The hypocrisy of Duke Nukem Forever's distaste for new shooter heroes is clear early in the game. Duke is disgusted when offered a Halo-like suit of armor, asserting that his unassailable machismo is more resilient than any association with modernized entries of a genre he helped define in the mid-1990s. Yet Duke can only carry two guns at a time and has a regenerating health bar, elements popularized by the game he so readily dismisses. Duke Nukem Forever suggests Duke's compulsive need to pull the trigger to broadcast his manliness is enough to overcome any obstacle, which, as it turns out, it's not.
There was never anything complicated about Duke Nukem. He was an icon in his 1990s heyday because he was more than a floating gun. Duke had a voice, spouting action and comedy movie quotes. He made Army of Darkness' "Hail to the king,
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