While my review is forthcoming, it's no spoiler that Duke Nukem Forever isn't a Game of the Year contender. Question is, though, what game are we judging?
Because the one we are playing clearly isn't finished. Leaving us to wonder, what game might we have been left with were 3D Realms able to actually complete their initial vision?
Maybe something like this. This concept art by Feng Zhu, completed for developers 3D Realms around the time of 2003-2004, shows a world far more detailed and easy on the eye than the "finished" product's bland levels, along with some cool designs for human soldiers and alien opponents that you never see in the game.
Some stuff did manage to make it into the final game, however, including Zhu's take on the "Impregnator", one of the finished game's more questionable inclusions. Note that one of the pieces of art in the gallery above shows the beast at work, and as such, isn't very suitable for work.
Duke Nukem Forever Concept Art [FZD]
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