as is in the 1990s, it would still have been a bad game. It was a Frankensteinish mish-mash of a troubled birth, and the final game that we got was decidedly not worth the wait or the trouble it must have been to get the damn thing out at last.
