Odată cu anunţul învierii lui Duke Nukem şi după cei 10 ani de producţie cu hopuri, se pare că lucrurile au intrat într-o linie mult mai dreaptă şi mai normală. Cei de la Gearbox se ocupă în linişte de adunarea bucăţilor jocului şi punerea lor într-o formă care, la final, să aibă şanse să se ridice la înălţimea aşteptărilor. Deocamdată însă, interviurile sunt singurele care aduc noutăţi despre ceea ce se întâmplă în studiourile Gearbox, iar cei de la maximumpc au pus cap la cap o serie de discuţii atât cu designerul original al jocului, George Broussard, cât şi cu Brian Martel (co-fondator Gerbox) şi Randy Pitchford (preşedintele Gearbox), plus o sesiune de joc adevărată în compania eroului blond, misogin şi cu degetul nervos pe trăgaci.
What do you think makes Duke so endearing as a character? Why have people continued to care so much for so long?
I think like Darth Vader is an ultimate archtype of a villain, Duke follows the archtype for the alpha male action hero. When we created Duke’s character outline we wanted him to be a combination of Arnold Schwarzennegger, Clint Eastwood and John Wayne. Combine those characters with a distinct look, attitude and one-liners and the result is that Duke is just an iconic character.
How sophisticated is your AI? Are these guys going to be taking cover and flanking, or are they glorified dart boards?
At different times in the game, they do a bunch of different things. So at times, they’ll be rushing you, like the Pig Cops will be climbing over stuff and running at you. Other times, yeah, they’ll sort of duck behind something, pop up, do their strafing maneuver, and eventually work their way around. You know, it’s got a little bit of all those AI things. But it’s not trying to be, you know, “I’m playing against a tactical team.” They’re Pig Cops, for God’s sake! And Lizard Troopers. They’re not the smartest. [Laughs].
Do you think that attitude is missing in the gaming industry in general? That desire to create pure, actual-factual no-holds-barred fun?
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in the gaming industry that sometimes forget that the goal is to entertain the world. They instead think, for instance, “I’m trying to impress other game developers” or something. And the interesting thing is that in order to be good, we need to desire mastery in our craft. So almost all of us that are good have a motivation for mastery.
But sometimes we confuse that motivation and prioritize it higher than the real goal, which is entertainment. Sometimes people make things harder for themselves because of that. Like, “I’m doing this not because the customer can tell the difference between doing it this way or that way, but because I’ll feel gratified that I’ve done it the hard way.” And that’s like now you’re a little confused. You’re a little confused there. What matters is the entertainment people get as the result. How we get there is just a means to an end; it’s not the end itself. And if you think that is the end, your priorities can get confused and you can have some bad results.
So, the take-away points? Duke Nukem Forever isn’t a revolution. It is, however—based on what we played—a fast-paced, incredibly fun shooter that’ll have you blasting tears of laughter out your eyes nearly as often as you blast baddies. In a nutshell, it’s everything you’ve always loved about Duke, but bigger, prettier, and funnier. Will it be worth more than a decade of waiting? Probably not. But if that’s your attitude toward videogames, of all things—a medium that was invented to give you a good time—then you should probably go take up residence under a rock, because frankly, life’s never gonna be able to satisfy you. Us, we like having fun. Duke Nukem Forever is incredibly fun. That’s more than enough to earn our approval.
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