For all its flaws and given the miserable, pretty much dead state of Duke nowadays, with his ultimate outing (not counting 20th Anniversary) being a coat of paint for Bulletstorm, I still think this game deserves more love.
I had pretty given up on it at all, just taking it as a sad inside joke on vidya hubris and vaporware, when I got a code for the demo oin my GotY edition of Borderlands on the 360.
I played the 2 or 3 levels offered and was surprised I found them decent enough.
So something clicked in me and I felt like this was gonna be a swansong.
So I ordered the Balls of Steel edition on the 360 and got a free bonus t-shirt I still own (though the fabric is VERY thin and the print started wearing out quickly). And I regret nothing.
This game was like an older cousin, the one who got you dirty mags and sneaked you into the theater to watch Die Hard when you were a little too young, coming around and trying to recall "the good times" while bumming you of a few bucks to take a train because "he's back on track and will make it big again".
It's a cobbled together piece of vidya flotsam for sure, but I didn't hate it, I did 100% achievements on both the main game and its DLC, and I never regretted it and even played some fun casual MP. The MP is really good and fun and probably the best part, but I cant hate the main game, it's a swansong and I'll always respect it for that.
I like DNF, I'll never be ashamed of admitting it, and I'll always insist it deserves preservation. Like Daikatana, like Eradicator, hell even like Tekwar, like so many janky games of the past that were important moments in vidya history.
So can please someone save Duke from Gearbox and 2K, let us buy his games everywhere (while I respect Zoom Platform though) and maybe some fan projects or new games?
He deserves better than being a cash shop skin in Fortnite (please tell me he isn't).