I went into Duke Nukem Forever with the same sort of mindset that I brought to the Star Wars prequels – there was just no way in hell this thing was ever going to live up to the expectations born from a venerable legend fermented over a decade-plus of fond memories from an entire generation. Even with that philosophical perspective, I found the game underwhelming, although I wasn’t quite as crestfallen and hateful as most. I found some entertainment. But I can’t help but feel that my biggest disappointment with it was that it was a golden opportunity squandered. The folks who were the most stoked about the game were those who have been gamers for at least the last 15 years, people who know the industry well enough to have already been aware of the unlikely myth-made-reality path this game took to see the light of day. There was your audience, Gearbox, you had the chance to really speak to it through a legend of videogames’ history.

Now I look at the DLC plans that Gearbox has, and I’m struck by the notion that this was the general attitude they should have brought to the design of the main game, with the gameplay throwback that was Duke Nukem Forever instead being the content relegated to DLC. The four new maps especially are a sendup of the shooter tropes we all know and love. The glorious urban war zones of Call of Duty, the hellish lava and teleporters of older games like Doom and Quake, the cinematic style and peculiar quirks of Team Fortress 2, and…well, a sandbox. Guess I’m not sure what they’re going for with that one, but for the first time since before the game came out, I’m pretty stoked to see where they go with this. If done right, Duke Nukem Forever’s tongue-in-cheek, larger-than-life style could strike the perfect tone for parody – using hyperbole and absurdity to make fun of something in a way that speaks to genuine affection for the subject matter. I’m even willing to get my hopes up about it.

No release date has been announced yet, but 2K has announced deathmatches featuring the content will be held at their California headquarters on August 4th.