People love puzzles, vehicles sequences and interactivity but that doesn't mean DNF did them very well.
That's a broad generalization. If Activision put lots of platforming, puzzles and lengthy vehicle segments into CoD 2011, do you think they'd be well-received, even if they were well-implemented? I doubt it. Shooters have become far more focused on shooting over the past decade because puzzles, platforming and lengthy vehicle segments do not appeal to everyone. Just look at the Tomb Raider games. The last few games have had some great puzzle and platforming action, yet most gamers still talk crap about the series because the combat is weak. Conversely, they praise the Uncharted games which have a significantly greater focus on shooting but far weaker platforming and puzzle elements.
Shooters appeal to the lowest common denominator (you don't sell 20 million units otherwise) and the lowest common denominator typically just wants to shoot stuff. The lack of shooting in many parts of DNF is the most consistently criticized element of DNF.
People criticized the inclusion of those elements into the game because it was a Duke Nukem game. No one was saying those elements are universally bad (as in, they worked fine in HL2), they just didn't belong here.
Exactly. Like I said, the simple inclusion of these elements drew criticism, not their quality. I guess people were expecting a remake of Duke 3D but if that had actually happened, they'd inevitably complain about the keycard-directed gameplay and lack of setpieces. The problem with having a 10+ year dev cycle is that people form specific ideas of what the end product will be. If their vision is not met, they aren't happy.
I don't have a problem with people criticizing DNF, as long as they do it based solely on the quality of the game and not on preconceived notions of what gameplay mechanics should or shouldn't have been included. Arguing that DNF shouldn't have a lengthy intro sequence, platforming, puzzling or vehicle segments is like arguing that Duke 3D should have been a 2D platformer like the first two games.
This comment was edited on Jul 27, 2011, 12:25.